Human emotions help determine the body language, not facial expressions
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Researchers from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the University of New York and Princeton University have found that the generally accepted view that a person's expression can tell a lot is not entirely true.
Experts argue that the full picture of the emotions that a person is experiencing at the moment, it is the body language, and not facial expressions.
The results of studies of experts were published in the journal "Science".
Studies conducted earlier, based on the fact that professional actors depicted this or that emotion, and scientists analyzed the reaction of viewers. However, such experiments have little to do with reality. In these experiments "purified" emotions are used: the facial expression of the actors is photographed and the picture is shown to the participants in the experiment. The difference is that an ordinary person on his face can reflect a large number of emotions, and the facial expression can change very quickly, especially in moments of intense emotion.
The team of scientists conducted an experiment of a somewhat different kind. Specialists used the photo of tennis players, who were sealed at the time of defeat or victory. The students, participants in the test, had to determine what the faces of the athletes, grief or joy expressed. Students should evaluate emotions on a nine-point scale. However, not everything was so simple. One group of participants showed a photo in full growth, and the other only the face of tennis players.
As a result, it became clear that those who were shown pictures with faces were mistaken in the definition of emotion more often than those who could recreate the full picture of a person's feelings by the example of a full-fledged photo.
This means that a single facial expression will not give a complete picture of what a person is going through. In addition, participants were more focused on the body language, even if to the body, expressing joy, "put" a grieved expression.
A survey of students also revealed that they focused not on the face, but on the palms, closed or open, that is, in the body language.
The scientists conducted other experiments, with other photos. The results confirmed their theory: to understand what a person is feeling at the moment, one must look at what expresses the whole body, and not just mimicry.
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