Nonverbal Dictionary | Page 8

canine snarl (disgust); lip-
pout (sadness, submission, uncertainty); lip-purse (disagree); sneer (contempt; see below, Sneer). 3.
Brows: frown (anger, sadness, concentration); brow-raise (intensity). 4. Tongue: tongue-show (dislike,
disagree). 5. Eyelids:
flashbulb eyes (surprise); widened (excitement, surprise); narrowed (threat,
disagreement);
fast-blink (arousal); normal-blink (relaxed). 6. Eyes: big pupils (arousal, fight-or-flight);
small pupils (
rest-and-digest); direct-gaze (affiliate, threaten); gaze cut-off (dislike, disagree); gaze-
down (submission, deception); CLEMS (thought processing). (NOTE: See individual entries elsewhere
in
The Nonverbal Dictionary.)
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Child development. ". . . all children, regardless of cultural background, show the same \
maturation
process when it comes to the basic emotional expressions [e.g., of anger\
, fear, and joy]" (Burgoon et al.
1989:350; see below, RESEARCH REPORTS).
Culture. "Japanese are taught to mask negative facial expressions with smiles a\
nd laughter and to display
less facial affect overall, leading some Westerners to consider the Japa\
nese inscrutable (Friesen, 1972;
Morsbach, 1973; Ramsey, 1983)" (Burgoon et al. 1989:193).
Embryology. The nerves and muscles that open and close our mouth derive from the 1st pharyngeal arch,
while those that constrict our throat derive from the 3rd and 4th arches. In the disgusted or "yuck-face,"
cranial VII contracts orbital muscles to narrow our eyes, as well as corrugator and associated muscle
groups to lower our brows. (Each of these muscles and nerves derives fr\
om the 2nd pharyngeal arch.) We
may express positive, friendly, and confident moods by dilating our eye, nose, throat, and mouth
openings--or we may show negative and anxious feelings (as well as infe\
riority) by constricting them.
Thus, the underlying principle of movement established in the jawless fi\
shes long ago remains much the
same today: Unpleasant emotions and stimuli lead cranial nerves to constrict our eye\
, nose, mouth, and
throat openings, while more pleasant sensations widen our facial orifice\
s to incoming cues.
Evolution I. During the Jurassic period mammalian faces gradually became more mobil\
e (and far more
expressive) than the rigid faces of reptiles. Muscles which earlier con\
trolled the
pharyngeal arches (i.e.,
the primitive "gill" openings) came to move mammalian lips, muzzles, sc\
alps, and external ear flaps.
Nerve links from the emotional
limbic system to the facial muscles--routed through the brain stem's
facial and trigeminal nerves (cranial VII and V)--enable us to express joy, fear, sadness, surprise,
interest, anger, and disgust today.
Evolution II. That a nose-stinging whiff of ammonium carbonate can cause our face to\
close up in disgust
shows how facial expression, smell, and taste are linked. The connection\
traces back to the ancient
muscles and nerves of the pharyngeal arches of our remote Silurian ances\
tors. Pharyngeal arches were
part of the feeding and breathing apparatus of the jawless fishes; sea w\
ater was pumped in and out of the
early pharynx through a series of gill slits at the animal's head end. E\
ach arch contained a visceral nerve
and a somatic muscle to close the gill opening in case dangerous chemicals were sensed. Very\
early in
Nonverbal World, pharyngeal arches were programmed to constrict in response to noxious tastes and
smells.
Gag reflex. The ancient pattern is reflected in our faces today. In infants, e.g.,\
a bitter taste shows in
lowered brows, narrowed eyes, and a protruded tongue--the yuck-face expression pictured on poison-
warning labels. A bad flavor causes baby to seal off her throat and oral\
cavity as cranial nerves IX and X
activate the pharyngeal gag reflex. Cranial V depresses the lower jaw to expel the unpleasant mouthful
(then closes it to keep food out), as cranial XII protrudes the tongue.
Gender differences. "Not surprisingly, women have a general superiority over men when it c\
omes to
decoding facial expressions . . ." (Burgoon et al. 1989:360).
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Mimicking. Research indicates that mimicking another's face elicits empathy (Ber\
stein et al., 2000).
Primatology. 1. In our closest primate relatives, the Old World monkeys and apes, the f\
ollowing facial
expressions have been identified: alert face, bared-teeth gecker face, f\
rowning bared-teeth scream face,
lip-smacking face, pout face, protruded-lips face, relaxed face, relaxed\
open-mouth face, silent bared-
teeth face, staring bared-teeth scream face, staring open-mouth face, te\
eth-chattering face, and tense-
mouth face (Van Hooff 1967). 2. "Andrew (1963, 1965) held that facial expressions were originally
natural physical response to stimuli. As these responses became endowed \
with the function of
communication, they survived the various stages of evolution and were pa\
ssed along to man" (Izard
1971:38; cf.
NONVERBAL INDEPENDENCE).
Sneer. In the sneer, buccinator muscles (innervated by lower buccal branches of the facial nerve)
contract to draw the lip corners sideward to produce a sneering "dimple"\
in the cheeks (the sneer may
also be accompanied by a scornful, upward eye-roll). From videotape stu\
dies of nearly 700 married
couples in sessions discussing their emotional relationships with each o\
ther, University of Washington
psychologist, John Gottman has found the sneer expression (even fleetin\
g episodes of the cue) to be a
"potent signal" for predicting the likelihood of