Task-irrelevant emotional expressions are not mimicked, but may modulate the mimicry of task-relevant emotional expressions.

Emotional mimicry-the imitation of others' emotions-is an empathic response that helps to navigate social interactions. Mimicry is absent when participants' task does not involve engaging with the expressers' emotions. This may be because task-irrelevant faces (i.

Pet dogs succeed where human companions fail: The presence of pet dogs reduces pain.

Social support from family and friends, albeit associated with beneficial health effects, does not always help to cope with pain. This may be because humans elicit mixed expectations of social support and evaluative judgment. The present studies aimed to test whether pet dogs are a more beneficial source of support in a painful situation than human companions because they are not evaluative.

Putting a label on someone: impact of schizophrenia stigma on emotional mimicry, liking, and interpersonal closeness.

Affiliation is both an antecedent and a consequence of emotional mimicry (i.e. imitating a counterpart's emotional expression).

Wrinkles are neither beautiful nor nice: The effect of facial wrinkles on person perception and interpersonal closeness.

With age, we develop facial wrinkles, which change the appearance of the face making it less attractive. Winkles and folds also "mimic" facial expressions, such that older neutral faces appear more emotional. Both processes can influence first impressions negatively.

Narcissism predicts noise perception but not signal decoding in emotion.

Grandiose narcissists claim that they have better-than-average emotion recognition abilities, but many objective tests do not support this claim. We sought to clarify the relation between grandiose (both agentic and communal) narcissism and emotion recognition by taking a closer look at the components of emotion recognition. In two studies (N = 147, N = 520), using culturally distinct samples and different stimulus materials, we investigated the relation between grandiose narcissism and signal decoding (accurate view of the intended emotion displayed in an expression) as well as noise perception (inaccurate deciphering of secondary emotions that are not part of the emotional message).