Non-Verbal Communication Flashcards
what are the two important reasons of the face?
- sending capacity of different parts of the body (including the face)
- Hypothesis that the facial expressions of emotion are innate (Darwin, 1872)
how can the capacity of different parts of the body (including the face) be measured, through three indices (Ekman & Froesen, 1969).
- average transmission time (speed)
- number of expressions
- visibility of expressions
Charles Darwin (1872) identified 6 basic emotions that were expressions evolved as part of actions necessary for life (necessary for success; and therefore evolution). what are they?
- disgust
- anger
- surprise
- fear
- sadness
- happiness
how can disgust be characterised?
expelling offensive matter from the mouth:
* upper lip raised
* lower lip raised/lowered & slightly protruding (precursor to vomiting)
Other movements are by-products:
* nose wrinkled
* cheeks raised
* lines below the lower eyelid
* eyelids pushed up but not tense
how can anger be characterised?
preparing to attack:
frowning:
* eyebrows lowered & drawn together
* protects the eyes in anticipation of attack
* vertical lines may appear between eyebrows
mouth:
* lips pressed firmly together
* or mouth open, tensed as if shouting
* baring the teeth – vestigial remnant of preparing to bite and attack (Darwin)
how can surprise be characterised?
state of readiness to deal with unexpected event:
* eyebrows raised to open the eyes wide to facilitate sight
* horizontal wrinkles across the forehead
* jaw drops open
* draw in air quickly
how can fear be characterised?
readiness to deal with frightening event:
* eyebrows raised; inner corners drawn together
* horizontal wrinkles across forehead
* upper eyelid raised (as in surprise), but tense
* mouth open (as in surprise), but lips drawn back and tense or stretched
how can sadness be characterised?
- inner corners of eyebrows raised
- may be drawn together
- skin below eyebrows may form the shape of a triangle
- corners of the lips drawn down
- lips may appear to tremble
- precursor expression to crying
how is happiness characterised?
- corners of the lips drawn back & up
- mouth may be parted with teeth exposed
these may affect other parts of the face: - naso-labial folds
- cheeks raised
- crow’s feet (wrinkles by the eyes)
how is contempt characterised?
a smirk-like smile on the left or right side of the face (asymmetrical)
functions of facial expressions and the explanations for them…
- Darwin provided explanations for disgust, anger, surprise and fear but not so much for happiness or sadness
- was suggested that smiling and crying may also be innate behaviours for prime functions of communication (where individuals can reciprocate back):
- i.e. crying signals distress to gain attention of caregiver
- smiling to maintain that attention
- disgust resembles being sick
Bull (1987) examined by posture can convey different observers emotions and attitudes. Participants rated videos which intended to evoke interest [typically leaning forwards with leg back]/boredom [slouched in chair, head tilted, legs out, hands potentially folded or holding head] & agreement [arms on lap, legs typically crossed]/disagreement arms typically folded and legs more tightly crossed]. These ratings were used to interpret the posture portrayed in the videos.
it was suggested that body posture alone could be a strong indicator of different attitudes of listeners
Vacharkulksemsuk et al. (2016) examined expansive (arms out stretched, legs out straight) and contractive (arms folded, legs folded/together) body postures in 2 romantic attraction studies. This was an 1. Observational – coded postures at a speed dating event (4 mins. only) and 2.
Experimental – 6 confederates (3M, 3F) on a dating app, each with expansive & contractive postures. What did they find?
expansive postures sig. increased likelihood of:
* a “yes” response from the speed-dating partner
* being selected on the dating app
* Nonverbal affiliation (e.g., smiles, laughs, head nods) not a sig. predictor of speed-dating “yes”
* Sig. effects for both males & females.
* Greater male benefit on app
* Potential reasons why: expansive = a spare/interference of dominance from the men
cross-cultural studies evidence for the innate hypothesis of facial expressions (micro-expression & subtle expressions)
The 6 emotions labelled in the same way by members of both literate and non-literate cultures (New Guinea) (Ekman & Friesen, 1971)
* contempt identified as 7th universal emotion (Ekman & Friesen, 1986
disability studies evidence for the innate hypothesis of facial expressions (micro-expression & subtle expressions)
Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1973) observed children born deaf and blind
* found facial expressions of emotion appropriate to situational context
* innate? This is innate, they still learn when they’re deaf and blind
* but, might be learned, e.g., through behaviour shaping
studies of facial musculature evidence for the innate hypothesis of facial expressions (micro-expression & subtle expressions)
Facial Action Coding System (Ekman & Friesen, 1978) - research this (I think there may be action units related to the face with fire and contribute to aspects of certain/specific emotions)
All but one of the muscle actions visible in the adult identified in newborn infants (Oster & Ekman, 1977):
* Capacity for facial expressions inborn
* But not necessarily innately associated with particular emotions
what is the neuro-cultural model?
6 fundamental emotions with innate expressions (7 incl. contempt) (Ekman, 1972)
Display rules vary according to culture (something that is typically learnt during a culture):
* Display rules may also vary according to gender, status, even to individuals
what are the two types of facial expressions?
innate/spontaneous and learned/posed
describe some brain damage evidence that supports the conclusion of two systems for facial expressions?
Rinn (1991) paralysis of voluntary facial movements and spontaneous facial expressions found:
* Ps who can’t smile on request, but can when amused
* Ps who can smile on request, but no ability for spontaneous
what are the two systems of facial expressions?
Micro-expression & Subtle Expressions
what are micro-expressions?
very brief expressions – may vary between 1/25th & <0.5 of a second (brief expression happening at a short period of time)
what are subtle expressions?
fragments of an expression (in order to try and hide their expression or just not generally show their expression as much as they may do - sometimes do this to try not a make a scene - little bit of a leakage of emotions), e.g.,
* nose wrinkling (disgust)
* brow raising (surprise)
deception detection correlates with skills at perceiving..
- subtle expressions (Warren, Schertler & Bull, 2009)
- micro-expressions (e.g., Frank & Ekman, 1997)
- as used in the American crime drama TV series ‘Lie to Me’
deception detection is when individuals try to spot if someone is lying to you (Warren et al., 2009).
encoders (recruited for the recordings - watch it on video and describe the scene, sometimes they’re expected to be honest and sometimes dishonest). and then lie or honestly describe both a pleasant & unpleasant film. video clips judged by decoders (people who watch these videos and make a decision about whether people have typically been honest or dishonest). Objective criterion of accuracy is measured. What did they find?
- overall accuracy rate just 50%
- emotional lie detection sig. better than chance (64%) [perhaps giving off some linkage/some clues]
- non-emotional lie detection sig. worse than chance (34%)
- emotional lie detection sig. correlated with:
* SETT (.46) (subtle expression training tool)
* Self-reported use of facial expressions (.52) [asked about 6 different things they used and they said the only thing that correlated which helped them lie was facial expressions]
what is the facial feedback hypothesis?
our faces also respond to our emotions and explicit particular responses
what are the four display rules according to the neuro-cultural model?
- Attenuation (where you can lessen/weaken the display of emotion)
- Amplification (where you can increase/amplify the display of emotion)
- Concealment (mask the emotion your feeling with just a neutral expression)
- Substitution (change one expression/emotion for another, i.e. annoyed but pretend to be surprised) - i.e. in Japanese cultures, esp those of higher status cannot control anger where USA can
