Department of Psychology, Boston College.
Emotion. 2013 Oct;13(5):891-904. doi: 10.1037/a0033244. Epub 2013 Jun 24.
The claim that certain emotions are universally recognized from facial expressions is based primarily on the study of expressions that were posed. The current study was of spontaneous facial expressions shown by aborigines in Papua New Guinea (Ekman, 1980); 17 faces claimed to convey one (or, in the case of blends, two) basic emotions and five faces claimed to show other universal feelings. For each face, participants rated the degree to which each of the 12 predicted emotions or feelings was conveyed. The modal choice for English-speaking Americans (n = 60), English-speaking Palestinians (n = 60), and Arabic-speaking Palestinians (n = 44) was the predicted label for only 4, 5, and 4, respectively, of the 17 faces for basic emotions, and for only 2, 2, and 2, respectively, of the 5 faces for other feelings. Observers endorsed the predicted emotion or feeling moderately often (65%, 55%, and 44%), but also denied it moderately often (35%, 45%, and 56%). They also endorsed more than one (or, for blends, two) label(s) in each face-on average, 2.3, 2.3, and 1.5 of basic emotions and 2.6, 2.2, and 1.5 of other feelings. There were both similarities and differences across culture and language, but the emotional meaning of a facial expression is not well captured by the predicted label(s) or, indeed, by any single label.
声称某些情绪可以从面部表情中被普遍识别，主要基于对人为摆出的表情的研究。本研究观察了巴布亚新几内亚的原住民自然流露的面部表情（Ekman，1980）；其中 17 张脸被声称可以传达一种（或者在混合表情的情况下，两种）基本情绪，还有五张脸被声称可以展示其他的普遍情绪。对于每一张脸，参与者都对 12 种预测情绪或感觉中的每一种被传达的程度进行了评分。英语为母语的美国人（n=60）、英语为母语的巴勒斯坦人（n=60）和阿拉伯语为母语的巴勒斯坦人（n=44）的模态选择，分别只有 4、5 和 4 个基本情绪的 17 张脸以及 2、2 和 2 个其他情绪的 5 张脸符合预测标签。观察者适度地认可了预测的情绪或感觉（65%、55%和 44%），但也适度地否认了（35%、45%和 56%）。他们还在每一张脸上认可了一个以上的标签（或者对于混合表情，两个标签）——平均来说，有 2.3、2.3 和 1.5 个基本情绪标签，以及 2.6、2.2 和 1.5 个其他情绪标签。不同文化和语言之间既有相似之处，也有不同之处，但面部表情的情感意义并没有被预测标签（或者实际上是任何单一的标签）很好地捕捉到。
