Facial Expressions, Cultural Difference, Empathy

A new study has discovered that human faces only show four basic emotions. It also shows that how we understand these emotions depends on our ‘cultural background’–where we come from.

Until now， scientists have believed that there are six basic emotions that people from all cultures recognise. These are happiness， sadness， fear， anger， surprise and disgust. Now， however， scientists from the Institute of Neuroscience and Technology and Psychology at the University of Glasgow have challenged this view. Their work suggests that there are actually only four basic emotions. How people understand these depends on where they grow up. The study has been in the news a lot， because the team has created a new computer programme. This programme can be used to increase empathy and improve communication between different cultures.

The main researcher， Dr Rachael Jack， studied how people from different cultures decode facial expressions， like a smile or a sad face. She wanted to know if facial expressions were the same everywhere. But she was surprised to find that they were not always the same. Some of the facial expressions were the same， but not all six of the basic emotions were recognised by everyone.

‘People from different countries understood the emotion from the face differently，’ explains Dr Jack， so she decided to find out more about the reasons for this.

Cultural differences

The team used a method from the 1970s called ‘Reverse Correlation’. The scientists began with Chinese people. They didn’t show one picture of someone showing ‘disgust’ and then ask the Chinese people what the emotion was. Instead， they used their computer programme to show lots of different faces and then asked the people to point to the one that showed ‘disgust’. This helped the scientists get a much better idea of the differences between cultures.

The computer programme can also recognise the difference between a natural facial expression and a facial expression in a photograph. The computer programme showed that fear， surprise and anger， and disgust were often confused.

Dr Jack explains that facial expressions are related to biology and social situations. ‘This study shows which emotions we share， and which are different in different cultures.’ Dr Jack says， ‘Now， we know more about emotion and character’. This can help us develop new communication technologies， for example using programmes like Skype. When you talk to someone in Japan， a programme would ‘read’ your facial expressions and then ‘translate’ them for the Japanese person. The Japanese person would see the Japanese facial expression on their screen. In this way， people from different cultures can understand each other better.

Activity 1

Before you read， match the word to a definition.

1. anger 2. challenge （verb） 3. decode 4. disgust

5. emotion 6. empathy 7. researcher

a. a strong feeling

b. someone who studies something to find out more about it

c. the ability to understand and imagine how other people feel

d. the feeling of being angry

e. not accept something that most people believe

f. understand something that is not completely clear

g. very strong feeling that you dislike something

Activity 2

For each question， choose the correct answer according to the text.

1. The scientists in this study found that the number of facial expressions that everyone in the world recognises

a. is fewer than we thought.

b. is more than we thought.

c. is the same as we thought.

2. The scientists found that the way you understand facial expressions

a. depends on if you are a woman or a man.

b. depends on how old you are.

c. depends on your cultural background.

3. The scientists showed Chinese people

a. pictures of people showing disgust.

b. pictures of lots of different faces.

c. pictures of their favourite emotion.

4. Which emotions do people often confuse？

a. fear / surprise and anger / disgust

b. happiness / sadness and fear / anger

c. surprise / anger and fear / sadness

5. How can this study be used to improve communication between different cultures？

a. It can be used to make new mobile phones.

b. It can be used to help people learn other languages.

c. It can be used to help ‘translate’ facial expressions when using applications like Skype.

Activity 3

We use adjectives to describe emotions. Some adjectives are ‘extreme’， and they describe strong emotions. For example， ‘furious’ means ‘very angry’. Match the adjectives 1–6 with the extreme adjectives a–f.

Example： 1. angry – c. furious

1. angry a. fascinated

2. happy b. terrified

3. interested c. furious

4. sad d. miserable

5. scared e. astonished

6. surprised f. delighted

Now use the extreme adjectives in these sentences：

Example： John’s father was furious when he found out John had not done his homework again.

1. Clare was ___ with her birthday present – she had always wanted a motorbike.

2. Simon felt ___ when his girlfriend said that she didn’t love him any more.

3. Stuart has always been ___ by biology， and he has decided to study it at university next year.

4. Josh hates watching horror films， so he was absolutely ___ when he saw that new film at the cinema.

5. Elena was ___ when she saw her good marks for the exam – she was certain that she had failed it.

Activity 4

Do you think that travelling to other countries on holiday can help increase our understanding of other cultures？ Why or why not？

Answers

Activity 1

1. d; 2. e; 3. f; 4. g; 5. a; 6. c; 7. b

Activity 2

1. a; 2. c; 3. b; 4. a; 5. c

Activity 3

1. c; 2. f; 3. a; 4. d; 5. b; 6. e

1. delighted; 2. miserable; 3. fascinated; 4. terrified; 5. astonished