High School

Ekman's research on emotional expression has shown that:

a) Facial expressions are completely independent of culture
b) Facial expressions are universal across all cultures
c) Facial expressions are influenced solely by genetic factors
d) Facial expressions are entirely determined by individual personality traits

Answer :

Ekman's research has shown that B) facial expressions are universal across all cultures.

Through extensive cross-cultural studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, Ekman and his colleagues identified six primary emotions happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust that are universally expressed through facial expressions. These studies involved observing and analyzing facial expressions in various isolated indigenous tribes and cultures from around the world.

One of the significant contributions of Ekman's research is the development of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a method for objectively coding and analyzing facial expressions based on specific muscle movements. FACS enabled researchers to identify consistent patterns of facial expressions associated with different emotions, irrespective of cultural background or social context.