One of the purposes of my blog is to bring you information on current research that is going on in the field of emotions.
Paul Ekman Ph.D. is a pre-eminent psychologist and a co-discoverer of micro expressions with Friesen, Haggard and Isaacs. In 2009, Ekman was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine. He became interested in facial expression in 1965. After studying nonverbal behavior in Papua New Guinea in 1967 and 1968, his research provided the strongest evidence to date that Darwin, not Margaret Mead, was correct in claiming facial expressions are universal.
Dr. Ekman then developed, with W. Friesen, the first and only comprehensive tool for objectively measuring facial movement – the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), published in 1978, and revised in 2003 with J. Hager as third author. FACS remains the gold standard for identifying any movement the face can make, free of interpretive inferences
When he retired from the University of California in 2004, after more than thirty years as a full professor, Ekman decided to translate his research findings into resources that could be of help to the general public. He formed the Paul Ekman Group, PEG LLC, and authored his book: Emotions Revealed: Understanding Faces and Feelings to Improve Emotional Life.
In his book Ekman asks: Can we choose whether to become emotionally engaged, and how we act when we are? He explains why these choices are difficult and how to identify and respond to the emotions shown by others. Buy Ekman’s book here. Look for the Emotional Health tag.
Ekman has written a blog post to find out which courses and universities are best equipped to promote a career in becoming an expert in facial expressions and emotion. The answer to this question depends on what level of education you are seeking, and what topic interests you. To help you on your journey, he has put together a series of short answers. You can review them here.
Let me know what you think about Ekman’s work with micro-expressions in the “Speak Your Mind” section below.