Facial Expression: Article Analysis

Science released an article entitled “Facial Expressions—Including Fear—May Not Be as Universal as We Thought”, written by Michael Pierce on October 17, 2016. In this article Pierce discusses how 50 years ago it was assumed that facial expressions were universal. However, it has been found that in the present day, this may not be the case. Expressions such as happiness, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, or hunger, were all assumed to be expressed the same way as well as interpreted the same way. A study was conducted in the Trobriand Islands, were Trobrianders were shown as series of photos with facial expressions. They were asked to describe the emotions they interpreted from the photos, the results were intriguing. Pierce (2016) describes how

Results of the experiment overwhelmingly supported the hypothesis. Particularly in the measurements of smiling. Male-female dyads showed extraordinarily higher frequencies of smiling during conversation than the other dyads. Both same gender dyads showed relatively marginal to moderate frequencies for smiling. Eye contact frequencies were also higher for male-female dyads, though not as overwhelmingly as smiling. In contrast, both same gender dyads showed relatively low frequencies for eye contact.

In 1924, Carney Landis set up an experiment to determine whether there is a common facial expression for each emotion that we experience. For example, is there a specific facial expression, used by everyone, for when we feel anger, fear etc? This became the aim of his work. At the time, Carney Landis was a graduate at the university of Minnesota thus the subjects of the experiment were mostly students (madsciencemuseum, 2011). There were 25 subjects in total; of that there were 12 women, 12 men and 1 boy aged 13 (Landis, 1924). Each person was taken into an experimental room and their faces were painted with black lines to allow Landis to clearly see the change in their expressions (madsciencemuseum, 2011). He photographed each change in expression as they reacted to each situation and he could refer to the black lines when analysing the photographs (madsciencemuseum, 2011). Apparatus was set up over 2 rooms; the first

Facial Expression: The facial expression such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear helps a lot in conveying a message. These facial expressions are similar all over the world but non- verbal communication and behaviour varies hugely between the cultures in the world.Since the look on a person’s face is noticed , before we hear ,facial expression contributes a lot in a successfully non-verbal communication .

The overall results collected by 257 students for each of the expression is roughly 2.8 for frown, 3.2 for neutral, and 3.9 for smile, each data at a statistically significant p-value of 0.001. This result disproves the norm of reciprocity theory in the hypothesis since a frown received a response closer to neutral.

There was a seven year old child named Kiki who was found and dug out of rubble in Haiti after being stuck buried in there for 7 days. At first he was scared to leave the hole but when he got out he wasn't scared anymore, he didn't cry, he did quite the opposite in fact he stretched out his arms like a star and had a huge smile on his face. All the people around couldn't help but smile aswell because Kiki’s smile was infectious! Now a show of hands how many times a day you think that you smile? 4000? 20? 150? 60? On average a child smiles approximately 400 times per day but adults only smile 20 times per day teens like us are anywhere within the middle because of the fluctuating hormones. Out of the thousands of smiles we have shared by this

At first, I think the reason that Cunningham used monkeys to be as an example is to make the connection between two closely species. As the monkeys, they use their smiles to show that they are passive and not going to harm anyone around them; this detail makes us think about women use the smiles just like monkeys by a biological trait to show that they are non-threatening. The act of smiling is seen as non-threatening because of how it has been perceived by other people. This facial expression of smiling has actually gone through an evolutionary history much like any living species, following the rules of survival of the fittest. It has been seen as a happy expression, used when someone laughs or hears good news. Because of this, it is popularly seen as the stereotypical expression of happiness.

Something so simple as a smile is much more complex than what meets the eye. In America’s culture we view smiling as a positive friendly feeling, but in many other cultures it’s actually the opposite. We view smiling as a form of respect and use it as a tool to help us either build or to repair relationships. One example of a “non-smiling” culture is Japan. Japanese culture values humility and so they tend to suppress their emotions in order to help build relationships with people. Another “non-smiling” country is Russia. In Russia, smiling is reserved for close friends and so smiling at strangers is viewed as being insincere. Therefore, the question at hand is why is smiling something that is so important in our culture? According to Mrs. Cunningham (par. 12) “Women are expected to smile no matter where they line up on the social, cultural, or economic

Cunningham believes that a smile does not only contains a positive emotion. She was being informative when she states that people from different cultures also smiles when they are frighten, miserable, or embarrassed. Emphasizing her point further, she provided an example from Japan. Correspondingly, Cunningham used research and facts as she addressed “Psychologist Paul Ekman, the head of the University of California’s Human Interaction Lab in San Francisco, has identified 18 distinct types of smiles, including those that shows misery, compliance, fear and contempt.” (263). Aside from using logos to enhance her argument, Cunningham also uses ethos in considered to make the audience feels more certain when reading her article. Notwithstanding, her point of view, she after then states a sentence that is considered to be a fallacy. Introduction to her next paragraph, she wrote “Evidently, a woman’s happy, willing deference, is something the world wants visibly.”, and example of hasty generalization. Though it was said evidently, there was no follow up reasons to support that the worlds wants it clearly. A woman’s happiness is something that not everyone to embrace. Therefore, it is yet another stereotyped that the authors support but did not established through

One of my goals for this semester is to try to smile more during my sessions to show warmth. I think by showing warmth it will hopefully allow my client to open up more and they will feel more comfortable talking and sharing with me. I think by smiling it shows warmth, and it also shows the client that I want to be there and that I am engaged with what they have to say. My method of evaluation for this goal will be to review all my recorded sessions for the semester and watch my facial expressions regarding smiling and if I appear warm. By watching the recordings I will also be able to determine if my smile is portrayed as genuine or fake. I will also evaluate my goal by asking for feedback from peers, and ask them if they thought my facial

Most people are surprised to learn exactly how much information they communicated about themselves through their facial expressions. The intricacies of what one does with their the eyes, eyebrows, forehead, lips, tongue, teeth, and mouth while listening or talking combine to send some

Laughter can be observed as children giggling on a playground or the businessman chuckling at his lunch meeting. Laughter is a core part of our everyday life. Many times laughter is so common we do it unconsciously. We are capable of laughing and smiling at just the right times during a conversation. It can direct the conversation in response to the social cues around us. This form of expression is much more than a response to comedy, instead it is the way of communicating with those around us. According to Provine (2000), “It is a hidden language that we all speak. It is not learned group reaction but an instinctive behavior programmed by our genes” (para. 2). Laughter and smiles are subtle body language cues that we use to communicate our feelings towards the other sex. In the study of Mehu and Dunbar (2008), smiling and laughter is known to be social behaviors. Naturalistic observations have been organized to view the frequency of smiling and laughter.

I am very careful with facial expressions because I want to create a friendly and harmonious environment around me. When I've been around other people, I've never tried to show faces expressing inattention, anxiety, anger, mockery, and laziness. Since I want people to take my ideas seriously, I always try to use facial expressions that show positivity, motivation, happiness, and energy. When I participate in online teamwork, people may not see my facial expressions, but they can perceive my desire to make things right, and the respectful attitude that I

The aim of the present study was to investigate which hemisphere is specialised for the perception of emotion. It was hypothesised that participants will judge chimeric faces with smile presented in the left visual field as happier more often than chimeric faces with the smile presented in the right visual field. Twenty-six psychology students were asked to judge chimeric faces with one half being a smiling expression and the other half with a neutral expression. The images were presented in their left and right visual field. Over 28 experimental trials the participants were asked to judge which face they thought looked happier. The percentage of chimeric faces judged as happier for both left and right visual field was recorded. The hypothesis was supported: chimeric faces with smile presented in the left visual field as happier more often than chimeric faces with the smile presented in the right visual field.

Vision Reporter (2016) concluded that smiling may seem like an involuntary response to something cute or funny, but it is much more than that. He believes studies suggest that smiling, forced or not, can have a positive effect on the mood, decrease stress levels, and even make everyone around feel better (Vision Reporter, 2016). As Thich Nhat Hanh (n.d) points out, “sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy”. Shimamura, Ross, & Bennett (2006) study determined the advantage of a happy face was observed even when faces were inverted (upside down) and even when the salient perceptual feature (broad grin) was controlled across. According to Kraft and Pressman (2012) study revealed that all smiling participants, regardless of whether they were aware of smiling, had lower heart. Hagan (2010) supports the research adds to mounting evidence that a happy disposition can have a powerful impact on health as well as life expectancy conditions.