Question

What did Ekman and Friesen conclude from their research on facial expressions

a. people around the world agree on the facial expressions that represent happiness and sadness but not other emotions

b. people do not feel an emotion unless it registers on their face

c. people who live in isolated primitve societies and never see modern westerners are unable to recognize emotions from facial expressions
d. particular facial expressions are universally associated with particular emotions

Answer 1

The answer is option d.) Particular facial expressions are universally associated with particular emotions.

The six basic emotions that have been extensively researched by Ekman and Friesen are:

• happiness
• sadness
• surprise
• fear
• anger
• disgust

In the 1870s, Darwin claimed that certain emotions as well as their expressions were universal, overriding the principle or notion of different cultures having different cultural ways of emoting. Darwin thus opposed the view that these expressions are learned. He believed they were inherent, biologically determined and a product of evolution. This view was criticised by several people who laid more emphasis on learning through observation, imitation and modelling of one's cultural and social context, but several experiments done (one example being the use of blind babies who could not imitate or emote by observation and yet showed similar emotional expression as those of regular adults) showed inconclusive evidence to support this notion.

Finally, in recent decades when research began to be done exclusively on facial expressions by experts such as Ekman and Friesen, it came to light that Darwin's proposition that there are universal facial expressions was a sound one. This certainly appears to be the case for the primary emotions mentioned above. This is not to say that culture plays no role in emotional expression or that the content of what elicits what kind of emotion does not vary; indeed, these may vary largely. Two aspects play a large role:

1. The content. What elicits different emotions vary from culture to culture.

For example, the idea of eating dog meat may elicit disgust by most Western communities, but the same notion may give joy to certain Asian communities that consider dog meat a delicacy. Hence, while the facial expression of happiness or disgust may be similar among people from the West and the East, what they may be happy or disgusted about can certainly differ.

2. Cultural convention or norm. How different cultures generally react emotionally to certain situations are specific to their way of living and hence are not universal.

For example, some cultures promote openly expressing pain when they are feeling it, while other cultures promote being stoic in the face of pain. While people of all cultures feel pain, how they express it in a cultural context or are expected to emote may be different because of the community's norms that are set.

Thus, in conclusion: Ekman and Friesen concluded from their research on facial expressions that particular facial expressions are universally associated with particular emotions.