{"id":75433,"date":"2022-08-13T10:49:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T14:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=75433"},"modified":"2022-08-16T16:01:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T20:01:41","slug":"emotions-and-facial-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You “Read” People?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is there a relationship between emotions and facial expressions? How can you “read” someone’s emotions, according to psychology?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Lisa Feldman Barrett’s research, the idea that facial expression reveals emotion is an outdated concept. Barrett claims that emotions are constructed rather than innate to humans, so a facial expression could have different meanings from one person to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn why facial expression and emotion actually aren’t related, according to Barrett. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Can Facial Expressions Reveal Emotions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In How Emotions Are Made<\/em>, neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett challenges many of society\u2019s long-standing beliefs about emotions, calling into question everything from what emotions are, to where they come from and how to control them. Among other findings, Barrett\u2019s research demonstrates that it\u2019s impossible to know other people’s emotions just by looking at their facial expressions or body language<\/a><\/strong>, because emotions and facial expressions aren’t universal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth: <\/em><\/strong>Emotions are scientifically measurable. By observing someone\u2019s facial expressions, monitoring physical changes in their body, or studying their brain activity, it\u2019s possible to pinpoint what emotion they\u2019re experiencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reality:<\/em><\/strong> Barrett contends that emotions don\u2019t exist objectively in nature, so there is no way to measure a person\u2019s emotions, such as by looking at their facial expression, to determine what they\u2019re \u201creally\u201d feeling. Emotions are actually concepts that you learn as a baby and then apply in the moment to help you understand what’s going on around you and inside you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facial Expressions, Physiological Changes, & Regions of the Brain<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s long been thought that you can tell what other people are feeling solely by looking at their facial expressions\u2014a smile means happiness, a frown means sadness, and so on. But Barrett points out that people move their faces in many different ways when experiencing the same type of emotion; they also move their faces in the same way when experiencing different emotions. For example, a person experiencing joy could smile, cry, or shout; a grimace could mean anger, disgust, surprise, or annoyance, to name just a few. Specific emotions do not correspond with specific, singular facial expressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Research conducted by social psychologist Michael Kraus<\/a> at Yale University supports Barrett\u2019s conclusion that watching people\u2019s facial expressions won\u2019t tell you about their emotions, and he offers an alternate method of reading other people\u2019s emotions: by listening<\/strong>. Kraus carried out experiments comparing people who listen to others but don\u2019t observe them, with people who listen and look simultaneously, and people who look but don\u2019t listen. He found that the former are most likely to read others\u2019 emotions accurately.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is there a relationship between emotions and facial expressions? How can you “read” someone’s emotions, according to psychology? According to Lisa Feldman Barrett’s research, the idea that facial expression reveals emotion is an outdated concept. Barrett claims that emotions are constructed rather than innate to humans, so a facial expression could have different meanings from one person to the next. Keep reading to learn why facial expression and emotion actually aren’t related, according to Barrett.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":75597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,9],"tags":[714],"class_list":["post-75433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-psychology","tag-how-emotions-are-made","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nEmotion and Facial Expression: Can You "Read" People? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What's the connection between emotion and facial expression, if any? Learn what current research says, according to psychologist findings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You "Read" People?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What's the connection between emotion and facial expression, if any? Learn what current research says, according to psychologist findings.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-13T14:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-16T20:01:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1236\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You “Read” People?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-13T14:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T20:01:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/\"},\"wordCount\":457,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"How Emotions Are Made\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/\",\"name\":\"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You \\\"Read\\\" People? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-13T14:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T20:01:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"What's the connection between emotion and facial expression, if any? Learn what current research says, according to psychologist findings.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg\",\"width\":1848,\"height\":1236},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You “Read” People?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\",\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Kitazawa\"},\"description\":\"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You \"Read\" People? - Shortform Books","description":"What's the connection between emotion and facial expression, if any? Learn what current research says, according to psychologist findings.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You \"Read\" People?","og_description":"What's the connection between emotion and facial expression, if any? Learn what current research says, according to psychologist findings.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-08-13T14:49:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-16T20:01:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1848,"height":1236,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Kitazawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Kitazawa","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Kitazawa","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb"},"headline":"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You “Read” People?","datePublished":"2022-08-13T14:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-16T20:01:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/"},"wordCount":457,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg","keywords":["How Emotions Are Made"],"articleSection":["Communication","Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/","name":"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You \"Read\" People? - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-13T14:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-16T20:01:41+00:00","description":"What's the connection between emotion and facial expression, if any? Learn what current research says, according to psychologist findings.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg","width":1848,"height":1236},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/emotions-and-facial-expression\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Emotion and Facial Expression: Can You “Read” People?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb","name":"Emily Kitazawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily Kitazawa"},"description":"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/facial-expression-man-confused.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75433"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75743,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75433\/revisions\/75743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}