Witnessing Meaningful Interpersonal Encounters Facilitates the Perception of Social Emotions

Judging the emotional states of others based on visual information alone is a fundamental aspect of rapid impression formation. However, it remains unclear whether complex social emotions (such as feelings of pride or envy) can be inferred by merely observing others. Here we demonstrate consistent perception of such complex social emotions when a person is seen in the context of a meaningful interpersonal encounter. In Study 1, we show that the perception of social emotions is enhanced when emotionally expressive target individuals are seen with meaningful social companions rather than with social distractors or in isolation. In Study 2, we illustrate that the perception of social emotions increases systematically when formerly isolated individuals are subsequently seen with meaningful social companions rather than with social distractors or objects. We conclude that interpersonal encounters play an integral part in the perception of social emotions.