There have been several recent news articles that suggest facial expressions of emotion are not universal. In a past blog, Dr. Matsumoto sites his retort to a study entitled Cultural Confusions Show Facial Expressions Are Not Universal where researcher Rachael Jack and her colleagues challenged 100s of studies documenting the universality of facial expressions. The conclusions of this…
Read MoreOur Game Face Is Really A Call for Help
Can the face of determination really be a subconscious call for help? LiveScience reports on a study led by evolutionary psychologist Bridget Waller from the University of Portsmouth (UK). Waller and her colleagues tested both chimps and children to determine if humans, the more social and cooperative species, evolved to subconsciously signal a request for…
Read MoreSpot the Microexpression
When 16-year-old Skylar Neese disappeared into the night, her parents were shocked to discover that her closest friends carried a dark secret. In the video clip below, Skylar’s parents are asked how they spent their first Christmas without their daughter. Can you spot the microexpression that occurs at the beginning of the video? What do…
Read MoreYoung Children Judge Trustworthiness & Competence Based on Your Face
Research led by led by psychological scientist Emily Cogsdill of Harvard University, reported by The Association for Psychological Sciences shows that judging others based on their physical features begins at a very early age. As many of us know and as past research has shown, adults regularly use faces to make judgments about the character…
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