Facial expression stereotypes of rich and poor adults and children.

Facial expression stereotypes can affect the perception of other people's facial expressions. This study examined facial expression stereotypes of poor and rich adults and children. Experiment 1 found that the adult participants associated rich adults with positive emotions (i.e., happiness) and poor adults with negative emotions (i.e., sadness). In Experiments 2-4, adult participants still thought that rich 4-, 6-, and 10-year-old children would show positive facial expressions (happiness) but did not think that poor 4-, 6-, and 10-year-old children would show negative emotions (sadness). These finding have implications concerning how adults communicate with poor and rich adults and children.