Ever wonder why we raise our eyebrows in surprise? Do you want to knowwhy people smile when they meet a stranger or the reason why teenage girlsscrunch up their noses in disgust at their parent’s rules? Why do we havecommon facial expressions for emotions? Here is a new research study that explains the origin of facialexpressions.
WhatAre Emotion Expressions For?
ScienceDaily (Jan. 3,2012) — That cartoon scaryface -- wide eyes, ready to run -- may have helped our primate ancestorssurvive in a dangerous wild, according to the authors of an article publishedin Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of theAssociation for Psychological Science. The authors present a way that fear andother facial expressions might have evolved and then come to signal a person'sfeelings to the people around him.
The basic idea,according to Azim F. Shariff of the University of Oregon, is that the specificfacial expressions associated with each particular emotion evolved for somereason. Shariff cowrote the paper with Jessica L. Tracy of the University ofBritish Columbia. So fear helps respond to threat, and the squinched-up noseand mouth of disgust make it harder for you to inhale anything poisonousdrifting on the breeze. The outthrust chest of pride increases bothtestosterone production and lung capacity so you're ready to take on anyone.Then, as social living became more important to the evolutionary success ofcertain species -- most notably humans -- the expressions evolved to serve a socialrole as well; so a happy face, for example, communicates a lack of threat andan ashamed face communicates your desire to appease.
The research is based inpart on work from the last several decades showing that some emotionalexpressions are universal -- even in remote areas with no exposure to Westernmedia, people know what a scared face and a sad face look like, Shariff says.This type of evidence makes it unlikely that expressions were socialconstructs, invented in Western Europe, which then spread to the rest of theworld.
And it's not just acrosscultures, but across species. "We seem to share a number of similarexpressions, including pride, with chimpanzees and other apes," Shariffsays. This suggests that the expressions appeared first in a common ancestor.
The theory thatemotional facial expressions evolved as a physiological part of the response toa particular situation has been somewhat controversial in psychology; anotherarticle in the same issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science arguesthat the evidence on how emotions evolved is not conclusive.
Shariff and Tracy agreethat more research is needed to support some of their claims, but that, "Alot of what we're proposing here would not be all that controversial to otherbiologists," Shariff says. "The specific concepts of 'exaptation' and'ritualization' that we discuss are quite common when discussing the evolutionof non-human animals." For example, some male birds bring a tiny morsel offood to a female bird as part of an elaborate courtship display. In that case,something that might once have been biologically relevant -- sharing food withanother bird -- has evolved over time into a signal of his excellence as apotential mate. In the same way, Shariff says, facial expressions that startedas part of the body's response to a situation may have evolved into a socialsignal.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.
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