Paul Ekman and the study of microexpressions

Gestures, expressions, emotions and microexpressions were the basis of Paul Ekman's theory.

Paul Ekman is not only one of the most mediatic psychologists (he has participated in the development of the series Mytheme and the movie Inside Out), he is also one of the pioneers in one of the most interesting areas of behavioral science: the study of nonverbal language and, more specifically, of the microexpressions.

Knowing more about them could be of great use in improving our understanding about communication and about the nature of basic and universal emotions, if they really exist.

What are microexpressions?

Basically, a microexpression is a facial expression that is made involuntarily and automatically and which, despite lasting less than a second, could theoretically be used to learn about the emotional state of the person making it.

According to the ideas of Ekman and other researchers, microexpressions are universalThey are the result of the expression of certain genes that cause certain Muscle groups of the face to contract at the same time following a pattern every time a basic emotional state appears. Two other ideas derive from this: that microexpressions always appear in the same way in all people of the human species regardless of their culture, and that there is also a group of universal emotions linked to these brief gestures of the face.

Through the study of microexpressions, Paul Ekman has tried to see basic psychological and physiological mechanisms that are theoretically expressed in the same way in all human societies and that, therefore, would have a high degree of genetic heritability.

The basic emotions

The link between facial microexpressions and the 5 basic emotions proposed by Paul Ekman is based on the idea of adaptive potential: if there is a well-defined set of emotions and a predefined way of expressing them, this means that other members of the species can recognize them and use this information for the good of their community.

In this way, In situations of danger or those in which the importance of an element of the environment causes individuals to become highly emotionally activated, others will be able to instantly know that something is wrong.In this way, others will be able to know instantly that something is happening, and will start looking for clues to know in greater detail what is going on. This idea is not new; Charles Darwin already advanced it in his writings about emotions in humans and animals. However, more recent researchers have specialized in this field of study, devoting much of their time and effort to analyzing this small parcel of psychology and physiology.

The role of education

It must be said that it is not yet known for sure whether there are universal facial microexpressions. For that to be the case, the typical behavior of the members of all existing cultures would have to be known in depth, which is not the case. Moreover, in a laboratory environment, it is difficult to make people experience the emotions that the researchers want them to, and not others.

That is why, although Paul Ekman has made efforts to investigate the extent to which there are universal basic emotions and associated facial gestures. and facial gestures associated with them, it is always possible that there is an exception in some remote corner of the planet and the theory of universality falls apart.

However, evidence has been found that, at least for a few thousandths of a second, members of many cultures express their feelings through the same expressions.

For example, in a study published in Psychological Science, based on the analysis of films showing the behavior of athletes who were competing for a medal in the Olympic Games, it was found that all of them showed the same type of microexpressions immediately after knowing that they had won or lost, although each of them then modulated their behavior in a different way.The same type of micro-expressions was found to be shown immediately after learning that they had won or lost, although each one then modulated these gestures depending on the culture to which he or she belonged. This is exactly the essence of the microexpressions theorized by Paul Ekman: first there is an automatic and stereotyped reaction to emotional stimuli, and then everyone takes control over their gestures.

Gestures that betray us

Another of the most interesting ideas about microexpressions is that, being automatic, they cannot be "hidden" or disguised with absolute success.

That is, if a person is sufficiently trained to detect microexpressions, he or she will come to have some knowledge about the emotional state of the person, will come to have a certain knowledge of the other person's emotional state even if the other person tries to avoid it (unless he covers his eyes). (unless they cover their face, of course).

In practice, however, recognizing these microexpressions is not so simple, since in everyday situations there is a lot of "noise" in the form of information that masks the way you can see how someone's small facial muscles move. In addition, specialized equipment is often needed to capture a clear image of these brief moments.

Detecting microexpressions

If microexpressions are generated following stereotypical patterns, it stands to reason that a method can be developed to systematically identify each of them. That is why, in the 1970s, Paul Ekman and his colleague Wallace V. Fiesen developed a system for labeling each type of facial movement linked to an emotional state based on the work of a Swedish anatomist called Carl-Herman Hjortsjö. This tool was called Facial Coding System (FACS, from Facial Action Coding System).

However, this does not mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that lies can be detected just by identifying micro-expressions, let alone anything like reading thoughts. The fact that these gestures are automatic due to gene expression means that the information provided by microexpressions is also extremely ambiguous, since contextual details are not "translated" through muscle movements in the face..

A microexpression may be a clue as to whether someone is sad or not at a given moment, but it tells us nothing about what produces that feeling. The same is true of microexpressions linked to fear. They may be an indicator of fear that lies that have been told will be exposed, or they may also express fear that we will believe that what has been said are lies.

As always, the study of human behavior rarely makes great strides, and Paul Ekman's work on microexpressions is nothing like a Rosetta Stone of mental states. It can be useful, though, to learn more about our genetic predispositions for expressing emotions, and it can also be studied to learn about our genetic predispositions for expressing emotions.It can also be studied to learn patterns of empathy and improved communication. However, as microexpressions are by definition automatic and unconscious, it would be impossible to influence them directly.