Rank-O-ToM: Unlocking Emotional Nuance Ranking to Enhance Affective Theory-of-Mind

Abstract

Facial Expression Recognition (FER) plays a foundational role in enabling AI systems to interpret emotional nuances, a critical aspect of affective Theory of Mind (ToM). However, existing models often struggle with poor calibration and a limited capacity to capture emotional intensity and complexity. To address this, we propose Ranking the Emotional Nuance for Theory of Mind (Rank-O-ToM), a framework that leverages ordinal ranking to align confidence levels with the emotional spectrum. By incorporating synthetic samples reflecting diverse affective complexities, Rank-O-ToM enhances the nuanced understanding of emotions, advancing AI's ability to reason about affective states.