Facial Signs of Emotional Experience

Spontaneous facial expressions were found to provide accurate information about more specific aspects of emotional experience than just the pleasant versus unpleasant distinction. Videotape records were gathered while subjects viewed motion picture films and then reported on their subjective experience. A new technique for measuring facial movement isolated a particular type of smile that was related to differences in reported happiness between those who showed this action and those who did not, to the intensity of happiness, and to which of two happy experiences was reported as happiest. Those who showed a set of facial actions hypothesized to be signs of various negative affects reported experiencing more negative emotion than those who did not show these actions. How much these facial actions were shown was related to the reported intensity of negative affect. Specific facial actions associated with the experience of disgust were identified.