Teaching Faces of Emotion

As the common/categorical view of emotions is questioned, we need to reapprais the way facial expressions of emotion are taught to children.

The teaching of emotion to children commonly involves six facial expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust (Yilar et al., 2022). These expressions are commonly believed to be innate facial configurations that accurately announce their attached emotion (Matsumoto, 2020). This essay will critically assess this assumption. Despite much recent debate (Barrett, 2021), these categorical facial expressions are typically believed to be universally performed and recognised (Murtaza et al., 2019). This led to a majority of UK infants being taught to associate particular facial expressions with specific emotions (Grimmer, 2022).

A survey of around 250 emotion researchers reported that 88% of them believed that universal facial expressions of emotion existed (Ekman, 2016). This belief has influenced court sentencing (Todorov, 2017), the diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorders (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001), and artificial intelligence (Crawford, 2021). Furthermore, from early schooling to GCSE Psychology (Schwitzer, 2023) this form of affect recognition is usually taught as a matter of fact in the UK. Under the banner of emotional literacy, facial expressions are included in the curriculums of Every Child Matters, the Early Years Foundation Stage, and the Curriculum for Excellence (Grimmer, 2022). In all of these programmes, facial expressions are being taught as universal representations of categorical emotional states, with children encouraged to infer these states from others’ faces. Typically, cartoon facial expressions are presented to children with emotional labels attached to them, such as a scowling face with anger, or a smiling face with happiness. The early classroom environment is a good place for infants to develop their emotional competency, at an age when this happens apace (Roth, 2019). However, the evidence for these facial configurations representing distinct emotional states, stems from a small number of methodologically flawed studies by Ekman and colleagues (Ekman et al., 1969; Ekman & Friesen, 1971).

The case for some universal facial expressions was made by Darwin (1872), who compared human facial signals with non-human ones. For almost a century, Darwin’s proposal was largely rejected, while Mead’s (1975) view, that facial expressions differ culturally, was more commonly held. Testing Darwin’s theory, Ekman et al. (1969, 1971) studied the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, an isolated group who had had very little contact with outsiders. The islanders were asked to choose from a set of photographs featuring exaggerated facial expressions. They each picked the posed image that best matched one of the six brief vignettes provided, such as preparing for a fight, witnessing the death of a child, or treading on a dead pig (Ekman, 1972; Ekman & Friesen, 1971). In other studies, subjects were required to simply match a photograph with an emotion word (Ekman et al., 1969). Taken together, the results led to the wide acceptance that six basic emotions are produced and recognised universally (known as the common view), despite having little evidential support until 2008 (Tracy & Matsumoto, 2008), discussed later.

All of the participants in Ekman et al.’s (1969, 1971) early studies partook a choice-from-array task. The photographs, vignettes and labels, represented limited preselected emotions, encouraging biased perceptual responding (DeCarlo, 2012). Whilst such choice-from-array tasks are straightforward and efficient, a free-labelling option would have allowed for more variation within a category (Barrett et al., 2019). The choice-from-array tasks omitted the opportunity for a decision that no emotion word applies, with participants settling from the options provided. Free choice is rarely given in facial expression/emotion studies (Frank & Stennett, 2001). Yet people understand and interpret emotion words differently (Frenzel, 2014). This variation adds to the problem of validity across populations (Pekrun, 2016; Linnenbrink-Garcia et al., 2016). The use of stereotypical, consciously acted images of facial expressions, remains another issue, with such images still commonly being adopted by many cognitive and clinical studies of emotion recognition (Binetti et al., 2022).

Crivelli et al. (2016) returned to Papua New Guinea with copies of the photographs used in the original studies (Ekman et al., 1969; Ekman & Friesen, 1971). This time the researchers asked people to state the emotions being expressed in their own native language. They also provided new images of facial expressions that were dynamic and spontaneous produced. Both choice-from-array words and free-labelling was used. Participants failed to match the emotions with their corresponding expressions at above-chance levels. Only the ‘fear’ face was consistently recognised, and that was recognised as threat. Similarly, a replication study by Gendron et al. (2018), of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania, revealed diversity rather than uniformity after telling six vignettes and presenting six emotions to select from.

Since Ekman’s early studies, many foraging communities have disappeared. Those remaining have had increased contact with other cultures (Gibbons, 2018). This led to an interesting result in the Gendron et al. (2018) study, as the participants who had experienced formal schooling, or could speak another language, were more consistently able to select the predicted emotions and expressions than those not schooled alongside outsiders. This supports a perceiver-constructed account, and the role of learning, as opposed to the six expressions having innate meaning. However, this is not evidence that these expressions actually or consistently display the emotions they have been associated with.

Jack et al. (2018) argued for a relaxing of theory-driven agendas, challenging entranced assumptions. They used facial expressions as an example, claiming that the chosen expressions should represent the societies being studied, as opposed to the classic expressions typically used by experimenters. Notably, they added that participants should be free to respond beyond culturally prescribed options for new knowledge to be discovered. The same argument can be applied to the teaching of facial expressions. Removing these restrictions and allowing people to freely express their emotions can allow for more cultural variety.

Western cultural norms are being imposed, with children learning to label emotion categories with one word, despite these words standing for concepts that each include many different features and behaviours. Currently, emotion words are used to establish boundaries between one category and another, with no empirical evidence that these boundaries exist. Concepts become progressively attached to particular words (Brennan & Clark, 1996) as emotional experiences are co-constructed (Barrett, 2017). This means that, as Chen et al. (2019) demonstrated, cultural norms can influence the way emotions are processed.

Studies of isolated semi-nomadic groups may have suggested cross-cultural reliability, yet many hunter-gatherers, such as the Hadza, don’t view others’ minds as being accessible (Robbins & Rumsey, 2008). There can be little validity in asking for an inference of internal processes from facial expressions when those being asked only consider the expressions to be predictors of behaviour. Further cross-cultural support for the common view arrived with the aforementioned study by Tracy and Matsumoto (2008). The researchers found that sighted, blind, and congenitally blind individuals, from over 30 countries competing at the Olympic Games, displayed the expected facial expressions in response to success and failure. However, this evidence for universality failed to acknowledge that congenitally blind people can still learn how to produce contextually appropriate facial expressions. Furthermore, blind competitors would probably have known that they were expected to look ‘pleased’ or ‘proud’ when winning, and ‘disappointed’ in defeat, and how to do so. Whilst the study’s highlighted images show these ‘appropriate’ expressions, for much of the time, as with the sighted competitors, their expressions were not those that were expected.

Researchers, and teachers, should be careful not to infer discrete emotions from specific facial expressions. Uston et al. (2022) claimed that unborn babies produce facial expressions of emotion based on their recording of foetus’ raising their upper lip, supposedly in disgust. This claim is a good example of a reverse inference: the inference of disgust being based entirely on the foetus’ expression and the fact that they had just been exposed to kale. This type of perceiver-dependent inference (Barrett et al., 2019) is common, despite the possibility of multiple causes. Similarly, Ruba et al. (2017) argued that 10-month-olds can distinguish between a disgust facial expression and one of anger, yet it may be that the infants can tell the difference simply because the expressions look different. Moreover, emotions are subjective feelings (Shuman & Scherer, 2014), and a child’s interpretation of meaning may differ greatly from a researcher’s or teacher’s view.

Exploring the potential for universality, researchers attended to our shared anatomy. Skeletally similar, human faces each contain a set of 34 muscle groups. Schmidt and Cohn (2001) argued that expressions are flexible, and don’t necessarily require standard musculature. However, Waller et al. (2008) found that the muscles used to perform the facial expressions pertaining to the common view belonged to all of the human cadavers they tested. The researchers suggest that any inconsistencies could explain other facial expressions and allow for differences. Only testing 18 cadavers of Caucasian Americans, the study demands cross-cultural comparison. It is also possible that, rather than for communication, the shared muscles needed for the six expressions may have evolved for other reasons, such as chewing or vocalising. Nevertheless, Spoor and Kelly (2004) had proposed that standardised facial musculature was a necessary adaptation for shared expressions to occur, and evidence had seemingly been found (Waller et al., 2008), further encouraging the common view.

Lee et al. (2014) related the six facial expressions to functions of sensory processing. They examined whether behaviours that widen the eyes, such as in the so-called fear expression, or narrow the eyes, as in disgust, enhanced either sensitivity or acuity appropriate for the associated emotion. Supporting the common view, the researchers reported that eye widening enhanced stimulus detection, while eye narrowing facilitated discrimination. Yet this is merely evidence of general affect. Squinting eyes, for example, do enhance focus and reduce less relevant visual stimuli, but this response should not be labelled as disgust. The same squinting eyes and affect, could be seen during discomfort or concentration, or when looking into sunlight. In the same way, studies of smiles have demonstrated many different context-dependent meanings (Martin et al., 2017). Barred teeth, thin lips and a tense jaw may signal tension or high arousal whereas an open mouth, with full lips, may display that an individual is relaxed, with low arousal. General arousal or valence should not be inferred as a specific emotion category.

Proponents of the common view accept that there are many different facial expressions and combinations of expressions, including the so-called universal ones. Afterall, one may be simultaneously frightened, angry and disgusted. It is also generally accepted that a prototypical facial expression of one emotion may be performed when experiencing another, such as smiling when upset or crying in happiness. The current teaching of emotions does not properly allow for this variety. Instead, infants are typically taught that they can accurately infer an emotion from a specific categorical facial expression. This implies boundaries that distinguish one expression and its attached emotion from another, and fails to account for the fluidity of both feelings and expressions. It may be unhelpful to teach a child that a fellow pupil is happy because they are smiling. Similarly, the teaching of other categorical facial expressions in UK schools has added further false assumptions. The often-taught ‘tired’ or ‘sleepy’ face had led to many infants believing a yawn is a cue of tiredness, despite there being over 20 different functional hypotheses for the cause of yawning (Massen & Gallup, 2017).

Research from cognitive neuroscience and positive psychology called for a reappraisal in how children are taught, demanding more emphasis on positive emotions (Barnes, 2005). Whilst a constructivist may argue for an infinite number of facial expression (Averill, 1980), according to Ekman (2004), humans produce over 20,000 different expressions, with Panksepp (1998) claiming there are around 34,000. Panksepp (1998) laid out his own categorical view of universal emotions, suggested seven primary systems. Whereas Ekman described only one ‘positive’ universal expression – and added a sixth negative one, contempt (Ekman, 1987) – Panksepp proposed four positive expressions; seeking, care, play, and lust, in addition to three he classes as negative; fear, sadness and anger. Criticising the neglect of positive expressions – due to a focus on the adaptive ‘fight or flight’ responses (Canon, 1932; Tooby & Cosmides, 2008) – Keltner et al. (2019) argued for 20 universal facial expressions of emotion. In their synthesis of studies, the researchers found data for 11 positive emotions, each with a distinctive and recognisable expression, including compassion, contentment, desire, pride, relief, and triumph. Despite this divergence from the common view that dominates UK education, a categorical view of emotions was still being argued for. Yet, as Siegel et al.’s (2018) meta-analyses showed, variety is the norm and there is no reliable relationship between any emotion and a particular group of autonomic nervous system changes. Moreover, psychophysiological and neuroscientific evidence does not consistently support the common view (Barrett et al., 2019).

The teaching of mostly ‘negative’ emotions, may be employed to discourage unwanted behaviour. Afterall, emotional intelligence (EI) aims to facilitate social harmony (Goleman, 1995) as opposed to social change. According to Boler (1999), EI is built upon universalised human emotions, and thus, it negates the role of culture, social class or race on emotional regulation (Pekrun & Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2014). The current teaching of emotions in UK schools is promoting a set of culturally defined standards that govern the kinds and occurrences of expressions of emotion that are deemed normal or acceptable. Tsai et al. (2006) found differences between how emotions are emphasised and expressed in children’s books in the West compared to Asia. This can lead to a teaching of what is culturally expected as opposed to naturally occurring. Such social norms can, for example, lead to gender roles being adopted, with certain ‘negative’ emotions being hidden and others expressed more freely. Maxwell and Reichenbach (2007) suggested that emotional expressions were being standardised in the UK in order to limit young people’s autonomy, while Giner-Sorolla (2013) points out that emotions that are of benefit to an individual may not necessarily be good in a larger context.

Coskun (2019) developed a reliable and valid test for assessing how well a child can recognise the six basic expressions. This test claims to measure and even improve empathy, making an assumption that the posed and exaggerated facial expressions used in the test are representative of emotion. However, these are not facial displays that children would typically see in the real world (Grossmann, 2010). Instead, these expressions represent prototype versions, seemingly taught gradually through cultural exposure. Pons et al (2010), in an extensive literature review, reported that by the age of 3 to 4, most children can recognise happiness, sadness, fear, and anger from pictures of facial expressions (Cutting & Dunn, 1999; Hughes & Dunn, 1998). In their own study, Pons et al. (2004) named one of these emotions and children pointed to its corresponding facial expression (from four pictures). The 3-year-olds were correct 53% of the time, with 75% of 5-years-olds being able to indicate the correct facial cue. Whilst this has been claimed as evidence of emotional development (Pons et al., 2004), it is, more accurately, evidence of learning. It should also be noted that many children, and indeed adults, could not correctly identify the expressions. Vicari et al. (2000) reported that 30% of the ten-year-olds fail to identify disgust, supposedly a universally recognised, innate expression.

Learning is influenced by the faces that are seen (Dimberg et al., 1999). Exploring how children attend to faces, Geangu et al. (2016) discovered that infants in the UK spend more time fixating and tracking mouth movements, whereas Japanese infants tended more to the eyes. Jack et al. (2009) had earlier demonstrated the same preferences - Western/Eastern mouth/eyes - in adults. This suggests that a child’s attentional strategies are learned from the faces they most often observe (Nelson, 2001; Scott et al., 2007). There is also evidence for a perceptual narrowing (Quinn et al., 2018), resulting in infants being better able to distinguish between the kinds of faces and expressions they typically see. Cultural differences matter. The current teaching of facial expressions in schools reinforces a child’s ability to read some culturally acknowledged expressions, whilst making them less able to distinguish between different expressions more prominent in other cultures. Moreover, children gradually acquire the cultural norms and characteristics they are exposed to, leading Hoemann et al. (2019) to state that emotion perception is enculturated.

UK children who fare less well at recognising the basic expressions, and score poorly on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (Baron-Cohen, 2001), risk being classed as emotionally underdeveloped or having an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). The UK prevalence of ASD was reported as 1.76% of the population (Roman-Urrestarazu et al., 2021), and a common test for this assessment involves the matching of photographs of pairs of eyes in posed expressions (acted not spontaneous) with their corresponding states, despite this ability having no use in the real world (Berggren et al., 2018; Kouo & Egel, 2016). Fletcher (2023) explored the use of picture books to teach children to respond correctly to observed emotions. Based entirely upon parents and teachers’ judgements of improvement, the picture books were deemed successful in helping the children. Once again, here is an example of emotion and expression being conflated. If the children were being taught anything, it was that a certain facial expression represents a common expectation of emotion. This is not helping children to recognise genuine emotions which are unstable, multidimensional and dynamic, and fluctuate within and across events.

When teaching about emotions, more emphasis could be given to allowing children to acknowledge and express how they are feeling personally. To this end, emotion words may help, but the recognition of emotion in others would be better focused on general states (Linnenbrink-Garcia et al., 2016). Arousal and valence are communicated through many nonverbal modes, including facial expressions, but also blink rate, pupil dilation, posture, gait, gestures, touch and proxemics (Argyle, 1975; Navarro, 2018; Wezowski & Wesowski, 2018). More consideration should be given to context, culture, how behaviours change in the moment, and how congruent the nonverbal behaviour is with any accompanying verbal communication (Collett, 2016). By just focusing on facial expressions, children can easily miss how someone is generally feeling. Any teaching of facial expressions should acknowledge their role in communicating information rather than emotion. In the same way verbal language does, a facial expression may alert people to a threat or focus their attention, but like language, the message is delivered culturally, contextually, and subjectively.

A child’s exposure to Western expressions may have increased due to the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) (Ekman & Friesen, 1978; Ekman et al., 2002). Based on categorical prototypes, FACS uses muscle actions to recognise and label expressions. Similar systems have been created to study chimpanzees (Vick et al., 2007) and, most recently, horses (Ricci-Bonot & Mills, 2023). Crucially for children, studios such as Pixar and Disney have used FACS to help depict animated faces in emotional states (Ekman, 2023). This has further promoted a culturally dominant view of how emotions are thought to be expressed which may encourage such expressions. Facial coding technology had been predicted to become a 56-billion-dollar market by 2024 (Crawford, 2021). However, based recent challenges to the common view (Barrett et al., 2019), there has been a distancing from such facial coding. This shift was acknowledged by the leading consumer intelligence company NIQ, who conclude that there is little correlation between a feeling and a facial action (Shestyuk, 2022). This rethinking about universality will eventually reach classroom. If emotions are to be read, future research is likely to involve neuroimaging studies of the brain (Shackman & Wager, 2019) and not images of faces. 

To conclude, in the UK, facial expressions are commonly taught to infants in the same way that emoticons are taught (Urabe et al., 2014), as representations of discrete experiences. However, there is not yet any empirical evidence for emotions being biologically hardwired or expressed categorically in universally recognised facial displays. As opposed to being created by emotion, research demonstrates that facial expressions are shaped by culture (Fridlund, 1994; Gendron et al., 2018; Jack et al., 2012). With this knowledge comes a responsibility for educators to consider which facial expressions are taught, if any; and question why these particular expressions are used. It should be made clear that prototype expressions only occur some of the time, and that they are not consistently associated with any particular meaning. Emotion research and the teaching of emotions should take a step back in order for knowledge to move forward. When it comes to facial expressions of any internal feeling, variety is the norm, and this message should be taught. Otherwise, children may learn to routinely make false inferences of specific emotions based on facial expressions alone. 

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