Signal value of stress behaviour

Whitehouse, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2607-5492, Milward, SJ, Parker, MO, Kavanagh, E ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7202-005X and Waller, BM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6303-7458, 2022. Signal value of stress behaviour. Evolution and Human Behavior. ISSN 1090-5138

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Abstract

Physiological and psychological stress are accompanied by nonverbal behaviour across a wide range of species. The function of this 'stress behaviour' is not well understood but is often assumed to be read by others as a cue to stress. Displaying signs of weakness is, however, difficult to understand from an evolutionary perspective and therefore further investigation into why these behaviours exist is needed. Here, we test whether displacement behaviours (i.e., those known to be associated with stress) are reliable indicators of stress in humans. To do this, we presented raters (N = 133) with videos of individuals (N = 31) undergoing a stress-inducting task. Self-directed displacement behaviours and self-reported stress were both associated with stress ratings given by raters. Therefore, such behaviours can provide reliable information to others and can be considered communicative. Individuals producing more nonverbal stress behaviour were rated as more likeable by raters (perhaps presenting as more honest signallers), indicating a benefit and potential adaptive function of displaying stress. Raters also differed in their accuracy in detecting stress from nonverbal cues. Findings suggest that the accuracy with which individuals were able to detect stress was linked to the number of social connections they reported to have. However, this association was non-linear, with individuals who were most and least accurate reporting the least network connections. This could indicate that the ability to read behaviour is associated with an ability to form and maintain social networks.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Evolution and Human Behavior
Creators:	Whitehouse, J., Milward, S.J., Parker, M.O., Kavanagh, E. and Waller, B.M.
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date:	13 May 2022
ISSN:	1090-5138
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.04.001 DOI 1545840 Other
Rights:	© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	16 May 2022 13:31
Last Modified:	16 May 2022 13:31
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/46324

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