A Risk or an Opportunity? Facial Expressions of Fear in Bargaining

Successful bargaining often depends on our emotional expressions. We test whether a bargainer’s facial expressions of fear make their partner more generous or opportunistic, and whether it depends on whose welfare the fear is about. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants played the role of the responder in an ultimatum game. Before choosing the lowest offer they would accept, they viewed a video of a typical proposer whose facial expression was either fearful or neutral, paired with a statement warning of the mutual harm if the deal fails. Participants were willing to accept lower offers after viewing the fearful face compared to the neutral face. In Experiment 3, participants played a dictator game and decided how much of the pot they would take. Before deciding, they viewed a video of a typical partner whose facial expression was either fearful or neutral, paired with a statement of the individual harm to the partner if the dictator is selfish. Participants who viewed the fearful expression took more money for themselves. These findings provide evidence that a fearful face can make a partner more generous when it warns of mutual harm, but not when it conveys a threat to only the signaler.