Obrazni izrazi kot izraz notranjega čustvenega stanja / Facial Expressions as Reflection of Inner Emotional State

Povzetek

Sposobnost prepoznavanja različnih obraznih izrazov že od nekdaj zbuja veliko pozornosti in zanimanja. Obraz lahko razkrije mnogo namigov o kompleksnem čustvenem izkustvu posameznika, kjub temu pa lahko obraz prikrije prav toliko kolikor lahko tudi razkrije. V članku raziskujem široko področje, ki predpostavlja, da so obrazni izrazi zanesljivi indikatorji trenu- tnega čustvenega stanja in se posvečam raziskovanju hipoteze o tem, da lahko njihova natančna prepoznava izboljša socialne interakcije ter razumevanje opazovanja psihoterapevtskih seans. Na naslednjih straneh se ukvarjam z vprašanjem univerzalnostni obraznih izrazov in z močjo kulturnega vpliva na obrazno izraznost. Razprave o socialnem vplivu na obrazno izraznost še danes ostajajo aktualna tema mnogih znanstvenih diskusij. Nedvomno lahko trdim, da je za natančno interpretacijo obraznih izrazov potrebno obsežno interdisciplinarno znanje s področja psihologije, nevrobiologije in kulturne antropologije.

Ključne besede

obrazni izraz, univerzalnost obraznih izrazov, prikrivanje, mikro-izrazi, psihoterapija

 

Abstract

Throughout the history, the interest in ability of recognizing diverse facial movements did not disappear. Face conveys many clues about the complexity of personal emotional state, howe- ver, as much as a face can reveal, it can also hide and cover. In this article I explore the argument that facial expressions are reliable indicators of an on-going emotional experience, and that their precise recognition can be used as a tool for improvement of social interactions and observations of psychotherapeutic sessions. In the next pages I will address the contraversal question wheter some facial expression are universal, and examine the power of cultural inluence on facial be- haviour. Discussions about social inluence on facial expressivness have remained a subject of disputes in many scientiic ields. There is no doubt that accurate interpretation of facial behavior requires extensive knowledge in many interdisciplinary ields as psychology, neurobiology and cultural anthropology.

Key words

facial expression, universality of emotional expressions, deception, micro-expressions, psychotherapy

 

Introduction

“Emotion at one level of analysis is neuromuscular activity of the face.” (Izard, 1971, p. 188)

Since we are born, faces play a signiicant role in our lives. Facial recognition connects an infant with others and more importantly, takes a crucial part in creation of attachment between a mother and an infant. New-borns seem to show preference to their mother's face in just two months after they are born (Maurer & Barrera, 1981), furthermore, some studies (Pascalis & de Schonen, 1994) suggest that this preference is shown much earlier, as soon as just a few days after the birth. Another interesting fact is that in complience with intersubjectivity theory (Trevarthen & Aitken, 2001), children modulate their emotional states in accordance with their mother’s affective facial expression. In this way the meaning of facial recognition and facial expressions remains of a great importance throughout our lives.

There are 43 muscles in a human face and their contractions produce facial movements (Mur- taza, Sharif, Raza & Shah, 2013), which are primarily used to communicate with others and to express emotions. Recognition of emotional states through facial expressions is a part of general emotional inteligence, which is closely related to person’s capability of experiencing feelings of empathy. Interestingly, some mental disorders heavily affect pacient’s ability to recognize the meaning of facial emotional expressions and simultaniously their ability of empathy. Recogniti- on of subtle emotional messages through facial movements is the key of effective communicati- on and comprehension of others, not only in everyday situations, but also in psychotherapeutic sessions.

Ekman & Friesen (2003) see a face as a multi-message system, which provides us with vari- ous types of information. This information includes rapid, slow and static facial signals. Ekman & Friesen describe rapid facial signs as very quick facial movements and emblems, which are gestures or agreed nonverbal movements as a head shake no. They describe slow facial signs as changes in the facial appearance over time, which include wrinkles and changes in skin texture. The third type of facial signalling, static facial signs, includes permanent characteristics, such as physiognomy of the face and facial features that remain the same over time (Ekman & Friesen, 2003). Generally, we do not look at every facial sign isolatedly, but we rather make an integrated perception of the person we are speaking to, composed of all accessible information. The main focus of my article is the question whether facial expressions are reliabe indicators of genuine emotional experience. In the next pages I will examine conlicting disputes on universality of facial expressions and explore different aspects about concealing facial behaviour caused by emotional triggers.

Darwin’s theory on universality of emotional expressions and its opponents

There has been a lot controversy and confusion in the ield of science regarding the question whether certain facial expressions are innate and universal rather than only socially learned. The opponents of the hypothesis about universality of facial expressions argue that facial movements are largely inluenced by the socio-cultural environment. They are questioning the accuracy of studies made to prove universality of facial expressions and believe that they are conditioned. On the other side, many scientists claim that universal displays of emotions do not exist and are supporting this statement by various researches.

Charles Darwin was one of the irst scientists who had carefully observed and recorded non- verbal behaviour. He captured the indings in his book, The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals (Darwin, 2005; original work published in 1872). According to Barret (2011), Darwin’s work is extremely important because he made a signiicant observation that some facial and bodily movements were developed throughout time as a result of our evolution. Darwin obser- ved facial expressions that are typically associated with emotions and hypothesized that they must have an evolutionary purpose. Emotions, which cause facial expressions that are usually recognized as universal are surprise, fear, disgust, sadness, happiness and anger (Darwin, 1872; Ekman and Friesen, 1976). Elfenbein & Ambady (2003), support Darwin’s claim, and write that some emotional expressions are without doubt universal. They explain that a good example of this is watching foreign ilms. Even if we do not understand a word the actors are saying, we can easily recognize the meaning of emotions, expressed on their faces.

Ekman and Friesen (1967) made an assumption that the universality exists in the connection between movements of the facial muscles and speciic emotions. The question whether universal facial expressions really exist has been a hot topic among scientists. Universalists are convinced that certain facial movements are connected with speciic emotions in all human beings. Others deny universality of emotional expressions and claim that they are not innate but rather socially learned. Moreover, they believe it is almost impossible for one emotional expression to have the same meaning in two different cultures (Ekman, 1972).

The socio-cultural aspects of emotions were largely ignored till recently when several steps have been made towards conceptualization of emotions that allows the indings of cross-cultural differences (Mesquita & Walker, 2003). According to Ekman (1970), the cultural speciic view, which states that facial behaviors are associated with emotion through culturally variable lear- ning, was strongly supported by Klineberg’s (1938) descriptions of how the facial behaviours described in Chinese literature differed from the facial behaviours associated with emotions in the Western world. Anyhow, Klineberg has recently admitted that axiom “what shows on the face is written there by culture” is not entirely true, and that there are certain types of expressive behaviour that can be found in all cultures around the world (Ekman, 1970). One of the most inluential writers arguing for the culture speciic view on facial expressions of emotion is, by all means Birdwhistell (Ekman, 1972). Ekman (1972) noted that Birdwhistell never admitted the possibility of universality of facial expressions but maintained his central claim that facial and body behaviour are like language, with the same types of units and levels of organization as spoken language, and can therefore be appropriately studied by linguistic methods.

Many scientists take an intermediate position (e.g., Ekman, 1972; Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, &Nisbett, 1998; Fridlund, 1994; Mesquita, Frijda, & Scherer, 1997; Rosenthal, Hall, DiMatteo, Rogers, & Archer, 1979), which recognizes both, universal and cultural inluence in the expres- sion of emotion. One of the noticeable intermediate approaches is neuro-cultural theory which was created by Paul Ekman (Ekman, 1972), based on Tomkins’s earlier work on primary affects (Tomkins & McCarter, 1964). Ekman (1968) and Friesen ( Ekman& Friesen, 1967, 1968, 1971) have called it neuro-cultural, because it connects two different sets of determinants of facial expressions; the irst is responsible for universal expression of emotion and the second for cul- tural inluence. Ekman (1972) explains that neuro refers to the facial affect program which is the relationship between particular emotions and the iring of a speciic pattern of facial muscles. Cultural, on the other hand, refers to most of the events which trigger emotion, to the rules about controlling the expession of emotion, and on to the consequences of emotional expression in a speciic society.

Parkinson (2005) noted that cultural learning partly determines the range of “elicitors” that will trigger the emotion and may moderate the impact of facial affect program impulses on ac- tual facial movements. It is important to take into account that in social situations, people use conscious “management techniques” (Ekman, 1972, p. 225) called display rules, to control and override the operation of the universal facial affect program (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2003). Sie- gler (2006) describes display rules as social group's informal norms about when, where, and how one should express emotions. These rules have a major inluence on the emotional expression of people from any culture depending on what that particular culture recognizes as accepta- ble or unacceptable expression of emotion (Matsumoto, Kasri, & Kooken, 1999). According to Ekman (1992) display rules can modulate facial behaviour in different ways; intensiication or attenuation of a felt emotion, neutralization of felt emotion, and masking a felt emotion with an expression associated with a different emotion. Moreover, Ekman & Friesen (2003) described the term »personal display rules« as expression codes, learned in the context of a particular fa- mily or individual experience.

The controversy in this ield still exists and so do various deinitions of what exactly is meant by universal facial displays of emotion. Ekman (in Darwin, 1998) explains that this subject is still an actual dispute, which includes different views and interpretations of Charles Darwin’s great work on facial expression of emotion. Neuro-cultural theory recognizes both, biological and socio-cultural inluence on human emotions and their expressions. It only makes sense that we should consider and connect both aspects, since we know that it’s not only our biology nor our environment that shapes our personality, but a fusion of many impacts. Why would it be any different when it comes to facial expressions?

Genuine and voluntary facial behaviour

Throughout time, scientiic researches as well as our common sense have convinced us that human face is conveying at least some information about a personal state of being. Interestin- gly, we can ind God’s quote in the Bible saying: “My fury shall come up in my face” (Ezekiel 39:18), where he refers to emotional expression of anger. Facial expressions are the essencial component of interpersonal, non-verbal communication. If we saw somebody crying, we would immediately recognize in which emotional state that person is. According to Batty & Taylor, facial behaviour is a way of communication that is much faster than language. Facial expressi- ons help us instantly understand different behaviours of others and can therefore be used as a powerful tool for effective communication (Batty & Taylor, 2003).

When we talk about facial expressions, we have to encounter the fact that there are different views on their meaning and function. As stated by Darwin, there are some emotional expressions that are widely recognized in different cultures, and are therefore universal. Anyhow, not all facial expressions are universal and innate. According to Freitas-Magalhães (2011) the literature conirms the distinction between two types of expressions, genuine and voluntary facial expres- sion. When we are experiencing a genuine emotional experience, we normally do not think about the message we are conveying with our face. However, when producing a voluntary facial expression we become much more aware of our expression, because of the conscious attention we bring into making the voluntary facial expression.

Korb, Grandjean and Scherer (2008) observe that some facial expressions are part of emotio- nal reactions. They add that humans can also voluntarily produce a speciic emotional expression without having the corresponding underlying feeling and that they can voluntarily modify (e.g. reduce or increase) their spontaneous expression in reaction to an emotional event. In addition, they note that most of us are, at different degrees of mastery, able to voluntarily pose – even without experiencing the corresponding underlying emotion – facial expressions that are very similar to those that are typically triggered by emotions, so called posed emotional facial expres- sions. They (Korb et al., 2008) state that from a theoretical point of view, facial expressions can be either totally spontaneous, i.e. triggered by an emotional stimulus, and free of any form of (voluntary) control, or the opposite, i.e. produced on a 100% voluntary basis, without being in- luenced by any emotion at all. However, they believe that such polarisation is unnatural and that naturally occurring facial expressions are more likely to be made out of blends of spontaneous and deliberate behaviours.

Ekman, Hager & Friesen (1981) name three types of facial expressions; spontaneous, simula- ted and gestural. They describe spontaneous emotional expressions as those that appear quickly, apparently without choice, although they may be changed by choice or habit. Some of them are considered to be inborn because of resemblances across cultures and among some primates. A si- mulated emotional expression is a deliberate attempt to appear as if an emotion is actually being experienced. Most people who see it believe they are seeing a spontaneous emotional expression and not a simulation. A simulation is used either to camoulage the fact that no emotion is felt or as a mask to cover one feeling with the appearance of another. Ekman et al. (1981) agree that a gestural emotional expression mirrors actual emotional expression, but it differs suficiently in appearance so that it is obvious that the person does not feel that emotion at this moment.

Galati, Scherer & Ricci-Bitti (1997) and Naab & Russell (2007) explain that both, voluntary and involuntary facial expressions originate from the contraction of muscles and signals from the brain, and add that it is often dificult to distinguish between them. It is interesting, as stated by Korb et al. (2008), that emotional and voluntary facial expressions seem to arise, at least partly, from different neural circuitries. According to Rinn (1984), voluntary facial expressions travel from primary motor cortex through pyramidal system and are coincidentally cortically related. Moreover, cortically related expressions are considered to be made consciously and are usually associated with social display rules. He adds that emotional expression originates from the extrapyramidal motor that involves subcortical nuclei and for this reason, genuine emotions are not associated with the cortex and are often displayed unconsciously. Rinn explains that this is demonstrated in infants before the age of two, when they display distress, disgust, interest, anger, contempt, surprise, and fear. Infants’ displays of these emotions indicate that they are not cortically related.

It is clear that there are physiological and psychological differences in formation of genuine and voluntary facial movements. An interesting example of recognizing sincere expression of joy was made by French neurologist and anatomist, Duchenne de Boulogne. Over a century ago, Duchenne de Boulogne (1990/1862), categorised different types of smiles (Gunnery, Hall & Ruben, 2012). Ducheene describes that when a smile is genuine, we can detect activity in the muscles surrounding the eyes, called orbicularis oculi, and when the smile is simulated, we can only detect activation of the muscle called zygomaticus major, which is positioned in the cheeks (Mehu, Little & Dunbar, 2007). Gunnery et al. (2012, p. 1) nicely described genuine or so called Ducheene smile: “The Duchenne smile, typically called an enjoyment or genuine smile, is often said to be a spontaneous relection of concurrent positive affect.” In non-Duchenne smile or so called fake, false, social smile, the activation of muscles around the eyes is lacking (Ekman, Davidson & Friesen, 1990; Frank, Ekman, & Friesen, 1993; Gunnery et al., 2012).

To conclude, voluntary facial expressions seem to be made consciously while emotional faci- al expressions are spontaneous and made unconsciously. It is extremely hard to conceal genuine emotional impulses, however, with conscious, voluntary control it is possible to neutralize and modify our genuine facial behaviour. We learn to mask our emotions in early childhood through the process of socialization in which we are confronted with the existing social standards. During my research I started wondering about the authenticity of our emotions. If we grow up learning to conceal socially unwanted emotional expressions, could we therefore all be considered dece- ivers?

Masked expressions and micro-momentary movements

To become more accurate in recognizing inner emotional states of people, we have to enco- unter the phenomenon of deception. When we talk about deception, it is important to encoun- ter the difference between deceiving others and deceiving ourselves. Funkhouser (2009) states that when it comes to self-deception, many different views and concepts should be considered. However, he presents a broadly accepted deinition: “Self-deception is some kind of motivated irrationality, in which the self-deceiver fails to handle the evidence available to her appropria- tely” (Funkhouser, 2009, p. 2 ). Hippel & Trivers (2011) write that classical examples of self- -deception are rationalizing and convincing the self that something untrue is true, because people will always prefer to believe what is easier for them to accept. On the other hand, Fallis (2010) notes that the common deinition of lying underlines the willing purpose to deceive others. Ek- man describes lying as a part of the human experience, when a person consciously mislead another person (Ekman in Lockard & Paulhus, 1988).

Face is a great source of information and it is recognized as a symbol of the self (Ekman in Lockard & Paulhus, 1988). Since childhood people learn to control their facial expressions and until adulthood most people have learned how to control them to meet the social demands. Although most people manage to control their facial expressions quite well, it is much easier to lie with words than it is with the face. Ekman & Friesen write that facial expressions that occur along emotional experience are involuntary and because of that much harder to control than words. According to them, we mask our expression when we want to hide our true emotion and we camoulage it with a simulated facial expression. People normally mask their expressions because it is easier to show another emotion rather than a neutral facial expression. Neutralizing facial expressions is challenging and although people wish that their faces would look neutral during an emotional experience, they will often look tense (Ekman & Friesen, 2003).

The known expression, a bald-faced lie, implicates that what has been said is obviously a lie and usually both parties believe that the statement is false (Fallis, 2010). However, Ekman de- scribes two major forms of lying, concealment and falsiication. Concealing information means that a person only retains some information and does not say anything untrue. Falsiication is a step further and includes presenting false information as if it was true. Obviously, concealing information is more innocent and easier because you don’t have to make anything up. In other words, concealment is passive and consequently a person who conceals feels less guilty then a person who falsiies information. Ekman explains that emotions are not involved in all lies but usually in those, which cause speciic problems for the liar. Since we cannot actively select when to feel certain emotions, in liars, we can often observe the signs of internal battle between true and false emotions (Ekman in Lockard & Paulhus, 1988).

As I mentioned before, there are six emotional expressions that are thought to be universal (Darwin, 1872; Ekman and Friesen, 1976): surprise, fear, disgust, anger, sadness and happiness. These expressions are called macro-expressions, which normally last from three quarters of a second to two seconds and can occur in speciic facial area or in all three facial areas, depending on the type of emotional expression (Shreve, Godavarthy, Goldgof, & Sarkar, 2011). Micro- -expressions, on the other hand, are very quick, involuntary facial movements lasting between forty and two hundred milliseconds (Ekman, Rolls, Perrett & Ellis, 1992 in Shreve et al., 2011). Matsumoto and Hwang (2011) claim that any emotional expression that is shorter than 500 milliseconds can be deined as micro-expression. Micro expressions were irst mentioned in the study of Haggard and Isaacs (1966) as micro-momentary movements on the face, which appear when emotion is being repressed.

Micro-expressions are believed to appear when a person tries to conceal a genuine emotio- nal experience, and are considered to be very hard to detect (Ekman, 2009). Ekman & Friesen explain that they are likely to involuntarily appear when somebody tries to de-intensify, mask or neutralize their facial expression. They mention that we cannot draw speciic conclusions from spotting micro-expression, however, we should consider them as potential deception clues. Micro-expressions will commonly appear in movement, during some other facial expression, and will be quickly followed by a masked facial expression (Ekman & Friesen, 2003).

In his book Telling Lies (Ekman, 1992), Ekman presents a case, where he studied a ilmed interview with a psychiatric patient, named Mary, who was hiding her intent to commit suicide. She was a forty-two years old woman suffering from depression and had had a history of three suicide attempts. During her re-hospitalization she desperately wished to get a free weekend to return home. What she really wanted was to fool the doctors, go home and commit suicide. In the ilmed interview she completely convinced the doctors that she really felt a lot better. Ekman and other psychiatrists have carefully studied the ilmed interview without noticing anything speciic. Later on, Ekman found extremely quick expressions of despair on her face. Now, we know these were micro-expressions, which appear when a person tries to conceal and repress an emotion. They also found some micro-gestures, which appeared as a very brief shoulder lifting (Ekman, 1992).

Ekman (1992) highlights two problems regarding micro expressions. Firstly, he explains that not all human beings have equal abilities to conceal on-going emotions. The second problem about micro-expressions appears when people do not consider the fact that a person who is expe- riencing a severe stress may be perceived as if they are lying. Ekman calls this mistake Othello”s error, which relates to Othello, the protagonist in Shakespeare’s play. Othello misinterprets his wife’s reaction when he accuses her of being in love with another man. She is falsely accused, but afraid for her life and under extreme emotional distress. In the end, he kills his wife Desde- mona. An innocent person who wants to conceal their fear or any other emotion may also display very fast facial movements or so called micro-expressions. This means that we have to remain very careful when making judgments based on appearance of micro-expressions.

Detection of micro-expressions is becoming a popular tool in the ield of national security, and it is considered to be an extremely effective technique in detecting lies, repressed emotions and menacing behaviour. There is a great perspective in utilization of micro-expressions in the clinical and psychotherapeutic ields, because with their detection, we can achieve greater un- derstanding of patients’ genuine emotions (Ekman, 2009). Careful observation of patient’s face in psychotherapeutic setting can enrich us with information of patient’s inner emotional experi- ence. While some patients are commonly having troubles with verbally expressing their feelings, a face always speaks for itself.

Meaning of facial expressions in psychotherapy

There is no doubt that psychotherapists are experts in decoding patients’ questions, state- ments and triggers when it comes to their ongoing emotional experiences. However, patients also display meaningful non-verbal messages, which can sometimes reveal even more information than a patient is prepared to verbally express. Burgoon, Guerrero & Floyd (2009) claim that pe- ople largely communicate through nonverbal signs. Around sixty percent of all communication is thought to be obtained through nonverbal messages. Ekman & Friesen (1974) suggest that individual’s personality may be relected on their face, while taking into account the meaning of social and personal display rules.

Although there has been an increasing interest in the connection between non-verbal behaviour and psychotherapy sessions, a systematic approach and measurements were missing throughout the past. The question about the importance of non-verbal behaviour over patient’s verbal expressions has also been widely discussed among psychotherapists who have been que- stioning the accuracy of facial expressions in correlation to emotional states. However, they admitted there were many psychotherapeutic situations where patients could not express their emotional states verbally, but therapists were still able to recognize their feelings in a glimpse of an eye (Ekman & Friesen, 1968). Ekman & Friesen (1968, p. 180) claim that “nonverbal behaviour can be considered a relationship language, sensitive to, and the primary means of, signalling changes in the quality of an on-going interpersonal relationship”. They elaborate that non-verbal behaviour is primarily used for communicating emotional messages, “either because of the physiology of the organism or because of the priority of nonverbal to verbal behaviour in the formative years of personal development” (Ekman & Friesen, 1968, p. 180). This statement suggests that a therapist’s attention should be focused not only on a patient’s words and descrip- tions, but rather on the matching of patient’s verbal components with their nonverbal behaviour. Therefore facial behaviour can be used as a therapist’s clue which uncovers if patients really feel what they say (Ekman & Friesen, 1968). Another interesting assumption is that facial behavi- our expresses subtle, unconscious messages about an individual’s self-image, which is largely formed in early childhood through a child’s interaction with their parents. Ekman & Friesen (1968) suggests that parent’s repeated attitude towards a child’s body is relected later on in their adulthood, through an individual’s attitude towards their body, in their speciic body gestures and movements. All unconscious body behaviours serve as valuable clues for psychotherapists, hel- ping them in understanding of patient’s self-image and personality structure. However, for a long time there was no direct, empirical evidence to conirm all of the listed assumptions about non- -verbal behaviour, which means that it was only used as a partial support for psychotherapist’s understanding of patient’s psychodynamics (Ekman & Friesen, 1968).

In 2002, Ekman, Friesen, and Hager (2002) presented an updated version of Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which was originally developed by anatomist Carl-Herman Hjortsjö (1969). FACS is a computer system which can measure quick facial movements and analyse sudden changes in the facial appearance. With FACS it is possible to differentiate distinct facial movements that appear on a face through a slow motion video analysis. FACS has largely inlu- enced researchers involved in detection and recognition of facial expressions, especially the ones interested in video analysis of psychotherapeutic sessions. Using Facial Action Coding System, researchers are able to deine facial units in which a speciic facial movement appears. Although therapists have to learn to detect facial movements that indicate certain emotions through a video analysis, I believe FACS is a tool which is extremely useful for psychotherapeutic praxis. Once we learn how to spot various facial movements, it is much easier to pay attention to quick expres- sions of shame, despair, depression or happiness, displayed on a patient’s face. With FACS it is possible to spot all six basic emotions precisely, detect quick changes in facial expressions and observe mixtures of different emotions on a face (Ekman, Friesen, and Hager, 2002).

Interestingly, Suslow, Junghanns, & Arolt (2001) mention that it is possible to spot differen- ces in facial appearance and expressiveness when observing depressed patients. An interesting symptom, called ‘Flat affect’ (Gur, Kohler, Ragland, Siegel, Lesko, Bilker, Gur, 2006; Krause, Steimer, Sanger-Alt, Wagner, 1989), appears in some mental disorders and manifests as a redu- ced ability to express emotions, which primarily inluences facial expressiveness, especially in social interactions with others. According to Sue D. & Sue D. M. (2012), it usually appears in people who suffered brain damage, depression, patients with PTSD and schizophrenia. Ekman & Friesen (1974) believe that the study of non-verbal behaviour can bring us to a better under- standing of patients in psychotherapeutic settings and helps us to gain knowledge about different mental disorders.

While blushing is commonly recognized as a sign of shame, other emotional facial expres- sions can easily be dismissed, if therapist does not pay attention to them. Furthermore, in an interactive type of therapy, the psychotherapist’s facial response and expression can be of a great meaning to a patient. I believe that a better knowledge of facial behaviour could become therapists’ signiicant tool in the future of psychotherapy. Recognizing emotions and spotting micro-expressions can lead psychotherapists to evoke new questions, and it can help them to see a bigger picture in the complexity of the patients’ mind.

Conclusion

Face is a signiicant symbol of the self and a wonderful communication tool. Seeing emotio- nal expressions of others helps us to relate and feel closer as human beings. When it comes to the dispute about Darwin’s universality theory, I have come to the conclusion that some emotional facial expressions are widely recognized around the world, and can therefore be considered as universal. Anyhow, differences between cultures exist and we should keep in mind that what is appropriate in one culture may not be appropriate in another. We are part of a society which teaches us its own ways of acceptable emotional expressions. In my opinion we should consider both, social and biological inluences on emotions and their expressions, and not investigate them separately. With both approaches united, we can build up an integrated view and a deeper understanding of emotional facial behaviour. In the end I can conclude that facial expressions and even their absence are revealing important information about inner emotional state of a per- son. Although we can get information about personal emotional experience from observing faci- al behaviour, we should never jump to conclusions too fast, and always encounter the possibility that people might be masking, simulating or neutralizing their expressions. While facial expres- sions are reliable indicators of genuine emotional experience, it is crucial to observe the timing and location of their appearance. Nevertheless, the context in which they appear is extremely important for the right interpretation and for the understanding of psycho-dynamics behind them.

I believe that becoming better readers of emotional facial expressions comes hand in hand with sharpening our own emotional awareness. One of the characteristics of emotional intelli- gence is to become more sensitive in recognizing emotions of other people. Better knowledge of physical signs of emotional experience can lead us to an improved communication and inter- personal dialog. In the ield of psychotherapy, facial behaviour, can be used to guide a therapist in the right direction, and moreover, help a therapist to immediatelly examine patients’ reaction to their interventions. I see a strong potential for investigation of facial behaviour in different clinical settings, such as psychiatry and psychotherapy. An interesting subject for further rese- arch would be how the observation of facial behaviour can contribute to an early recognition of mental illnesses, or even to a prevention of suicide.

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Additional Bibiography

Mrovlje, A. (2013). Facial Behaviour and Micro Expressions as Relection of Inner Emoti- onal State. Final Thesis for the Degree of Bachelor in Psychotherapy Science at the Sigmund Freud University Vienna.