Facial Expressions – Summary

Overall, both basic emotion and constructivists agree that facial expressions of joy are universally recognized. The only confusion for joy seemed to be when participants from isolated tribes confused joyful and neutral expressions (Crivelli et al., 2016). Pride is the only positive emotion that caused bodily changes, all others only showed facial expression changes (Campos et al., 2013). Studies suggest that positive emotions could be distinguished by Duchenne vs. non-Duchenne smiles, wide eyes open versus eyes shut (Campos et al., 2013; Mortillaro et al., 2011). Most appraisals do not correspond to only one specific action unit change. Suddenness is the exception.  Suddenness is positively correlated with amount of eye opening (Mortillaro et al., 2011).