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Discussion: Universal/Cultural DifferencesJudgments of Facial Expression
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shegstrom |
Universal/Cultural DifferencesJudgments of Facial Expression
Mar 26 2008, 9:26 AM EDT
It appears that agreement is very high across cultures regarding which emotion is most intensely expressed by facial features however cultural differences were found in the judgments of the absolute level of emotional intensity. The emotions range from happiness, fear, anger or disgust, sadness and …. However not all scientists agree with this assessment despite overwhelming evidence. The point of this article/research was to present both points of views and the flaws in the findings of each.One of the most interesting studies was done in New Ginnea, where Universality of expression was found despite the fact that the culture is visually isolated. Though it showed some validity there are flaws with this approach where only one culture is tested. 1. There is only this one study. 2. Not all six emotions portrayed were recognized. 3. Facial expressions were posed and not spontaneous. Another interesting study was done between Japanese and American cultures when shown stress inducing films and neutral films. The following findings were found: 1. When unaware of observation, both had identical facial expressions. 2. When the Japanese knew they were being observed, they were able to look happy during sad events. This is evidence of the ability to mask emotions. 3. This is a single study that has not been repeated and only represents two cultures. 4. The full range of emotions (which are?) were not tested. The most valid study of lack of cultural differences in facial expressions was done where observers were shown three different types of attributes to elicit emotion. A.) posed emotion B.) Spontaneous expression and C) photographs in which models followed instructions about which muscles to contract (muscular configurations that universal signal emotions). This was done with all six emotions with three pictures for each emotion. Various attributes were taken into account such as age, sex and amount of expressions. Ended at 153 Do you find this valuable? |
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Posted Anonymously |
1. RE: Universal/Cultural DifferencesJudgments of Facial Expression
Mar 26 2008, 9:19 PM EDT
The article titled “Universals and Cultural Differences in the Judgements of Facial Expressions of Emotions,” I found to be the more interesting article between the two. Humans are perhaps the most expressive creatures on earth; between our body language and facial expressions we can express how feel and what we think without saying a word. This particular study, facial expressions across cultures, is something that I have never really thought about. I was under the impression that our facial expressions are universal. However, after reading this article I learned that you should never assume anything and there is a much that we don’t know about our facial expressions. In this study, scientist took people from different cultures and showed them stress inducing films (body mutilation) and neutral films and observed each person’s facial expression while they watched the videos. The study found that American volunteers and Japanese volunteers made the same facial expressions when watching the films. However, one interesting find in this study was that Japanese volunteers tried to hide their emotions with smiles when there was a scientist present in the room with them. I wonder why this is. Is it because in the Japanese culture they taught to not express their emotions in front of other people? One problem that exists in this study is that no scientists have ever tried to replicate it. Do you find this valuable? |
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Posted Anonymously |
2. RE: Universal/Cultural DifferencesJudgments of Facial Expression
Mar 26 2008, 9:19 PM EDT
This study turned out to be more complicated than one would think. There were certain systems (Facial Action Coding System) and hypothesis’ that went into trying to determine facial expressions across cultures. There was even a mathematical equation that went into this process. Scientist took a huge sampling size of volunteers from different cultures and tried to see how certain facial expressions correlated to specific emotions (happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, disgust, anger). The volunteers from each country were from the same age group and education level. The study showed the people’s facial expressions from Japanese and Sumatra cultures were significantly different from volunteers in the Western cultures (see tables on page 150-51, 153). Although this study was an extremely complicated process, the biggest and most obvious finding was that facial expressions are generally the same across cultures. One problem that authors believed “tainted” the study was that all of the volunteers were from the same age group and education. Hence, they had all been exposed to the same mass media images from their previous experiences. The authors feel that more diverse group of people in age and education levels would produce different results. The authors conclude the article by stating that more studies and experiments on facial expressions need to be conducted. This was definitely a very complicated study which solidified the fact that we all smile when we are happy and frown when we are upset. 1. Do you think that further studies will produce different results? 2. What do you think are the major contributing factors for different facial expressions across cultures? Do you find this valuable? |
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Posted Anonymously |
3. RE: Universal/Cultural DifferencesJudgments of Facial Expression
Mar 29 2008, 7:54 PM EDT
According to the article, there is no difference between the way different cultures view different facial expressions. There were several different studies that were discussed and each of their positives and negatives were analyzed. However, all of them came to the same conclusion about the universal ability to distinguish the primary emotions reflected in pictures. A flaw of all of them was that none of them had been replicated. The final study, which was believed to be of the most significance hypothesized the following: 1. There would be cross-cultural agreement with single choice judgement (this reflects the other studies findings) 2. There would be cross-cultural agreement on strongest emotion present 3. There would be cross-cultural agreement on which emotion is strongest that is present 4. There would be cross-cultural agreement on strength of emotional expression This study concluded that all four hypotheses were true, but for the forth one there were a few exceptions. Considering how similar the results were among the studies, it seems like with relative certainty, that there are very little (if any) cultural differences in the ways facial expressions are viewed from one to another. Questions to Consider: 1. Would it be worth another study to determine if there are cultural differences in expressions, when the results were so similar? 2. Would there be a difference, if the context of the situation were considered? Do you find this valuable? |
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Posted Anonymously |
4. RE: Universal/Cultural DifferencesJudgments of Facial Expression
Apr 2 2008, 9:48 PM EDT
James, the final post looks great!!
Do you find this valuable?
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