Alan Fridlund
Professor
Biography
Alan J. Fridlund is a social and clinical psychologist whose interests lie in human ethology (especially nonverbal communication), neuroethology, psychopathology, and sexology. He won the Distinguished Early Career Contribution Award of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, and was a member of the Faculty in Experimental Psychopathology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Human Facial Expression: An Evolutionary View (Academic Press, 1994), and with Dan Reisberg (Reed College) and Henry Gleitman (U. Penn.), the introductory text Psychology (6th Ed., Norton, 2003).
Research
My current research interests focus on how facial expressions affect social interaction, including interaction with both implicit others (inanimate and/or nonhuman ones we vest with mind and agency), and imaginary others (the people "in our heads").
Selected Publications
Fridlund, A. J., Beck, H. P., & Goldie, W. M. (book ms in prep.). John B. Watson and Little Albert: The history,
science, and legacy of the Albert study.
Crivelli, C., Fridlund, A. J., & Williams, B. A. (2026, in press). Natural and cultural selection in emotion: Evolution
is not what is used to be. In M. Yik (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Emotion and Culture. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Russell, J. A., Gendron, M., Fridlund, A. J., & Yik, M. (2026 ,in press). Culture in the psychological construction of
emotion. In M. Yik (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Emotion and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fridlund, A. J., & Russell, J. A. (2024). Evolution, emotion, and facial behavior: A 21 st- century view. In L. Al-
Shawaf & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions (pp. 55-78)
Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197544754.013.3
Patterson, M. L., Fridlund, A. J., & Crivelli, C. (2023). Four Misconceptions About Nonverbal Communication.
Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(6), 1388-1411. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221148142
Fridlund, A. J. (2021). Do faces lie? Ted Bundy and the smiles of strangers. In C. J. Liberman (Ed.), Casing
nonverbal communication. Dubuque: Kendall-Hunt.
Crivelli, C., & Fridlund, A. J. (2019). Inside-out: From Basic Emotions Theory to the Behavioral Ecology View. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 43, 161-194. DOI:10.1007/s10919-019-00294-2
Fridlund, A.J., Crivelli, C., Jarillo, S., Fernández-Dols, J.-M., & Russell, J. A (2019). Facial expressions. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_797
Crivelli, C., & Fridlund, A. J. (2018). Facial displays are tools for social influence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22, 388-399. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.02.006
Fridlund, A. J. (2017). The behavioral ecology view of facial displays, 25 years later. In J.-M. Fernandez-Dols & J. A. Russell (Eds.), The science of facial expression (pp. 77-92).
