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Facial Expressions and Emotion

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Synonyms

Body language; Nonverbal communication

Definition

Facial expressions refer to the appearance changes in the face as a consequence of movement of facial muscles. They are one channel of nonverbal communication.

Introduction

The study of facial expressions of emotion can be traced back to Charles Darwin’s seminal work On the expression of emotions in man and animals (Darwin 1872/1965). Darwin discussed not only facial expressions but also included vocal expressions, postures, and other appearance changes (such as blushing). Even though his main point was that emotion expressions serve to prepare the organism for emotion-relevant action, he very much emphasized the communicative value of what he referred to as the language of emotions.

Darwin’s view of emotion expressions as the visible part of an underlying emotional state was disputed and rejected by those who considered facial expressions as social or cultural signals only. In fact, a number of studies in the early years of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, Graduate School of Management, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Shlomo Hareli

  2. Department of Psychology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Ursula Hess

Authors
  1. Shlomo Hareli
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  2. Ursula Hess
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shlomo Hareli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, Smugowa 10/12, 91-433, Lodz, Poland

    Monika Wróbel

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Hareli, S., Hess, U. (2017). Facial Expressions and Emotion. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_518-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_518-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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