Happy face or sad face? Depends on your culture

PEOPLE from different parts of the world vary in what they think constitutes a happy, sad or angry expression – potentially influencing communication between cultures, Scottish research shows.

Facial expressions have been referred to as the “universal language of emotion”, with the suggestion that people from different cultures share ideas about what someone is feeling based on their features.

But a new study by Glasgow University shows this might not be the case, and the expressions we use could be interpreted very differently depending on where someone is from.

The researchers studied 15 Chinese people and 15 Caucasians living in Glasgow who were asked for their opinions on what faces expressed what emotions in computer-generated pictures.

The responses they gave allowed the researchers to identify the expressive facial features that participants associated with each emotion.

Researcher Dr Rachael Jack said: “What we found was that east Asians and western Caucasians differ in terms of the features they think constitute an angry face or a happy face.”