Darwin And Facial Expression

In Darwin and Facial Expression, Paul Ekman and a cast of other notable scholars and scientists reconsider the central concepts and key sources of information in Darwin's work on emotional expression. First published in 1972 to celebrate the centennial of the publication of Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin and Facial Expression is the first of three works edited by Dr. Ekman and others on the subject. This Malor edition contains new and updated references. Darwin claimed that we cannot understand human emotional expression without understanding the emotional expressions of animals, as our emotional expressions are in large part determined by our evolution. Not only are there similarities in the appearance of some emotional expressions between man and certain other animals, but the principles that explain why a particular emotional expression occurs with a particular emotion also apply across species.

This unique book provides an integrated view of human facial expressions based on contemporary knowledge about the evolution of signaling across the animal kingdom. Spanning fields that range from psychology and neurology to anthropology and linguistics, it reopens and discusses some of the classic questions in the field, including: What do facial expressions express? What are the relations between facial expressions and our motives and emotions? How did our facial expressions evolve? Are there really innate and universal facial expressions? Human Facial Expression is suitable for graduate and advanced undergraduate use as a text or course supplement. Chapters on the history of interpreting facial expressions, and on Darwin's contributions, set the stage for a thorough discussion of modern evolutionary theory and the biological, cultural, and developmental origins of our facial expressions. The incorporation of recent findings on the syntactics and semantics of animal signaling show the fundamental link of human facial expressions to vocalization and language. Coverage includes methodology in evolutionary research Introductory discussion of facial nerves and muscles Compares and contrasts emotion vs. behavioral ecology views of facial expressions Cross-cultural analysis of similarities and differences in facial expressions Reviews paralanguage and gesture

It reviews current research and provides guidelines for future exploration of facial expression.

Previously published: London: J. Murray, 1890.

In recent years, emotions have become a major, vibrant topic of research not merely in the biological and psychological sciences but throughout a wide swath of the humanities and social sciences as well. Yet, surprisingly, there is still no consensus on their basic nature or workings. Ruth Leys’s brilliant, much anticipated history, therefore, is a story of controversy and disagreement. The Ascent of Affect focuses on the post–World War II period, when interest in emotions as an object of study began to revive. Leys analyzes the ongoing debate over how to understand emotions, paying particular attention to the continual conflict between camps that argue for the intentionality or meaning of emotions but have trouble explaining their presence in non-human animals and those that argue for the universality of emotions but struggle when the question turns to meaning. Addressing the work of key figures from across the spectrum, considering the potentially misleading appeal of neuroscience for those working in the humanities, and bringing her story fully up to date by taking in the latest debates, Leys presents here the most thorough analysis available of how we have tried to think about how we feel.

Emotion in the Human Face: Guidelines for Research and an Integration of Findings reviews research findings about the link between the face and emotion and provides some guidelines for study of this complicated but intriguing phenomenon. Some of the conceptual ambiguities that have hindered research and the methodological decisions that must be made in planning research on the face and emotion are discussed. How past investigators handled these matters is presented critically, and a set of standards is offered. This book is comprised of 21 chapters and begins with an overview of questions about how the face provides information about emotion, with emphasis on evidence based on scientific research (largely in psychology). The reader is then introduced to conceptual ambiguities and methodological decisions related to research on the face-emotion connection (including sampling), along with some important research findings. In particular, emotion categories and dimensions that observers can judge on the basis of facial behavior are analyzed, and whether such judgments can be accurate. The similarities and differences in facial behavior across cultures are also considered, along with the relative contribution of facial behavior and contextual information to the judgment of emotion. This monograph is intended primarily for students of psychology, anthropology, ethology, sociology, and biology, as well as those planning or already conducting research on the face.