Fritz Strack (born February 6, 1950) is a German social psychologist and professor emeritus at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

. Strack is a member of Germany's National

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

and was awarded the

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of ...

for psychology in 2019. He was the lead author of a frequently cited 1988 study that provided support for the

facial feedback hypothesis The facial feedback hypothesis, rooted in the conjectures of Charles Darwin and William James, is that one's facial expression directly affects their emotional experience. Specifically, physiological activation of the facial regions associated with ...

Study on facial feedback

Strack's study asked participants to hold a pen in their mouths in such a way as to make them either smile or frown, and then had them rate how funny a series of ''

the Far Side ''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealist ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

s were. In this study, participants who were smiling rated the cartoons as funnier, on average, compared to those who were frowning. In 2016, a study by a separate research team was published which failed to replicate the original study's results. Strack himself suggestedStrack, F. (2016). Reflection on the smiling registered replication report. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(6), 929–930. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616674460 that the negative results of the replication study may have been caused by its researchers' use of a video camera to record the participants' responses. He also took issue with the replication study's choice of the same cartoons that had originally been used in 1985. Subsequent research has supported Strack's claim that participants knowing they are being recorded by cameras led to the replication study's negative result. Further evidence has provided additional support for both the pen procedure and the validity of the facial-feedback hypothesis.Coles, N. A., Larsen, J. T., & Lench, H. C. (2019). A meta-analysis of the facial feedback literature: Effects of facial feedback on emotional experience are small and variable. Psychological Bulletin, 145(6), 610-651.Marsh, A. A., Rhoads, S. A., & Ryan, R. M. (2018). A multi-semester classroom demonstration yields evidence in support of the facial feedback effect. Emotion, 19(8), 1500–1504.

References

External links

Faculty pageProfile
at

Social Psychology Network The Social Psychology Network (SPN) is an educational organization with more than 1,500 members worldwide. SPN was founded by psychology professor Scott Plous as a website in 1996. Development of SPN was supported by several grants from the Nationa ...

* Living people German psychologists Social psychologists 1950 births University of Würzburg faculty University of Mannheim alumni Stanford University alumni People from Landau {{Germany-psychologist-stub