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Judgments of Subtle Facial Expressions of Emotion

Subtle Image DM siteDrs. David Matsumoto, Humintell’s director, and Hyisung Hwang continue their research into facial expressions of emotion with their latest research on judgments of subtle facial expressions of emotion.

Past Studies:
Previous studies on judgments of facial expressions of emotion have primarily utilized prototypical, high-intensity expressions. These are expressions that involve full-face configurations with contractions of muscles at high-intensity levels with no other muscle innervations.

This study: Subtle Facial Expressions of Emotion
This research examined judgments of subtle facial expressions of emotion, not only low-intensity versions of full-face prototypes, but also variants of those prototypes. It also examined how signal and intensity clarities of the expressions were associated with judgment-agreement levels.

Subtle facial expressions are not a new concept and were originally suggested over 30 years ago in the original version of the Facial Action Coding System Manual (FACS).  FACS is a technique for measuring any facial behavior including but not limited to emotional expressions.  It allows for the identification of each of the functionally independent muscle movements in the face.  There are roughly 40 AUs (action units) that are currently identifiable.

The seven universal facial expressions of emotion all have a listing of the proposed AU configurations for each expression including the proposed variants of each facial expression of emotion. However, there has not been an operational definition for subtle expressions that involve low-intensity and/or few appearance changes in the face.

There are two theories on the existence of subtle expressions:
1.      The first is that they are produced because of learned cultural and/or individual habits that modify the full-face, prototypic configurations.
2.    The second suggests that subtle expressions are produced as the result of a cumulative series of sequential checks in the appraisal process that can produce a wide variety of expressive configurations.

It is important to note that this study’s purpose was not to examine which theory is more accurate on the underlying reasons subtle expressions exist, but to identify which subtle expressions may have signal value as emotions.

The Study’s Findings:  Examination of variant expression obtained significantly greater-than-chance percentage-agreement rates of the intended emotion suggested potentially new facial configurations of subtle emotional expressions.

Low-intensity, full-face prototypical expressions of emotion were judged as the intended emotions at rates significantly greater than chance. A number of the proposed FACS variants were also judged as the intended emotions, as were a number of other proposed variants. Both signal and intensity clarities were individually associated with judgment-agreement rates; when their inter-relationships were taken into account.  However, signal clarity independently predicted agreement rates, but intensity clarity did not. The presence or absence of specific AUs appeared to be more important to agreement rates than their intensity levels, with the exception of the relationship between AU 12 and agreement rates for judgments of joy.

The data provided in this study highlights which expressions and AUs are associated with emotion judgments and thus are the likely candidates to be considered as signals of either modified innate programs or an appraisal process.

The current findings also demonstrate that signal clarity derived from combinations of specific AUs predicts emotion judgment-agreement rates, suggesting that signal clarity be taken into account in theories and studies of the role of context in emotion perception

To read more on Drs. Matsumoto & Hwang’s other research projects  click here.

National Geographic – Triumph, an Instinctive Expression

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Courtesy of StockVault

The moment of victory is a part of our inherent need for dominance.

Humintell’s director, Dr. David Matsumoto, was interviewed by National Geographic for their weekend radio show about athletes and their expression of winning in competitive sports.

“Chest thumping and celebrating over the conquered rival has become so ubiquitous in sports that psychologist and judo coach, David Matsumoto began to wonder about the roots of these types of behaviors. He’s now a Professor of Psychology at San Francisco State University and now has found that this impulse to display dominance is common among all humans, even blind athletes who have never witnessed the phenomenon visually.“

Dr. Matsumoto goes on to note that the value of the victory just achieved also plays an important role in the outward display of emotion.

To find out more about the universal triumph display, listen to National Geographic Weekend’s podcast below. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why Russians Aren’t Smiling in Sochi

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Photo Courtesy of StockVault

According to Ed Leigh and The National Journal, Russians aren’t returning smiles that are so freely given by many American and Europeans during this exciting and joyous time of the Winter Olympics.

Why are these smiles not reciprocated?

Well, its not as spiteful as you might think.  When Leigh asked a native Russian why no one was returning his smiley greetings he was told, “In Russia only two types of people smile: idiots and rich people—and rich people don’t walk on the street.“

What may be perceived as a friendly and sincere greeting from Americans and many Europeans, comes off as a forced and insincere gesture for Russians.  In their culture, one must have a good reason for smiling and that reason should be obvious to the smiler and the receiver of the smile.

So its more of the cultural norm than a personal attack against another culture or nationality.  For Russians, a smile in public is not the polite expression that Americans reflexively offer strangers on the street.  When people smile without hesitation—for no reason—Russians tend to find those grins artificial or insincere and they think those people have a few screws loose.

Americans, on the other hand, seem to smile for any reason at all. The “American smile” has a long-standing bad reputation in Russia, explained Michael Bohm, the opinion-page editor of The Moscow Times.

There are many reasons why Russians do not smile as readily as other cultures.  As the article points out during the early Soviet era in the 1980s when anti-U.S. propaganda abounded, Soviet media regularly blasted reports called “Their Customs,” explaining that Americans, a power-hungry people, smiled to deceive others.

“There’s so much to be happy about here!“ the Soviet government told its people—guaranteed jobs and housing, free education, a nuclear war chest to protect the empire – yet the people were waiting in line to buy bread or milk.

The very form of government can dictate how its people control their expression of emotions, according to Dr. David Matsumoto, an expert on microexpressions, gesture, and nonverbal behavior. In collectivist nations, like Russia and China, people tend to neutralize happy expressions, blending in with the rest of the population.  In contrast, members of individualist societies, like the United States, crack smiles freely and often, reflecting the openness of their political climate.

Everyday life for Russian people has historically been grueling, and their hardships were reflected in their expressiveness.  Russia’s poker face “has little to do with Dostoevsky or the cold climate,” Bohm says, and much more to do with centuries of government oppression and corruption.

What are your thoughts on the Russian poker face?
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