The role of context in interpreting facial expression: comment on Russell and Fehr (1987)

In their article, "Relativity in the Perception of Emotion in Facial Expressions," Russell and Fehr (1987) argued that context is the principal determinant in interpreting facial expressions of emotion. They questioned the biological bases for emotion suggested by Darwin and supported by many cross-cultural studies. We suggest that their results occurred because the target faces they used were emotionally neutral or ambiguous. We also argue that their findings can be interpreted as supporting the communicative importance of the face.