Frown
Encyclopedia
A frown is a facial expression
in which the eyebrows are brought together, and the forehead is wrinkled, usually indicating displeasure, sadness
or worry
, or less often confusion
or concentration
.
The appearance of a frown varies from culture to culture. Although most technical definitions define it as a wrinkling of the brow, in North America it is primarily thought of as an expression of the mouth. In those cases when used iconically, as with an emoticon, it is entirely presented as a curve of the lips facing away from the eyes ('down'). The mouth expression is also commonly referred to in the colloquial English phrase "turn that frown upside down" which indicates changing from sad to happy.
described the primary act of frowning as the furrowing of the brow which leads to a rise in the upper lip and a down-turning of the corners of the mouth. While the appearance of a frown varies from culture to culture, there appears to be some degree of universality to the recognition of the frown as a negative facial expression. In fact, frowning as a component of anger or disgust is widely recognized as a universal expression easily recognized across cultures. This universality suggests a shared adaptive quality to frowning allowing for social communication of negative emotional states.
Scott Fahlman
first suggested the use of the colon with the left parenthesis to iconically represent a frowning face on the internet in what has become a well-known emoticon
. In this form the frown is entirely presented as a curve of the lips facing away from the eyes.
Specifically, frowns that incorporate the furrowing of the brow are a response to perceived obstacles to the achievement of goals. While frowns that involve movement of the cheeks reflect an unpleasant reaction. Just as smiling alone can make you feel better, frowning can make you feel worse. In a scientific study participants that held their face in a frown ranked images as more unpleasant than participants who viewed the images with a neutral facial expression. In a similar test, participants reported increased anger with the manipulated expression of a frown and they also ranked cartoons they saw as less funny than participants with the manipulated expression of a smile.
.
It is considered more socially acceptable for men to display negative emotions than women; women also tend to be less likely to frown than men. Unlike smiling, frowns do not appear to be directly socially contagious
; seeing someone frown does not necessarily make you frown. However, in a scientific study participants that were subliminally exposed to frowning faces, were more likely to react with a frown when later shown a neutral face. Frowns can also increase counter-empathy reactions. When the loser of a competition frowns it increases brain responses associated with pleasure in the winner, which is possibly related to the feeling of schadenfreude
experienced when witnessing the misfortune of others. Frowns also contribute to impressions formed even during brief encounters with other individuals. When shown a 30-second video clip (without audio) of a frowning college professor, students tend to rate the professor poorly on evaluations.
Facial expression
A facial expression one or more motions or positions of the muscles in the skin. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among humans, but also occur...
in which the eyebrows are brought together, and the forehead is wrinkled, usually indicating displeasure, sadness
Sadness
Sadness is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, helplessness, sorrow, and rage. When sad, people often become outspoken, less energetic, and emotional...
or worry
Worry
Worry is thoughts, images and emotions of a negative nature in whichmental attempts are made to avoid anticipated potential threats. As an emotion it is experienced as anxiety or concern about a real or imagined issue, usually personal issues such as health or finances or broader ones such as...
, or less often confusion
ConFusion
ConFusion is an annual science fiction convention organized by the Stilyagi Air Corps and its parent organization, the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association. Commonly, it is held the third weekend of January. It is the oldest science fiction convention in Michigan, a regional, general SF con...
or concentration
Concentration
In chemistry, concentration is defined as the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Four types can be distinguished: mass concentration, molar concentration, number concentration, and volume concentration...
.
The appearance of a frown varies from culture to culture. Although most technical definitions define it as a wrinkling of the brow, in North America it is primarily thought of as an expression of the mouth. In those cases when used iconically, as with an emoticon, it is entirely presented as a curve of the lips facing away from the eyes ('down'). The mouth expression is also commonly referred to in the colloquial English phrase "turn that frown upside down" which indicates changing from sad to happy.
Description
Charles DarwinCharles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
described the primary act of frowning as the furrowing of the brow which leads to a rise in the upper lip and a down-turning of the corners of the mouth. While the appearance of a frown varies from culture to culture, there appears to be some degree of universality to the recognition of the frown as a negative facial expression. In fact, frowning as a component of anger or disgust is widely recognized as a universal expression easily recognized across cultures. This universality suggests a shared adaptive quality to frowning allowing for social communication of negative emotional states.
Scott Fahlman
Scott Fahlman
Scott Elliott Fahlman is a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. He is notable for early work on automated planning in a blocks world, on semantic networks, on neural networks , on the Dylan programming language, and on Common Lisp...
first suggested the use of the colon with the left parenthesis to iconically represent a frowning face on the internet in what has become a well-known emoticon
Emoticon
An emoticon is a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau word...
. In this form the frown is entirely presented as a curve of the lips facing away from the eyes.
Specifically, frowns that incorporate the furrowing of the brow are a response to perceived obstacles to the achievement of goals. While frowns that involve movement of the cheeks reflect an unpleasant reaction. Just as smiling alone can make you feel better, frowning can make you feel worse. In a scientific study participants that held their face in a frown ranked images as more unpleasant than participants who viewed the images with a neutral facial expression. In a similar test, participants reported increased anger with the manipulated expression of a frown and they also ranked cartoons they saw as less funny than participants with the manipulated expression of a smile.
Social behavior
In social settings frowns are most frequently used to express a range of negative emotions including anger and displeasure. However there are social differences that dictate who is allowed to frown in any given social setting. Socially dominant individuals are more likely to frown than those of a lower social status. Individuals with a high social status are permitted to display their emotions more freely, while low dominance individuals are expected to show signs of affiliationAffiliation
In law, affiliation is the term to describe a partnership between two or more parties.- Affiliation procedures in England :...
.
It is considered more socially acceptable for men to display negative emotions than women; women also tend to be less likely to frown than men. Unlike smiling, frowns do not appear to be directly socially contagious
Contagious
Contagious may refer to:* Contagious disease* "Contagious" , a 2001 song by The Isley Brothers* "Contagious", a 2007 song from Avril Lavigne's album The Best Damn Thing* Contagious , 2009* Contagious , 1987...
; seeing someone frown does not necessarily make you frown. However, in a scientific study participants that were subliminally exposed to frowning faces, were more likely to react with a frown when later shown a neutral face. Frowns can also increase counter-empathy reactions. When the loser of a competition frowns it increases brain responses associated with pleasure in the winner, which is possibly related to the feeling of schadenfreude
Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. This German word is used as a loanword in English and some other languages, and has been calqued in Danish and Norwegian as skadefryd and Swedish as skadeglädje....
experienced when witnessing the misfortune of others. Frowns also contribute to impressions formed even during brief encounters with other individuals. When shown a 30-second video clip (without audio) of a frowning college professor, students tend to rate the professor poorly on evaluations.
Muscles used
It is a long-held belief that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. It is difficult to determine exactly how many muscles are involved in smiling or frowning as there is a wide range of facial expressions that might be considered a frown or a smile. At minimum ten muscles are required to smile in which only the upper lip and corners of the mouth are lifted. A similarly minimal frown requires only six muscles to lower the corners of the mouth. According to plastic surgeon Dr. David H. Song of the University of Chicago Medical Center, however, frowning requires 11 muscles while smiling requires 12.This method of counting the number of muscles used in generating a facial expression does not take into account the energy consumed by each muscle or the individual variability in facial muscles. While humans share facial musculature to express the universal emotions some humans have more muscles in their face and may use more of them when smiling or frowning.| Frowning | Smiling |
|---|---|
| Platysma (2 muscles) | Zygomaticus major (2 muscles) |
| Orbicularis oculi (2 muscles) | Orbicularis oculi (2 muscles) |
| Corrugator supercilii (2 muscles) | Levator labii superioris Levator labii superioris The levator labii superioris is a muscle of the human body used in facial expression. It is a broad sheet, the origin of which extends from the side of the nose to the zygomatic bone.... (2 muscles) |
| Procerus (1 muscle) | Levator anguli oris Levator anguli oris The levator anguli oris is a facial muscle of the mouth arising from the canine fossa, immediately below the infraorbital foramen.... (2 muscles) |
| Orbicularis oris (1 muscle) | Risorius Risorius The risorius is a muscle of facial expression which arises in the fascia over the parotid gland and, passing horizontally forward, superficial to the platysma, inserts onto the skin at the angle of the mouth... (2 muscles) |
| Mentalis Mentalis The Mentalis is a paired central muscle of the lower lip, situated at the tip of the chin. It raises and pushes up the lower lip, causing wrinkling of the chin, as in doubt or displeasure... (1 muscle) |
Zygomaticus minor (2 muscles) |
| Depressor anguli oris (2 muscles) | |
| 11 muscles total | 12 muscles total |