WHAT DO NONVERBAL EXPRESSIONS TELL US ABOUT EMOTION?
Sauter DA., Russell JA.
What is a nonverbal expression of emotion? Both the notion of expression and the notion of emotion are contentious in the literature. Everyone knows the clear cases – smiles, frowns, screams, chuckles, slumps, and so on – but the category as a whole is not well defined. Writers from different theoretical backgrounds have criticized the implicit assumptions inherent in this phrase (Ekman 1971; Hinde 1985; Parkinson 2005; Zajonc 1985). Are the referenced behaviors in fact expressing something, and is this something an emotion? Not all scientific accounts are consistent with the implication that certain nonverbal behaviors express an emotion.