Schirmer Annett, Croy Ilona, Liebal Katja, Schweinberger Stefan R
Department of Psychology, Innsbruck University, Universitaetsstrasse 5-7, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria.
Department of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Am Steiger 3, Jena, 07743, Germany.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2025 Feb;100(1):245-257. doi: 10.1111/brv.13140. Epub 2024 Sep 11.
Cracking the non-verbal "code" of human emotions has been a chief interest of generations of scientists. Yet, despite much effort, a dictionary that clearly maps non-verbal behaviours onto meaning remains elusive. We suggest this is due to an over-reliance on language-related concepts and an under-appreciation of the evolutionary context in which a given non-verbal behaviour emerged. Indeed, work in other species emphasizes non-verbal effects (e.g. affiliation) rather than meaning (e.g. happiness) and differentiates between signals, for which communication benefits both sender and receiver, and cues, for which communication does not benefit senders. Against this backdrop, we develop a "non-verbal effecting" perspective for human research. This perspective extends the typical focus on facial expressions to a broadcasting of multisensory signals and cues that emerge from both social and non-social emotions. Moreover, it emphasizes the consequences or effects that signals and cues have for individuals and their social interactions. We believe that re-directing our attention from verbal emotion labels to non-verbal effects is a necessary step to comprehend scientifically how humans share what they feel.
破解人类情感的非语言“密码”一直是几代科学家的主要兴趣所在。然而，尽管付出了诸多努力，一本能清晰地将非语言行为与意义对应起来的词典仍然难以找到。我们认为，这是由于过度依赖与语言相关的概念，以及对特定非语言行为出现的进化背景缺乏充分认识。事实上，对其他物种的研究强调非语言效应（如亲密关系）而非意义（如快乐），并区分了信号（对发送者和接收者都有交流益处）和线索（对发送者没有交流益处）。在此背景下，我们为人类研究提出了一种“非语言影响”的视角。这种视角将通常对面部表情的关注扩展到对源自社会和非社会情感的多感官信号和线索的传播。此外，它强调信号和线索对个体及其社会互动所产生的后果或影响。我们认为，将注意力从言语情感标签重新转向非语言影响，是科学理解人类如何分享自身感受的必要一步。
