Science in Face Perception

“Science in Face Perception”

Some question the validity of central dogma in emotion studies that same expression can transmit same emotion, even among people belonging to different cultures. The idea was proposed by Charles Darwin more than 100 years ago, and has been established by Paul Ekman, so that anyone cannot make doubts about it. What some authors mention is not entirely against the Darwin's idea. Primary emotions such as fear and happy are labeled easily in different cultures, as Darwin predicted. On the contrary, a subtle expression including contempt, disgust, and so on, is influenced by context and gesture. Recent studies found the critical effects of context or body expression during understanding others' emotion. In the real life, we should understand the hidden message that others don't express in words. I think that psychological studies can analyze those subtle communications and have to transform the classical theory.