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There's an amazing experiment where they take people into a room, sit them down and distract them by getting them to listen to some Kafka. They are then asked to leave the room the way they came in.
All the while, the psychologists Achim Schützwohl and Rainer Reisenzein have a plan to really freak them out. They have quickly reconfigured the exit into a brightly lit green room, unfurnished except for a single red chair with a stranger sitting in it, staring them down.
Upon exiting the room, every single participant was surprised. Every single participant said they were surprised. But only one in five people actually pulled the "classic surprised face". The vast majority of people had some other expression altogether.
Of course, some people smile when happy. Of course some happy people smile. But not always. And it's dangerous to pretend that you can predict how an individual is feeling based on the movement of their facial muscles alone.
There's a brilliant book on this topic that I thoroughly recommend: How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett.
All the while, the psychologists Achim Schützwohl and Rainer Reisenzein have a plan to really freak them out. They have quickly reconfigured the exit into a brightly lit green room, unfurnished except for a single red chair with a stranger sitting in it, staring them down.
Upon exiting the room, every single participant was surprised. Every single participant said they were surprised. But only one in five people actually pulled the "classic surprised face". The vast majority of people had some other expression altogether.
Of course, some people smile when happy. Of course some happy people smile. But not always. And it's dangerous to pretend that you can predict how an individual is feeling based on the movement of their facial muscles alone.
There's a brilliant book on this topic that I thoroughly recommend: How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett.