“One cannot not communicate“, (Watzlawick et al. 1967) because every behaviour, even if it is silent and may occur below the level of consciousness, reveals information about oneself. It remains doubtful, though, how far the disclosed information matches the way it got received. Even if non verbal communication is performed advisedly, may the sender always rest assured that his message reached the receiver correctly? In the light of intercultural differences it is highly dubiously. However, according to Charles Darwin (1872/1998), regarding facial expressions it is not: “[...] the same state of mind is expressed throughout the world with remarkable uniformity“
In his work The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Darwin claims to have found out that the six most relevant feelings (happy, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, and sad) are reflected identically by facial expressions throughout the whole world, since we all share the same ancestors. This theory was considered as assured over many years. However, Rachael E. Jack (2012) challenges Darwin's statement by submitting that
“Cultural specificity in the facial expression models therefore likely reflects differences in the facial expression signals transmitted and encountered by observers in their social environment.“
Against the background of this, the present paper is in particular concerned with the cross-cultural similarities and differences of facial epressiveness, having the Asian and Western Culture in contemplation.
Verbal communication without moving any body parts is easily done, whereas speaking without allowing the face to move is rather impossible. Therefore, one can assume that facial expressiveness, besides speech, is the most common and important wa...
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...face reveals: basic and applied studies of spontaneous expression using the facial action coding system (FACS). 2nd ed 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press
SUSSKIND, J. M. et al., 2008. Generating Facial Expressions with Deep Belief Nets. In Affective Computing, Emotion Modelling, Synthesis and Recognition. Chapter 23
TANAKA, A. et al., 2010. Cultural Differences in the Multisensory Perception of Emotion. Psychological science, 21(9), 1259-1262
MATSUMOTO, D., B. WILLINGHAM, 2009. Spontaneous facial expressions of emotion of congenitally and noncongenitally blind individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 1-10
MORRIS, D., 2002. People Watching the Desmond Morris guide to body language. London: Vintage
AKECHI, H. et al. 2013. Attention to Eye Contact in the West and East: Autonomic Responses and Evaluative Ratings. PloS one, Vol.8(3), e59312
see the first sign of emotions when "Their face did not move and they did not
The researchers went about the testing process by showing each individual 3 pictures of different facial expressions and have them explain what it is that the person was feeling in the photograph. They compared these results to a control group of 23 adults who have been exposed to western civilization, and who were familiar with other cultures.
Hess, U., & Thibault, P. (2009). Darwin and Emotion Expression. American Psychologist, 2, 120-124. doi:10.1037/a0013386
Darwin in 1872 put forth the notion that emotional expressions are inborn and involuntary displays of one’s inner state (1). Darwin developed this ideology further and proposed what is now known as the Inhibition hypothesis (1). This two pronged theory describes the relation of emotion to facial muscle activation, more commonly known as facial expressions (1). The theory states that (a) specific facial muscles can not be intentionally engaged when the genuine emotion is lacking and (b) certain muscles can not be inhibited when a genuine emotion is experienced - it has been noted that this emotion must be particularly intense (Porter and ten Brinke, 2008; Porter, ten Brinke, & Wallace, 2011).
While communicating with another human being, one only has to examine the other’s face in order to comprehend what is being said on a much deeper level. It is said that up to 55 percent of a message’s meaning can be derived from facial expression (Subramani, 2010). These facial manipulations allow thoughts to be expressed in ways that are often difficult to articulate verbally, with the face demonstrating “the thoughts of the mind, and the feelings of the heart” (Singla). Many expressions are said to universal, particularly those showing happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and...
[18] Tranel, D., Damasio, A.R., 1985. Knowledge without awareness: an autonomic index of facial recognition by prosopagnosics. Science 228, 1453–1454.
A person’s face is tremendously expressive when it comes to emotions, a person’s face is able to display a numerous amount of emotions worth almost a thousand words. And unlike some forms of nonverbal communication, facial expressions are universal worldwide. Facial expressions for feelings anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise and many more are the same all around the world.
Woods states that nonverbal patterns reflect specific cultures and nonverbal behavior is not instinctive but learned in the process of socialization (p. 124). Our culture in Puerto Rico, children are considered to be disrespectful if they make eye contact when spoken to by an adult; especially when being reprimanded. Nevertheless, closing one’s eyes completely is a sign of unreserved disrespect when someone is speaking to
Instead, they express universal emotions and are therefore biological. He discovered that several facial expressions of emotion, such as fear, anger, sadness, joy, and surprise were universal and that people could easily read these expressions in people from different cultures. From his research working with tribal people in New Guinea, Ekman devised a list of universal emotions and expressions that he believed were present in all humans. They include surprise, sadness, happiness, disgust, anger, and fear. Ekman created the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which categorized every expression, not only on the face but also throughout the rest of the body.
Cultural based explanations posit that emotions are acquired via socialisation and recognise that cultural beliefs play an important role since research has indicated cultural variations amongst individualistic (USA) and collectivists (Japan) cultures. Studies have also focused on recognition rates of emotions and in relation to age.
Plutchik, Robert (1980), Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion, 1, New York: Academic
Management consultant, educator, and author Peter F. Drucker said it best: “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn 't said”(Nonverbal Delivery). This quote illustrates just how significant body language and nonverbal communication really is. This study will cover the implications that nonverbal communication has in and outside of the workplace as well as people’s homes. This applies to every human being who would like to improve their communication skills.
...oes for most of the emotions that people feel. I never really noticed any of this before I started writing this paper. I shared this information with my best friend and she was amazed that the way people interact is generally the same within groups in society. She now has a better understanding of the communication patterns and behaviors of people and she is not even in the class.
Emotion is the “feeling” aspect of consciousness that includes physical, behavioral, and subjective (cognitive) elements. Emotion also contains three elements which are physical arousal, a certain behavior that can reveal outer feelings and inner feelings. One key part in the brain, the amygdala which is located within the limbic system on each side of the brain, plays a key role in emotional processing which causes emotions such as fear and pleasure to be involved with the human facial expressions.The common-sense theory of emotion states that an emotion is experienced first, leading to a physical reaction and then to a behavioral reaction.The James-Lange theory states that a stimulus creates a physiological response that then leads to the labeling of the emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory states that the physiological reaction and the emotion both use the thalamus to send sensory information to both the cortex of the brain and the organs of the sympathetic nervous system. The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial expressions provide feedback to the brain about the emotion being expressed on the face, increasing all the emotions. In Schachter and Singer’s cognitive arousal theory, also known as the two-factor theory, states both the physiological arousal and the actual arousal must occur before the emotion itself is experienced, based on cues from the environment. Lastly, in the cognitive-mediational theory
“Some emotional experience is an interpretation and not merely given by our physiological state” (Hutchison, 2015, p.127). Dan shows that his personality is biased against sadness, which could be caused by something that has happened in his earlier years. Hutchison (2015) states, “Dan interprets sadness as a way to regain energy and to reevaluate his needs, which also signals other to provide Dan with support” (p.129). However, with the cultural difference many did not know what Dan’s interpretation of sadness was because his fellow classmates have a different meaning of sadness. So, physiological theory shows within different cultures, each emotion are organized around many different affective