| Abstract: |
Emotion display serves as incentives or deterrents for others’ in many social
interactions. We study the portrayal of anger and happiness, two emotions
associated with dominance, and its relationship to team performance in a high
stake environment. We analyze 4,318 pictures of players from 304 participating
teams in twelve editions (1970-2014) of the FIFA Soccer World Cup, and use
automated face-reading (FaceReader 6) to evaluate the display of anger and
happiness. We observe that the display of both anger and happiness is
positively correlated with team performance in the World Cup. Teams whose
players display more anger, an emotion associated with competitiveness,
concede fewer goals. Teams whose players display more happiness, an emotion
associated with confidence, score more goals. We show that this result is
driven by less than half the players in a team. |