Universality Revisited
Abstract
Evidence does not support the claim that observers universally recognize basic emotions from signals on the face. The percentage of observers who matched the face with the predicted emotion (matching score) is not universal, but varies with culture and language. Matching scores are also inflated by the commonly used methods: within-subject design; posed, exaggerated facial expressions (devoid of context); multiple examples of each type of expression; and a response format that funnels a variety of interpretations into one word specified by the experimenter. Without these methodological aids, matching scores are modest and subject to various explanations.
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Previous research has found that cultural factors influence how people express and perceive emotions particularly on the face, questioning the universality of human emotions.
“Previous research has found that cultural factors influence how people express and perceive emotions particularly on the face, questioning the universality of human emotions (Jack et al., 2012;Nelson & Russell, 2013),”
From Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal (2020) · cites this paper as Nelson & Russell, 2013
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Russell, J. A. (1994) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.102 · Cited by 1,640 · see citing works
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The Human Face as a Dynamic Tool for Social Communication
Jack, R. E., & Schyns, P. G. (2015) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.052 · Cited by 405 · see citing works
Universality reconsidered: Diversity in making meaning of facial expressions
Gendron, M., Crivelli, C., & Barrett, L. F. (2018) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721417746794 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Durán, J. I., & Fernández-Dols, J.-M. (2021) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0001015 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal
Volynets, S., Glerean, E., Hietanen, J. K., Hari, R., & Nummenmaa, L. (2020) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/emo0000624 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Emotion perception in Hadza hunter-gatherers
Gendron, M., Hoemann, K., Crittenden, A. N., Mangola, S. M., Ruark, G. A., & Barrett, L. F. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60257-2 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Chen, C., Hensel, L. B., Duan, Y., Ince, R. A. A., Garrod, O. G. B., Beskow, J., Jack, R. E., & Schyns, P. G. (2019) · 2019 14th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face & Gesture Recognition (FG 2019) · doi:10.1109/fg.2019.8756570 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A.
- Affiliations
- Brock University (CA)
- Boston College (US)
- Venue
- Emotion Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-01
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 8-15
- ISSN
- 1754-0739 (ISSN-L)
- 1754-0747
- OpenAlex
- W4244892154
- Cited by
- 209
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 9
- FWCI
- 7.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Emotion Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Emotion and Mood Recognition
- Keywords
- emotional facial expressions, emotion recognition, universal emotions, cross-cultural comparison, language influence, within-subjects design, methodological bias
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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