Smiles provide information about a social partner’s affect and intentions during social interaction. Although always encountered within a specific situation, the influence of contextual information upon smile evaluation has not been widely investigated. Moreover, little is known about the reciprocal effect of smiles on evaluations of their accompanying situations. In this research, we assessed how different smile types and situational contexts affected participants’ social evaluations. In Study 1, 85 participants rated reward, affiliation, and dominance smiles embedded within either enjoyable, polite, or negative situations. Context had a strong effect on smile ratings, such that smiles in enjoyable contexts were rated as more genuine and joyful, as well as indicating less superiority than those in negative contexts. In Study 2, 200 participants evaluated the contexts that these smiles were perceived within (rather than the smiles themselves). Although situations paired with reward (vs. affiliation) smiles tended to be rated more positively, this effect was absent for negative situations. Ultimately, the findings point toward the bidirectional relationship between smiles and contexts, which comprises both the facial appearance and the nature of the situation.
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