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Emotional facial expressions do not occur in isolation; they are embedded in social interactions and shaped by the situations in which they emerge. Contextual information, including the identity of interaction partners, cultural expectations, power relations, and surrounding events, influences how expressions are produced, perceived, and interpreted. Yet this relationship also operates in the opposite direction: facial expressions provide observers with information that helps them define the situation, infer intentions, and coordinate their responses.

This talk by presents a bidirectional account of context and emotional expression, highlighting the dynamic interplay between person, expression, and social environment. Drawing on research on emotion communication and perception, it shows how expressions both reflect and actively construct social reality. It further considers how social norms guide the appropriateness and interpretation of emotional displays, and how these norms are learned through observing others. Facial expressions are thus understood as flexible social signals whose meaning develops through interaction.

The talk will consider applications of a contextual view of emotional expressions to intercultural communication, workplace interactions, and Human-AI agent social interaction.

Ursula Hess is an internationally renowned psychologist and Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Humboldt University of Berlin. An internationally leading expert on emotion and nonverbal communication, her research explores how facial expressions shape first impressions, how and why we mirror other people鈥檚 emotions, and how culture and social context influence our understanding of others.

She earned her Ph.D. at Dartmouth College and has held academic positions at the University of Geneva and the University of Quebec at Montreal. She has served as President of both the International Society for Research on Emotion and the Society for Psychophysiological Research. Prof. Hess has published more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters in some of the leading academic outlets of her field.