Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Facial Expressions of Emotions: Research Perspectives

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Understanding Facial Expressions in Communication

Abstract

This chapter will focus on theoretical models with a research perspective and developments in the area of facial expressions of emotion. Sociocultural, biological, and computational models will be examined. The sociocultural model unfolds the understanding of facial emotions within the social construction. Social construction of emotions has often been as part of debate between naturalistic and constructionist approaches. On the other hand, the biological model focuses upon the hard-wired functional (neural) architecture of the brain activation and involvement of autonomic nervous system. The computational models have been developed utilizing the findings of sociocultural and biological researches. The computational model strives to automate the facial expression recognition system through 2D and 3D virtual facial agents. Each perspective analyzes facial expressions with a universal aim of accurate recognition and simplification of different facial cues. The present chapter will discuss the critical role of a comprehensive model with multidisciplinary views to understand facial emotions. Since the current approaches view facial emotions in isolation, these models may be complimentary to each other to provide a better understanding of facial emotion. The chapter will present a critical analysis of present models and will suggest ways for better understanding of facial expressions of emotion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abe, N., Suzuki, M., Mori, E., Itoh, M., & Fujii, T. (2007). Deceiving others: distinct neural responses of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala in simple fabrication and deception with social interactions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(2), 287–295.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Averill, J. R. (1985). The social construction of emotion: With special reference to love. In K. Gergen & K. Davis (Eds.), The social construction of the person (pp. 89–109). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, L. F. (2011). Was Darwin wrong about emotional expressions? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(6), 400–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaupre, M. G., & Hess, U. (2006). An ingroup advantage for confidence in emotion recognition judgments: The moderating effect of familiarity with the expressions of outgroup members. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(1), 16–26.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, C. (1824). Essays on the anatomy and philosophy of expression (2nd ed.). London: Murray.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biehl, M., Matsumoto, D., Ekman, P., Hearn, V., Heider, K., Kudoh, T., et al. (1997). Matsumoto and Ekman’s Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion (JACFEE): Reliability data and cross-national differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 21(1), 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boucher, J. D., & Carlson, G. E. (1980). Recognition of facial expression in three cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 11, 263–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, S. L., & Schwartz, G. E. (1980). Relationships between facial electromyography and subjective experience during affective imagery. Biological Psychology, 11, 49–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burton, A. M., Jenkins, R., Hancock, P. J. B., & White, D. (2005). Robust representations for face recognition: The power of averages. Cognitive Psychology, 51(3), 256–284.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. P., Losch, M. E., & Kim, H. S. (1986). Electromyographic activity over facial muscle regions can differentiate the valence and intensity of affective reactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 260–268.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chiao, J. Y., & Ambady, N. (2007). Cultural neuroscience: Parsing universality and diversity across levels of analysis. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 237–254). NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dailey, M. N., Joyce, C., Lyons, M. L., Kamachi, M., Ishi, H., Gyoba, J., et al. (2010). Evidence and a computational explanation of cultural differences in facial expression recognition. Emotion, 10(6), 874–893.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1872/1998). The expressions of emotion in man and animals. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimberg, U. (1990). Facial electromyography and emotional reactions. Psychophysiology, 27, 481–494.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dimberg, U. (1997). Psychophysiological reactions to facial expressions. In U. Segerstrale & P. Molnar (Eds.), Nonverbal communication: Where nature meets culture. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  •  Dimberg, U., Hansson, G., & Thunberg, M. (1998). Fear of snakes and facial reactions: A case of rapid emotional responding. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 39, 75–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll, M., Mazumdar, J., Pilowsky, I., & Katsikitis, M. (1995). Application of neural networks to the categorization of facial expressions and its clinical significance. In Proceedings of BC IEEE -EMBS & 14th BMESI (Vol. 4, pp. 37–38).

    Google Scholar 

  • Duchenne, G. B. A. (1859/1990). The mechanism of human facial expression. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumas, E. (1932). La mimique des aveugles [Facial expression of the blind]. Bulletin de l’Acaddmie de M ~ decine, 107, 607–610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1972). Universals and cultural differences in facial expression of emotion. In J. R. Cole (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 19, pp. 207–283). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1984). Expression and the nature of emotion. In K. Scherer & P. Ekman (Eds.), Approaches to emotion (pp. 319–343). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6, 169–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (Ed.). (1982). Emotion in the human face. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions revealed. New York: Henry Holt and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. (1978). Facial action coding system: A technique for the measurement of facial movement. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971). Constant across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17, 124–129.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., & Tomkins, S. S. (1971). Facial affect scoring technique (FAST): A first validity study. Semiotica, 3, 37–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., O’Sullivan, M., Chan, A., Diacoyanni-Tarlatzis, I., Heider, K., et al. (1987). Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(4), 712–717.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Levenson, R. W., & Friesen, W. W. (1983). Autonomic nervous system activity distinguishes among emotions. Science, 221, 1208–1210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Sorenson, E. R., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). Pan-cultural elements in facial displays of emotions. Science, 164, 86–88.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and culture specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 203–235.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2003a). Universal and cultural differences in emotion recognition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(5), 159–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2003b). When familiarity breeds accuracy: Cultural exposure and facial emotion recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 276–290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrikson, M. (1981). Orienting and defensive reactions to phobic and conditioned fear stimuli in phobics and normals. Psychophysiology, 18, 456–465.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freitas-Magalhães, A. (2012). Microexpression and macroexpression. In V. S. Ramachandran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 173–183). Oxford: Elsevier/Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunn, S. R., & Nixon, M. S. (1994). A dual active contour for head boundary extraction. Colloquium on Image Processing for Biometric Measurement, 6/1–6/4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare, R. D. (1973). Orienting and defensive responses to visual stimuli. Psychophysiology, 10, 453–464.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herba, C. M., Benson, P., Landau, S., Russell, T., Goodwin, C., Lemche, E., et al. (2008). Impact of familiarity upon children’s facial expression recognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 49(2), 201–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hjortsjo, C. (1969). Man’s face and mimic language. Lund, Sweden: Student Literature.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu, S., & Wan, H. (2003). Imagined events with specific emotional valence produce specific patterns of facial EMG activity. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97(3), 1091–1099.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1971). The face of emotion. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1994). Innate and universal facial expressions: Evidence from developmental and cross- cultural research. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 288–299.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1979). The maximally discriminative facial movement coding system (MAX). Newark, Del.: University of Delaware, Instructional Resource Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jancke, L. (1994). An EMG investigation of the coactivation of facial muscles during the presentation of affect-laden stimuli. Journal of Psychophysiology, 8, 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jancke, L., & Jancke, P. (1990). Der Verlauf von mimischen Reaktionen wahrend der Darbietung von Bildern mitpositiver, negativer und neutraler volenz. Zeitschrift fir Experimentelle und Angewandte Psychologie, 37, 420–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R, Jr, Henkell, H., Simon, E. J., & Zhu, J. (2008). The self in conflict: The role of executive processes during truthful and deceptive responses about attitudes. NeuroImage, 39, 469–482.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kitayama, S., & Markus, H. R. (1994). Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influences. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp, M. L. (1963). Expression of the emotions in man. New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leach, E. (1972). The influence of cultural context on non-verbal communication in man. In R. Hinde (Ed.), Nonverbal communication (pp. 315–344). London: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loudon, I. S. L. (1982). Sir Charles Bell and the anatomy of expression. British medical journal, 285, 1794–1796. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1500303/pdf/bmjcred00637-0038.pdf.

  • Mandal, M. K., Bryden, M. P., & Bulman-Fleming, M. B. (1996). Similarities and variations in facial expressions of emotion: Cross-cultural evidence. International Journal of Psychology, 31, 49–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mandal, M. K., Saha, G. B., & Palchoudhury, S. (1986). A cross-cultural study on facial affect. Journal of Psychological Researches, 30, 140–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and self implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D. (2005). Scalar ratings of contempt expressions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 29(2), 91–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., & Assar, M. (1992). The effects of language on judgments of universal facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 16, 85–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., & Willingham, B. (2009). Spontaneous facial expressions of emotion of congenitally and congenitally blind individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 1–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., Takeuchi, S., Andayani, S., Kouznetsova, N., & Krupp, D. (1998). The contribution of individualism-collectivism to cross-national differences in display rules. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 1, 147–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mead, M. (1975). Review of Darwin and facial expressions. Journal of Communication, 25, 209–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesquita, B. (2003). Emotions as dynamic cultural phenomena. In R. Davidson, H. Goldsmith, & K. R. Scherer (Eds.), The handbook of the affective sciences (pp. 871–890). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesquita, B., & Albert, D. (2007). The cultural regulation of emotions. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 486–503). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesquita, B., & Frijda, N. H. (1992). Cultural variations in emotions: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 179–204.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neta, M., Norris, C. J., & Whalen, P. J. (2009). Corrugator muscle responses are associated with individual differences in positivity-negativity bias. Emotion, 9(5), 640–648.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Niedenthal, P. M., Krauth-Gruber, S., & Ric, F. (2006). Psychology of emotion: Interpersonal, experiential, and cognitive approaches. New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oatley, K., Keltner, D., & Jenkins, J. M. (2006). Understanding emotions, (2nd ed.). Malden, MA, and Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohman, A., & Soares, J. J. (1994). Unconscious anxiety: Phobic responses to masked stimuli. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 231–240.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Philipp, M. C., Storrs, K. R., & Vanman, E. J. (2012). Sociality of facial expressions in immersive virtual environments: A facial EMG study. Biological Psychology, 91(1), 17–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pilowsky, I., & Katsikitis, M. (1994). The classification of facial emotions: a computer-based taxonomic approach. Journal of Affective Disorders, 30, 61–71.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, E. L. (1997). Emotions as unified responses. In P. Ekman & E. L. Rosenberg (Eds.), What the face reveals: Basic and applied studies of spontaneous expression using the facial action coding system (FACS) (pp. 86–89). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rusalova, M. N., Izard, E., & Simonov, P. V. (1975). Comparative analysis of mimical and autonomic components of man’s emotional state. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, September, 46, 1132–1134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. A. (1994). Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression? A review of the cross-cultural studies. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 102–141.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, K. R. (1984). Emotions as a multicomponent process: A model and some cross cultural data. In P. R. Shaver (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 37–63). Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, K. R., & Wallbott, H. G. (1994). Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(2), 310–328.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shariff, A. F., & Tracy, J. L. (2011). Emotion expressions: On signals, symbols, and spandrels—A response to Barrett (2011). Psychological Science, 20, 407–408.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shweder, R. A., & Haidt, J. (2000). The cultural psychology of the emotions: Ancient and new. In M. Lewis & J. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 397–414). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, J. W., Walter, S., Scheck, A., Hrabal, D., Hoffmann, H., Kessler, H., et al. (2012). Repeatability of facial electromyography (EMG) activity over corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major on differentiating various emotions. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 3(1), 3–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tassinary, L. G., Cacioppo, J. T., & Vanman, E. J. (2007). The skeleto-motor system: Surface electromyography. In J. T. Cacioppo, L. G. Tassinary, & G. G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology (3rd ed., pp. 267–302). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Thibault, P., Bourgeois, P., & Hess, U. (2006). The effect of group-identification on emotion recognition: The case of cats and basketball players. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(5), 676–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, M., & Pilowsky, I. (1982). Facial expressions can be modeled mathematically. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 61–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomkins, S. S., & McCarter, R. (1964). What and where are the primary affects? Some evidence for a theory. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 18, 119–158.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Hemert, D. A., Poortinga, Y. H., & Van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2007). Emotion and culture: A meta-analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 21(5), 913–943.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westen, D. (1996). Psychology: mind, brain, and culture. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, S., Taki, Y., Hashizume, H., Sassa, Y., Thyreau, B., Tanaka, M., et al. (2013). Neural correlates of deception in social contexts in normally developing children. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 206. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00206.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Young-Brown, G., Rosenfeld, H. M., & Horowitz, E. E. (1977). Infant discrimination of facial expressions. Child Development, 48, 555–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, J., Kearney, G., & Soper, A. (1995). Classifying expressions by cascade-correlation neural network. Neural Computer and Applications, 3, 113–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Institute of Psychological Research DRDO, Lucknow Road, Timarpur, New Delhi, 110054, India

    Avinash Awasthi & Manas K. Mandal

Authors
  1. Avinash Awasthi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Manas K. Mandal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Avinash Awasthi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Defence Research and Development Organization, New Delhi, India

    Manas K. Mandal

  2. Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Defence Research and Development Organization, New Delhi, India

    Avinash Awasthi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer India

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Awasthi, A., Mandal, M.K. (2015). Facial Expressions of Emotions: Research Perspectives . In: Mandal, M., Awasthi, A. (eds) Understanding Facial Expressions in Communication. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1934-7_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation