{"id":908,"date":"2019-06-14T13:09:11","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T13:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/how-do-you-measure-human-emotion\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:21:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T16:21:22","slug":"how-do-you-measure-human-emotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/resources\/blogs\/how-do-you-measure-human-emotion\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW DO YOU MEASURE HUMAN EMOTION?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Expressions are universal to the species”<\/span><\/p>\n

HOW DO YOU MEASURE HUMAN EMOTION?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Regardless of who we are, or where we\u2019re from, we all make the same facial expressions.<\/p>\n

Dr. Paul Ekman has been called one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century. His research was adapted into the compelling Fox drama \u201cLie to Me,\u201d and in 2009\u00a0Time Magazine<\/em>\u00a0listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been fascinated with\u00a0body language<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>since I was 16 and his research has deeply impacted\u00a0my own career<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, it was a great honour for me to meet him and his wife on the 20th floor of an apartment building in San Francisco \u2014 even though the building caught fire while we were\u00a0speaking<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The fire was on the 12th floor, with no way of safely taking Dr. Ekman and his wife (both in their 80s) down 20 flights of stairs through thick smoke. We quietly said our prayers and hoped there might be a helicopter evacuation on the roof. After nearly an hour of worry, the police chief declared the building safe again and people came back in.<\/p>\n

Then we\u00a0resumed our interview<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ekman\u2019s most famous piece of research suggests that there are six or seven universal facial expressions.<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

When Dr. Ekman began his work more than 50 years ago, there were two opposing schools of thought on human emotion. The first came from Charles Darwin, who believed that human expressions are universal to the species that had evolved from the expressions of other animals. On the other side of the spectrum, anthropologist Margaret Mead said anything important about social behavior is learned and culturally variable.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ekman wanted to see who was right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the way to settle the argument,\u201d says Dr. Ekman, \u201cwas to study people who had no contact with the outside world. If they had not, they could not have learned it from outsiders or from the media. Would they show totally different expressions?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 60s, there weren\u2019t many places left that hadn\u2019t been penetrated by travel and mass media. The highlands of New Guinea were on this list. Dr. Ekman visited in 1967 and 68. By 1969 they had television.<\/p>\n

The final answer?<\/p>\n

\u201cExpressions are universal to the species,\u201d said Dr. Ekman, meaning they are not culturally learned.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ekman went on to develop the first and only tool for measuring human expression<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s called the Facial Action Coding System [known as F.A.C.S.], and it was the direct result of his time in New Guinea.<\/p>\n

It took him eight years, 10,000 analyzed expressions and handling a lot of doubt from the world at large, but since the study was published in 1978, it\u2019s become recognized and respected. And the more you look at the world, the more you may notice how critical expression is to the way we communicate \u2014 and how easily we understand something as simple as a twinge in the face.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to know how I feel, then you want to pay attention, not just to what I say about how I feel, but the tone of those facial expressions,\u201d said Dr. Ekman.<\/p>\n

For example, think about going to the theatre. It\u2019s generally agreed that Shakespeare is a great writer, but the wrong delivery of his well-written lines can still send an audience stampeding for the doors at intermission. If you\u2019re watching Hamlet and someone is smiling through the famous, \u201cTo be or not to be,\u201d you\u2019re going to be put off by the performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just simply read it,\u201d said Dr. Ekman. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to read it you\u2019d be better off to read it yourself. If you\u2019re going to see it performed then it has to have the tone of voice, the posture, the gesture, the look on the face.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to his groundbreaking research, Dr. Ekman has also developed a relationship with the Dalai Lama.<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

He was invited, along with five other scientists and researchers, to spend a week at the Dalai Lama\u2019s home in Dharamshala India.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ekman wasn\u2019t even sure he was going to accept until he learned he could bring a silent guest to observe the week. His daughter had a deep interest in the Dalai Lama and his work, which motivated him to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor reasons that I can\u2019t explain, he and I hit it off like we were long lost brothers,\u201d said Dr. Ekman. \u201cNow he thinks we are long lost brothers from a previous incarnation. Of course, I don\u2019t believe in reincarnation, so he\u2019s very amused by the fact that he has an explanation and I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

After several months, and what Dr. Ekman estimates to be 60 hours of lively debates, the two had a positive impact on one another. For one, Dr. Ekman helped the Dalai Lama to understand the difference between emotion and mood \u2014 a distinction that simply doesn\u2019t exist in Tibetan or Buddhist thinking. In turn, the Dalai Lama has inspired Dr. Ekman to look more into compassion and how it fits within our human experience.<\/p>\n

This work led Dr. Ekman to say, \u201cThat\u2019s not a communication skill, that\u2019s an attitude or a concern for the welfare of another, and it\u2019s a primary concern of his,\u201d said Dr. Ekman.<\/p>\n

To learn more about how we can help you please\u00a0contact our team<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regardless of who we are, or where we\u2019re from, we all make the same facial expressions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeasuring Human Emotion | Body Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Take a look at some of the key points from our interview with Dr. Paul Ekman on measuring human emotion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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