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Evidence for training the ability to read microexpressions of emotion

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Abstract

Microexpressions are extremely quick facial expressions of emotion that appear on the face for less than ½ a s. To date, no study has demonstrated that the ability to read them can be trained. We present two studies that do so, as well as evidence for the retention of the training effects. In Study 1 department store employees were randomly assigned to a training or comparison group. The training group had significantly higher scores than the comparison group in microexpression reading accuracy at the end of the training; 2 weeks later the training group had better third-party ratings of social and communicative skills on the job. Study 2 demonstrated that individuals trained in reading microexpressions retained their ability to read them better than a comparison group tested 2–3 weeks after initial training. These results indicated that the ability to read microexpressions can be trained and are retained.

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Notes

  1. This idea may actually have earlier roots in the work of Duchenne (1862/1990), who demonstrated a difference in specific facial muscles between smiles of true enjoyment and non-enjoyment smiles. Darwin’s inhibition hypothesis was different in that it suggested that suppressed emotional expressions could leak out involuntarily.

  2. Relatedly, Condon and Ogston (1967) published a microanalysis of interactional behavior. While not focused on facial expressions they employed a micro-level, frame-by-frame analysis of nonverbal behavior in a psychotherapeutic interview of a mother, father, and child. They suggested that nonverbal behavior can be analyzed with such precision and that such micro-level nonverbal behaviors signal something meaningful about the mental states of the encoders.

  3. To our knowledge Porter and ten Brinke’s (2008) study was the first empirical study published in a peer-reviewed journal that demonstrated the existence of microexpressions, as previous evidence for microexpressions were limited to book chapters and books. Many peer-reviewed articles on expression in deceptive situations do exist (e.g., Ekman et al. 1981; Frank and Ekman 1993) but these focus on the form of the expressions—i.e., the presence or absence of specific facial muscles, ala Duchenne’s (1862/1990) work mentioned earlier—and not on their speed of occurrence (microexpressions).

  4. This claim is consistent with the theoretical and empirical work on microexpressions to date. It may be that microexpressions are also signs of rapidly processed but unconcealed emotional states. Future research will need to investigate this and other possibilities.

  5. Even though the third-party raters were initially blind to condition of the individuals, it was very possible that they might not have been blind to condition at the time of the ratings. Participants may have communicated with each other and their raters about their training/conditions.

  6. Unfortunately, the number of participants who had more than one rater was too small to conduct any meaningful analyses.

  7. The analyses reported here utilized only those participants with complete data (N = 72).

  8. It may be the case that these findings occurred because of Hawthorne or halo effects. On one hand, that positive effects were found on some scales but not others may argue against Hawthorne or halo in confounding the findings because it would be difficult to argue that such effects occurred differentially on some scales but not others. And the two non-significant effects did not occur because of low reliabilities among the dependent variables. On the other hand, all four variables showed the same group effect in the same direction, and it could be argued that the effect just happened to be larger for two variables, pushing them past statistical significance. The results should be interpreted with this caveat.

  9. All analyses reported in this section and the next were recomputed using only participants with complete data; all findings were replicated. Detailed report of the analyses is available from the authors.

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Acknowledgments

Portions of this report were prepared with the support of research grant W91WAW-08-C-0024 from the Army Research Institute, and FA9550-09-1-0281 from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to the first author. We thank Gil-Won Hwang and the Sopooong Department Store in South Korea for their assistance in the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University and Humintell, LLC, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94132, USA

    David Matsumoto & Hyi Sung Hwang

Authors
  1. David Matsumoto
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  2. Hyi Sung Hwang
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Correspondence to David Matsumoto.

Appendix

Appendix

Questionnaire used by colleagues for third-party ratings in study 1

How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement about the behavior of the target individual? Please indicate your rate of agreement and mark your answer on your answer sheet

  1. 1

    Strongly Disagree.

  2. 2

    Disagree.

  3. 3

    Agree.

  4. 4

    Strongly Agree.

Social skills

  1. 1.

    Breakthrough current situation and promote new ideas even when experiencing gridlock or resistance.

  2. 2.

    Often attracting and leading people.

  3. 3.

    Always pursuing challenging goals and making the effort towards accomplishing those goals.

  4. 4.

    Set high self-motivation standard to accomplish tasks.

  5. 5.

    Promote change by engaging others when many are not willing to change

  6. 6.

    Good at getting people involved.

  7. 7.

    Recruiting people to initiate action even when others had given up.

  8. 8.

    Possess human network in a wide range of departments.

  9. 9.

    Indicate clear vision even in a confusing situation.

  10. 10.

    Proactively detect risks and lead others even when problems are not exposed at the surface.

Communication skills

  1. 1.

    Understand the flow of conversation from the positioning of the person.

  2. 2.

    Take time to listen to others without interrupting.

  3. 3.

    Accept others’ opinions if they are right although having his/her own opinions.

  4. 4.

    Never behave in a manner that may provide unpleasant feelings to others regardless of how difficult the situation becomes.

  5. 5.

    Handle severe criticism by others without expressing anger.

  6. 6.

    Listen to others even when busy and pressured.

  7. 7.

    Listen to others, placing him/herself in the other person’s position.

  8. 8.

    Act with respect towards others although being in a position of authority.

  9. 9.

    Listen to others with positive gestures.

  10. 10.

    Does not hold on to the past success.

NB: These items were randomized in a single questionnaire.

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Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H.S. Evidence for training the ability to read microexpressions of emotion. Motiv Emot 35, 181–191 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9212-2

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