Dr. Hess' current research is in the area of emotion psychology, in particular, the communication of affect with an emphasis on two main lines of research. First, using psychophysiological (e.g., electromyography) measures she studies the influence of a sender's expressive behavior on the receiver, in terms of mimicry and emotional contagion. Second, she is interested in the role of social influences (e.g., beliefs about group membership) in the encoding and decoding of emotion expressions. More recent research efforts aim to combine these lines of research into a larger theoretical perspective.

Primary Interests:

Communication, Language
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Gender Psychology
Intergroup Relations
Interpersonal Processes
Motivation, Goal Setting
Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
Nonverbal Behavior
Persuasion, Social Influence

Communication, Language
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Gender Psychology
Intergroup Relations
Interpersonal Processes

Motivation, Goal Setting
Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
Nonverbal Behavior
Persuasion, Social Influence

Research Group or Laboratory:

Social Psychophysiology Laboratory
Interactive Map

Books:

Hess, U. & Philippot, P. (Eds.), 2007. Group Dynamics and Emotional Expression. New York, Cambridge University Press.

Journal Articles:

Hareli, S., & Hess, U. (2010). What emotional reactions can tell us about the nature of others: An appraisal perspective on person perception. Cognition and Emotion, 24, 128-140
Hess, U., Adams, Jr, R.B., Kleck, R.E. (2009). The face is not an empty canvas: How facial expressions interact with facial appearance. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B, 364, 497-3504.
Hess, U., Banse, R., & Kappas, A. (1995). The intensity of facial expression is determined by underlying affective state and social situation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 280-288.Guilford Press.
Hess, U. & Blairy, S. (2001). Facial mimicry and emotional contagion to dynamic emotional facial expressions and their influence on decoding accuracy. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 40, 129-141.
Hess, U., & Bourgeois, P. (2010). You smile – I smile: Emotion expression in social interaction. Biological Psychology, 84, 514–520
Hess, U., Sabourin, G., Kleck, R. E. (2007). Postauricular and eye-blink startle responses to facial expressions. Psychophysiology, 44, 431-435.
Hess, U. & Thibault, P. (2009). Darwin and emotion expression. American Psychologist, 64, 120-128.
Lanctôt, N. & Hess, U. (2007). The timing of appraisals. Emotion, 7, 207-212.
Niedenthal, P.M., Mermillod, M., Maringer, M., & Hess, U (2010). The Simulation of Smiles (SIMS) Model: Embodied Simulation and the Meaning of Facial Expression. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 417 -433
Thibault, P., Bourgeois, P., & Hess, U. (2006). The effect of group-identification on emotion recognition: The case of cats and basketball players. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 676-683.

Ursula Hess
Department of Psychology
Humboldt University of Berlin
Rudower Chaussee 18
12489 Berlin
Germany

Phone: +49 30 2093-9327
Fax: +49 30 2093-9332