Are there universal expressions of emotion? - Sophie Zadeh

The 40 or so muscles in the human face can be activated in different combinations to create thousands of expressions. But do these expressions look the same and communicate the same meaning around the world regardless of culture? Is one person’s smile another’s grimace? Sophie Zadeh investigates.

Lesson by Sophie Zadeh, animated by Estúdio Bacuri.

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[jokerchen]

"But if you ever find yourself among strangers in a strange land, a friendly smile could go a long way" is such a beautiful sentiment ❤️

[JeagerTv]

I'm a huge fan of the stop-motion here

[TR-ruwl]

Did anyone else imitate the different core expressions as she went through them?

[CuriosityCulture]

I learned the hard way that when I did something wrong, and my mom smiled, I was done for.

[Rombododecaedron]

The video is really cool! The nice work of talented visualizers (and sound designers :)

[Yathuprem]

This is like the first time i saw a no animated TED Ed video. Awesome btw

[suhkawnit]

I’ve been wondering about this exact topic for a while now. I agree, certain emotions are associated with universal facial expressions. Others are learned from the society we live in. For example, some people roll their eyes when they’re annoyed, but that’s something we’ve picked up in movies and TV.

[dcllaw]

Here is a possibility

Expression may be universal, but the cultural norms of what expression is appropriate, and when it is appropriate, are highly variable.

[steffeeH]

To clarify, not all facial expressions are universal - there are 6 facial expressions that are academically considered universal, and further 3 that could be universal as well - but the rest may vary by culture, region, and/or personality.

[gaiabhmandresen]

Some of you might recognize five of the six core emotions, as they can be seen in Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’. 'Surprise' was removed since it was too close to their version of Fear.

[sourcedrop]

Facial expression is the result of energy movement, including direction, intensity, and open/closedness through our nonphysical energy centers (aka chakras). The nonphysical is intimately connected to the physical counterpart.

[nicolasotero]

I am a simple man, I see a Ted ed notification, I click

[StrangerHappened]

*IT IS AMAZING* that even the scientific part of humanity was so dense that it has required like hundreds of years to understand that some basic emotions have built-in face expressions. Just witnessing abandoned newborn babies or blind-from-birth people could have made it clear that e.g. smiling has nothing to do with taught behaviours. No one has ever really smiled for them, and yet the babies know how to smile and it does express joy.

[CaptainPIanet]

These are the types of videos I like to watch over my lunch break

[alecmatthewgranados]

Ted Ed I LOVE the way you explain things so much. I'm not even big on science but I'll happily watch any science video you make.

[sueg]

And then add body movement to the mix of expressing emotions, conscious or not and WOW!

[julioromanlopez]

TED-Ed if you are going to talk about EMOTIONS you should've brought David Cage, because he is the creator of EMOTIONS and also he knows how many EMOTIONS are in a polygon (he also met Ellen Page who is an actress because she told him about it)

[seanmundy]

Because of Dr. Eckman's research and contribution to emotional psychology, we now have the amazing modern classic that is "Inside Out."

[sebastianelytron]

The only universal is that people can't judge you if you don't emote 😶

[elliotyong]

This is why blind people can smile despite never seeing one before