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Reading emotions from faces in two indigenous societies.

Carlos Crivelli1, Sergio Jarillo2, James A Russell3

  • 1Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

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Summary

The Universality Thesis suggests all humans recognize emotions from facial expressions. This study tested this in indigenous Trobriand and Matemo communities, finding moderate support for happiness but less for other emotions.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology of Emotion
  • Cross-Cultural Psychology
  • Nonverbal Communication

Background:

  • The Universality Thesis posits universal recognition of emotions from facial expressions.
  • Rigorous testing in isolated indigenous societies is crucial but scarce.
  • Previous research often lacked diverse cultural samples.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the Universality Thesis in two indigenous societies: Trobriand Islands (Papua New Guinea) and Matemo Island (Mozambique).
  • To compare emotion recognition accuracy between indigenous groups and a Western control group (Spain).
  • To examine the robustness of findings across age, gender, and display type.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional studies involving children and adolescents (ages 6-16).
  • Participants viewed prototypical facial expressions and matched them to emotion labels (happiness, fear, anger, disgust, sadness).
  • Included a Western control group from Spain for comparison.

Main Results:

  • The Spanish control group showed high accuracy (83%-100%), supporting the Universality Thesis.
  • Indigenous groups showed moderate support for happiness recognition (56%-58%).
  • Recognition accuracy for fear, anger, disgust, and sadness was significantly lower in indigenous groups (7%-53%).

Conclusions:

  • The Universality Thesis is moderately supported for happiness across cultures.
  • Facial expression recognition for other basic emotions may not be universal.
  • Findings highlight the need for culturally diverse samples in emotion research.