Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional comparative study across cultural groups (graded by design analogy, non-clinical).
PubMed 3681648 · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.53.4.712
What was done
Participants across 10 cultures evaluated facial expressions of emotion using a judgment task that allowed rating multiple emotions and their respective intensities for each expression, moving beyond single-label forced-choice designs.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values or effect sizes. Across the 10 cultures, there was very high agreement on which emotion was most intense, the second most intense emotion displayed, and the relative intensity among expressions depicting the same emotion. Cultural differences were observed in ratings of absolute emotional intensity.
Why it matters
The findings indicate that cross-cultural universality in reading facial expressions persists even in nuanced, multi-emotion judgment tasks, while establishing that cultural background influences perception of absolute emotional intensity.
Limits
The abstract does not state the total sample size, participant demographics, specific cultures tested, stimulus properties, or any quantitative data and statistical significance levels.
Cited by
- supports Paul Ekman proposed six basic universal emotions recognized across cultures from facial expressions: happiness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust, and sadness.