This document summarizes Paul Ekman's work on universal facial expressions that communicate emotions. It describes the seven universal emotions - anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness, surprise, and contempt. For each emotion, it details the specific facial muscle movements and expressions involved, including examples of micro-expressions. Ekman's research empirically showed consistencies in these emotional signatures across different cultures. The document aims to help train observers to recognize subtle facial cues and micro-expressions that indicate people's true emotions.

1. 2.2 EMOTION IN THE FACE
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2. The face is the “mind’s canvas” and communicates certain universal emotions.
People can be very adept at concealing/deceiving with facial cues, which is
why it is important to cluster observations. The trained eye looks for “micro-
gestures” which are subtle, but “leak” information.
All people have an intuitive foundation for interpreting nonverbal
communication. However, non-verbal acuity is a learned ability that grows as
people articulate the connection between observation and manifesting
emotion.

3. Working with nonverbal acuity helps the care provider to recognize emotions
in themselves and other people. This creates a more consistent and intentional
non-verbal presentation as well as encouraging empathy.
Section 2.2 of the Aegis System™ comes from the work credited to Paul
Ekman who developed the Facial Action Coding System. Ekman has
empirically shown consistencies within these universal emotional signatures
that have been scientifically proven and documented all over the world.

4. THERE ARE SEVEN UNIVERSAL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
THAT UNITE ALL PEOPLE
Anger
Fear
Sadness
Disgust
Happiness
Surprise
Contempt

5. When these emotions register on the face, they range from subtle (also referred
to as micro-expressions) to obvious. They may present as leakage from
suppression or even present themselves before a person is cognitively
experiencing the emotion within themselves.
Each of these expressions may appear in a facial cluster or completely isolated
from other facial feature activation. To the trained observer, subtle “micro-
expressions” are often the most telling because of their difficulty to conceal.

6. We are looking for movement from
someone’s baseline or resting face.
© Dr. Paul

7. DISGUST
This is a lingering biological signature that evolved to protect the olfactory
system from offensive odors that would debilitate the sense of smell. Olfactory
stimulus played a more crucial role in early humans lives.
 Disgust = raising of the upper lip and crinkling of the nose
 Disgust may be used as a disapproval cue
 Dramatic nose crinkling and additional crinkling around central part of face
are strongly indicative of disgust
 With intense disgust, eyebrows may come down to accentuate the nose
crinkling effect

8. Disgust
© Dr. Paul

9. CONTEMPT
Contempt activates face muscles that tighten and draw the corner of the mouth
into the face. This expression may appear with a slight smile; it is not
uncommon for people to enjoy the feeling of superiority that comes with
contempt.
 May pair with the impulse to look down on an object or person, similar to a
disproval cue
 Contempt is the only asymmetrical (one sided) facial expression considered
to be universal

10. Contempt
© Dr. Paul

11. Contempt
(enjoyable variety)
© Dr. Paul

12. FEAR
In fear, people’s upper eyelid/eyebrows raise and their eyes get big. Fear and
surprise may be difficult to differentiate but fortunately, in the context of real-
time observation, surprise is brief and will often quickly transition.
 Fear can occur subtly with no eyebrow movement, just a raising of the upper
eyelid
 Fear creates a distinct set of horizontal wrinkles, or furrows, in center of
forehead as eyebrows draw up and together into the middle of the forehead
 Lips pull out in a pronounced horizontal fashion, which is an important
differentiator from surprise which has lips that are less tensed

13.  Eyebrows raise in a flatter fashion than surprise
 Excessive eyebrow raising qualifies as fear; surprise has a fixed upper eye lid
raise
 Tensed lower eyelids and raised upper eyelids with no other facial expression
is typically fear

14. Fear
© Dr. Paul

15. SURPRISE
With surprise (similar to fear), the upper eyelid/eyebrows raise and eyes get big.
Surprise is the briefest of all emotions, which helps to differentiate it from fear
in observation. In its true form, surprise does not last long. Surprise is a call to
action.
 Surprise can occur subtly with just the upper eyelid raising on its own
 Anything stronger than a minuscule upper eyelid raise is considered fear
 Eyelids typically raise in a more arc-like fashion with surprise and less drawn
together as seen in fear
 Jaw drops down with surprise vs. mouth stretched outward in fear

16. Surprise
© Dr. Paul

17. ANGER
With anger, the eyebrows are lowered and drawn together while the upper eyelid
tenses to meet them, constricting focus into a glare.
 With intensity, “crow’s feet” may appear next to outside corners of the eyes as
face muscles draw the eyes narrower
 Lips may tighten/thin as they draw together
 When mouth is open it becomes rectangular indicating uncontrolled or less
regulated anger

18. Anger
© Dr. Paul

19. ©2016 Aegis Training Solutions, LLC
Anger - Rage

20. SADNESS
The mechanism of the expression of sadness is to elicit support from others. For
early humans, sadness (more often the result of trauma) likely represented some
proximity to danger and grouping-up was advantageous.
 Inner corners of eyebrows raise up and inward creating wrinkles (various
forms include vertical line or wing type wrinkles) in the lower/center portion
of the forehead
 Upper eye lid muscles relax
 Chin muscles contract, creating various degrees of wrinkles

21.  Chin boss (space between top of chin and lower lip) is pushed up/retreats
inward and crinkles
 Naso-labial furrow line (outside corners of nostrils to outside corners of the
mouth) becomes pronounced
 Overall loss of facial muscular tone, slumping action

22. Sadness
© Dr. Paul

23. Sadness - Agony

24. Happy
Two muscles activate a genuine smile, representing happiness: zygomaticus
major (stretches from corner of mouth towards cheekbone) and orbicularis oculi
(surrounds eye). When these muscles work together, the mouth is drawn out and
up, making telling “crow’s feet” on cheeks. Non-genuine smiles (as in polite
smiles, evasive smiles, or smiles that fit into cultural display rules) are much
flatter and lack upward/outward motion and eye activation.
 No person can fully contract orbicularis oculi voluntarily
 Activation around the eyes is critical to assessing genuine happiness in
combination with various types of smiles

25.  Obvious loosening or relaxing of furrowed lines on the forehead may present
with this emotion
 Facial muscles relax and “full lips” emerge
 Head tilts are associated with happy/comfort displays and are very rarely
manufactured as false positives

26. Happy
© Dr. Paul