Cross cultural differences and similarities in facial expressiveness
“One cannot not communicate“ (Watzlawick et al. 1967) because every behavior, even if it is silent and may occur below the level of consciousness, reveals informa- tion about oneself. It remains doubtful, though, how far the disclosed information matches the way it got received. Even if non verbal communication is performed advisedly, may the sender always rest assured that his message reached the receiver correctly? In the light of intercultural differences, it is highly dubious. However, ac- cording to Charles Darwin (1872/1998), regarding facial expressions it is not: “[...] the same state of mind is expressed throughout the world with remarkable unifor- mity“
In his work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Darwin claims to have found out that the six most relevant feelings (happy, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, and sad) are reflected identically by facial expressions throughout the whole world since we all share the same ancestors. This theory was considered as assured over many years. However, Rachael E. Jack (2012) challenges Darwin‘s statement by submitting that
“Cultural specificity in the facial expression models therefore likely re- flects differences in the facial expression signals transmitted and encoun- tered by observers in their social environment.“
Against the background of this, the present paper is in particular concerned with the cross-cultural similarities and differences of facial expressiveness, having the Asian and Western Culture in contemplation.
Verbal communication without moving any body parts is easily done, whereas spe- aking without allowing the face to move is rather impossible. Therefore, one can assume that facial expressiveness, besides speech, is the most generel and important way of revealing feelings and present information or, at least in some situations, it my even be more important, regarding mental experiences since facial expressive- ness is the speech‘s companion, revealing feelings, people do not
In his work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Darwin claims to have found out that the six most relevant feelings (happy, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, and sad) are reflected identically by facial expressions throughout the whole world since we all share the same ancestors. This theory was considered as assured over many years. However, Rachael E. Jack (2012) challenges Darwin‘s statement by submitting that
“Cultural specificity in the facial expression models therefore likely re- flects differences in the facial expression signals transmitted and encoun- tered by observers in their social environment.“
Against the background of this, the present paper is in particular concerned with the cross-cultural similarities and differences of facial expressiveness, having the Asian and Western Culture in contemplation.
Verbal communication without moving any body parts is easily done, whereas spe- aking without allowing the face to move is rather impossible. Therefore, one can assume that facial expressiveness, besides speech, is the most generel and important way of revealing feelings and present information or, at least in some situations, it my even be more important, regarding mental experiences since facial expressive- ness is the speech‘s companion, revealing feelings, people do not
Bibliography: WATZLAWICK, P., J. BEAVIN-BAVELAS and D. JACKSON, 1967. Some Tentative Axioms of Communication. In Pragmatics of Human Communication - A Study of Interactio- nal Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes. New York: W. W. Norton DARWIN C., 1872 JACK, R. E. et al., 2012. Facial expressions of emotion are not culturally universal. PNAS, 109(19), 7241-7244 HAGER, J EKMAN, P., E. L. ROSENBERG, 2005. What the face reveals: basic and applied studies of spontaneous expression using the facial action coding system (FACS). 2nd ed 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press SUSSKIND, J TANAKA, A. et al., 2010. Cultural Differences in the Multisensory Perception of Emo- tion. Psychological science, 21(9), 1259-1262 MATSUMOTO, D., B MORRIS, D., 2002. People Watching the Desmond Morris guide to body language. London: Vintage AKECHI, H