{"id":6841,"date":"2020-01-28T18:43:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T22:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=6841"},"modified":"2022-03-24T15:51:09","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T19:51:09","slug":"are-facial-expressions-universal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/are-facial-expressions-universal\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Facial Expressions Universal? What the Research Says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are facial expressions universal? It seems clear that some facial expressions, like those expressing sadness or happiness, are universal–but are they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll cover the research on whether facial expressions are universal. Along the way, we’ll look at some of the dangers of making assumptions about people<\/a> based on their facial cues and body language<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Are Facial Expressions Universal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals<\/em> by Charles Darwin, Darwin argues that it is beneficial to human survival that people are able to quickly and accurately communicate emotions to one another.<\/strong> If we’ve evolved to use expressions as communication, it would make sense that facial expressions are universal.
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The ability to smile, frown, and wrinkle the nose in disgust are some examples of how the human face evolved as a tool to represent internal feelings. This will probably strike you as a relatively obvious principle. After all, children everywhere naturally smile when they\u2019re happy and frown when they\u2019re sad, and that helps them get what they need to survive. Are facial expressions universal? It seems reasonable to assume transparency.
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But you should be careful not to assume that every stranger you come across will be transparent. That assumption requires everyone you meet to express themselves in the same predictable ways<\/strong>. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Are facial expressions universal? No.
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Are Facial Expressions Universal Across Different Cultures<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Psychologist Carlos Crivelli spent years testing the limits of human transparency\u2014he wanted to find out if people from entirely different cultures evolved to express the same emotions in the same ways. He asked, Are facial expressions universal? So in 2013, he teamed up with anthropologist Sergio Jarillo to conduct a social experiment in the remote Trobriands Islands. 
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Crivelli and Jarillo chose the Trobriands Islands because: <\/p>\n\n\n\n