Microexpression

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

A microexpression is a brief, involuntary facial expression shown on the face of humans when one is trying to conceal an emotion. They consist of and completely resemble the seven universal emotions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness,surprise, and contempt.[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

In the 1960s, William Condon pioneered the study of interactions at the fraction-of-a-second level. In his famous research project, he scrutinized a four-and-a-half-second film segment frame by frame, where each frame represented 1/25th second. After studying this film segment for a year and a half, he discerned interactional micromovements, such as the wife moving her shoulder exactly as the husband's hands came up, which combined yielded microrhythms.

American psychologist John Gottman began video-recording living relationships to study how couples interact. By studying these micro-movements, Gottman was able to predict which relationships would hold and which would dissolve.

Most people do not seem to perceive microexpressions in themselves or others. In the Wizards Project, previously called the Diogenes Project, for example, researchers Paul Ekman and Dr. Maureen O'Sullivan found that these quick expressions can identify hidden emotions, which can be indicative of lying, and that an extremely small percentage of those he studied had a preternatural knack for detecting them. The Wizards Project researchers call these people "Truth Wizards". To date, the Wizards Project has identified just over 50 people with this ability after testing nearly 20,000 people. Truth Wizards use microexpressions, among many other cues, to determine if someone is being truthful. Scientists hope by studying wizards that they can further advance the techniques used to identify deception.

Ekman claims that anyone can be trained to see such microexpressions relatively easily.[2]

Microexpressions and associated science are the central premise for the 2009 FOX series Lie to Me.

[edit] References

  1. ^ P. Ekman, “Facial Expressions of Emotion: an Old Controversy and New Findings”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, B335:63--69, 1992
  2. ^ Erskine, James and David Stewart (Directors). (2001). The Human Face. [Documentary TV Mini-Series]. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

This psychology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microexpression"
Personal tools