The Psychology of Facial Expression (Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction)

This reference work provides broad and up-to-date coverage of the major perspectives—ethological, neurobehavioral, developmental, dynamic systems, and componential—on facial expression. The text reviews Darwin's legacy in the context of Izard and Tomkins' new theories as well as Fridlund's recently proposed Behavioural Ecology theory. Other contributions explore continuing controversies on universality and innateness, and update the research guidelines of Ekman, Friesen and Ellsworth. This book anticipates emerging research questions, such as the role of culture in children's understanding of faces, the precise ways faces depend on the immediate context, and the ecology of facial expression. The Psychology of Facial Expression is aimed at students, researchers, and educators in psychology, anthropology, and sociology who are interested in the emotive and communicative uses of facial expression. The book contains black-and-white illustrations. This reference work provides broad and up-to-date coverage of the major perspectives - ethological, neurobehavioral, developmental, dynamic systems, componential - on facial expression. It reviews Darwin's legacy in the theories of Izard and Tomkins and in Fridlund's recently proposed Behavioral Ecology theory. It explores continuing controversies on universality and innateness. It also updates the research guidelines of Ekman, Friesen and Ellsworth. This book anticipates emerging research questions: what is the role of culture in children's understanding of faces? In what precise ways do faces depend on the immediate context? What is the ecology of facial expression: when do different expressions occur and in what frequency? The Psychology of Facial Expressions is aimed at students, researchers and educators in psychology anthropology, and sociology who are interested in the emotive and communicative uses of facial expression. What do facial expressions express? Simply emotions? Current scientific work suggests that there are hidden social messages in human facial expressions, that thoughts too can be revealed, that context can determine whether any expression occurs, and that reading emotions from faces is not as simple, universal, and accurate as it appears. This book summarizes and critiques current research and provides guidelines for future research on facial expressions. It provides a broad overview of the field, reviewing a range of theories and perspectives. This reference provides comprehensive coverage of the major perspectivesethological, neurobehavioral, developmental, and componentialon facial expression. The text reviews various theories and controversies and anticipates emerging questions such as the role of culture in children's understanding of faces, the precise ways faces depend on the immediate context, and the ecology of facial expression. 14 photos. 7 line diagrams. 16 tables.