Question

Paul Ekman placed a heavy emphasis on the role of facial expression in human emotions. Imagine, that a 9-year-old child in Grade 3, called J, has a brain tumor and this tumor makes J unable to understand any facial expressions. No matter what other people are feeling, J cannot tell it from their faces. As well, J cannot produce any facial expressions. How might this make J’s life difficult? Could J have anything like a normal life? Having considered the special case of J, then state whether you agree with Ekman’s strong emphasis on the importance of facial expressions in human emotional life.

Answer 1

J's unablitiy to understand and form facial expression will be making her life difficult , sepecially with stranger who don't know about J's difficulty. First of all it will impact the first impression of J's on others. People tend to form their opinion about others personlity on the basis of the first imperssion they had of others.So people might judge J being rude , unfriendly , bored , unintelligent or even depressed. But facial expressions are not the only thing that influence a first impression though it's a highly influncing factor. Body language and verbal behavior have their role. J can have a normal life and relation ship with others but she might have to work a little harder and she will adapt to it with time. She have to use more emotional words , gestures and body movement which will help her to convey her emotions to others. I agree with Ekman's emphasis on importance of facial expression in human emotional life because it help people to form a strong relationship with others and enhace our capacity for emapthy but people like J can also survive and have a normal life though they have to face more challenges with making new realtionship but people tend to adapt to it.