According to a new study done by Glasgow University in Scotland, East Asians and Westerners may read facial expressions completely differently — Asians might look at a face and see surprise, while Westerners would look at the same face and see fear. That’s because Asians tend to focus on the eyes, while Westerners take in the face as a whole.
For the same reason, Asians may have trouble distinguishing certain expressions; narrowed eyes could suggest anger, but they could also suggest confusion. Interestingly, the Asians in the study often chose the less socially-threatening emotion. Confusion, not anger. Surprise, not fear.
This study makes all the more sense when you look at emoticons used by Asians and Westerners. Check out the chart in the article, which uses the example of :-) (Western) versus ^_^ (Eastern). I’ve never read much into emoticon styles, but this is pretty neat!
Now I’m wondering if there’s any connection between this study and the drawing of people in Japanese animation, with the emphasis on large, emotive eyes. Thoughts?
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6 Comments to “East Asians, Westerners, and Facial Expressions”
softestbullet wrote:
I've heard that about Western vs. East Asian emoticons! It is interesting. A while ago, I took part in this other study where you looked at pictures of people smiling and decided whether they were genuine smiles or not — and apparently, results are a lot more accurate if you focus on the eyes. ^_^
But, it was a Western study. I wonder if eyes are a tell for Westerners because we think of smiles as a mouth thing, and learn to fake that movement without doing the same for eyes. So when people in East Asia fake a smile, do they fake smiling eyes?
Posted on 15-Aug-09 at 9:05 am | Permalink
Linda Chan wrote:
That sounds like an interesting study! Did you ever learn the results/conclusions?
That's a good question about smiling eyes..they say the eyes are the windows to the soul so you probably can't lie with them. Unless you don't have a soul.
Posted on 15-Aug-09 at 7:04 pm | Permalink
csc3 wrote:
or if you're blind
Posted on 15-Aug-09 at 7:17 pm | Permalink
8Asians.com » Asians, Westerners, and Hand Gestures wrote:
[...] and facial appearances are not the only defining factor to being Asian. Neither are our facial expressions as covered by Linda in her recent post, nor the fact that we are notorious for eating rice in all [...]
Posted on 16-Aug-09 at 8:09 pm | Permalink
softestbullet wrote:
Here's the study (you can still take it).
The results were basically this:
(Ekman is the guy who made the BBC test.) Also:
Also, apparently we have “eye sphincters”!
Posted on 17-Aug-09 at 7:42 am | Permalink
SofialaPlumeta wrote:
The point is, those of you who are (or were once) outlaw-rebel-mavericks should blind date uncensored never give up your independent spirit in the name of team unity.
Posted on 04-Oct-09 at 6:39 pm | Permalink
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