3 Humorous Smiling: A Reverse Cross-Validation of the Smiling Intensity Scale for the Identification of Conversational Humor
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Elisa Gironzetti
Abstract
The Smiling Intensity Scale (SIS, Gironzetti, Pickering, Huang, Zhang, Menjo & Attardo, 2016) is a holistic FACS-based instrument developed for the study of smiling. The SIS comprises 5 different levels of smiling classified based on their visual properties (e.g., showing of teeth) and underlying muscle activation (e.g., the presence of AU 12; see Ekman & Friesen, 1978). The SIS has so far been employed to study the relationship between different levels of smiling and humor in computer-mediated and face-to-face conversations in English and Spanish (Gironzetti et al., 2016, 2019; Gironzetti, 2021), as well as in French (Priego- Valverde et al., 2018). Findings from these studies indicated that (a) people’ smiling intensity is higher in the presence of humor as compared to each person’s baseline, (b) interlocutors tend to display smiling patterns that frame the occurrence of humor, and (c) dyads show joint smiling behaviors at the same SIS level with humor. Based on these findings, the current study aims at reverse-validating the SIS as an instrument that could be applied to identify humor in a multimodal corpus. To this end, 2 dyadic, semi-naturalistic, computer-mediated conversations (approximately 26 minutes each, for a total of 52 minutes and 38 humor instances in total) were recorded. Each speaker was instructed to break the ice by telling a joke given by the researcher and then continue talking freely for about 20 minutes. Conversations were analyzed by applying the SIS to identify moments in which speakers show evidence of humor-related smiling behaviors (that is, increased smiling intensity and smiling intensity matching). This initial coding was done one speaker at a time and without having access to the audio of the conversations, therefore not knowing whether and when humor was present in each conversation and not seeing the facial expression of the other interlocutor, to eliminate the risk of rater bias. Then, the speech that co-occurs with these humorrelated smiling behaviors is analyzed following the method outlined in Gironzetti et al. (2019) to verify whether any humor was in fact produced by any of the speakers. Findings from this study contribute to the growing body of research on the relationship between smiling and humor by assessing the degree of generalizability of SIS-based findings.
Abstract
The Smiling Intensity Scale (SIS, Gironzetti, Pickering, Huang, Zhang, Menjo & Attardo, 2016) is a holistic FACS-based instrument developed for the study of smiling. The SIS comprises 5 different levels of smiling classified based on their visual properties (e.g., showing of teeth) and underlying muscle activation (e.g., the presence of AU 12; see Ekman & Friesen, 1978). The SIS has so far been employed to study the relationship between different levels of smiling and humor in computer-mediated and face-to-face conversations in English and Spanish (Gironzetti et al., 2016, 2019; Gironzetti, 2021), as well as in French (Priego- Valverde et al., 2018). Findings from these studies indicated that (a) people’ smiling intensity is higher in the presence of humor as compared to each person’s baseline, (b) interlocutors tend to display smiling patterns that frame the occurrence of humor, and (c) dyads show joint smiling behaviors at the same SIS level with humor. Based on these findings, the current study aims at reverse-validating the SIS as an instrument that could be applied to identify humor in a multimodal corpus. To this end, 2 dyadic, semi-naturalistic, computer-mediated conversations (approximately 26 minutes each, for a total of 52 minutes and 38 humor instances in total) were recorded. Each speaker was instructed to break the ice by telling a joke given by the researcher and then continue talking freely for about 20 minutes. Conversations were analyzed by applying the SIS to identify moments in which speakers show evidence of humor-related smiling behaviors (that is, increased smiling intensity and smiling intensity matching). This initial coding was done one speaker at a time and without having access to the audio of the conversations, therefore not knowing whether and when humor was present in each conversation and not seeing the facial expression of the other interlocutor, to eliminate the risk of rater bias. Then, the speech that co-occurs with these humorrelated smiling behaviors is analyzed following the method outlined in Gironzetti et al. (2019) to verify whether any humor was in fact produced by any of the speakers. Findings from this study contribute to the growing body of research on the relationship between smiling and humor by assessing the degree of generalizability of SIS-based findings.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
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Part 1: Face-to-face interactions
- 1 A multimodal approach to children’s development of humor in family life 15
- 2 On target. On the role of eye-gaze during teases in face-to-face multiparty interaction 53
- 3 Humorous Smiling: A Reverse Cross-Validation of the Smiling Intensity Scale for the Identification of Conversational Humor 87
- 4 Alternative conceptualizations of the Smiling Intensity Scale (SIS) and their applications to the identification of humor 109
- 5 Facial gestures and laughter as a resource for negotiating humor in conversation 131
- 6 Multimodal humor in human-robot interaction 169
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Part 2: Mediated interactions
- 7 Facial expressions as multimodal markers of humor: More evidence from scripted and non-scripted interactions 209
- 8 Emojis and jocular flattery in Chinese instant messaging interactions 231
- 9 More than laughter: Multimodal humour and the negotiation of ingroup identities in mobile instant messaging interactions 263
- 10 Humour and creativity in a family of strangers on Facebook 289
- 11 “Loanword translation and corrective acts are incongruous”: Debating metapragmatic stereotypes through humorous memes 319
- Index 355
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Face-to-face interactions
- 1 A multimodal approach to children’s development of humor in family life 15
- 2 On target. On the role of eye-gaze during teases in face-to-face multiparty interaction 53
- 3 Humorous Smiling: A Reverse Cross-Validation of the Smiling Intensity Scale for the Identification of Conversational Humor 87
- 4 Alternative conceptualizations of the Smiling Intensity Scale (SIS) and their applications to the identification of humor 109
- 5 Facial gestures and laughter as a resource for negotiating humor in conversation 131
- 6 Multimodal humor in human-robot interaction 169
-
Part 2: Mediated interactions
- 7 Facial expressions as multimodal markers of humor: More evidence from scripted and non-scripted interactions 209
- 8 Emojis and jocular flattery in Chinese instant messaging interactions 231
- 9 More than laughter: Multimodal humour and the negotiation of ingroup identities in mobile instant messaging interactions 263
- 10 Humour and creativity in a family of strangers on Facebook 289
- 11 “Loanword translation and corrective acts are incongruous”: Debating metapragmatic stereotypes through humorous memes 319
- Index 355
