Participants
Five participants chosen consisted of friends and family of the experimenter. Participants were female mothers and aged between 32 to 64 years of age; median age is 45 years. Three participants described themselves as NZ European; one NZ European/Maori and one NZ Maori individual.
The participants consisted of three full-time employees, one student and one stay-at-home parent. Two participants had no formal qualification and the highest qualification is an undergraduate diploma.
Materials
Materials consisted of eight different grey-scale photographs pasted onto separate blank sheets of card and Answer Sheets. These eight photographs express different facial expressions; four displaying hands, four with the hands hidden …show more content…
This outcome did not support the original hypothesis, that body language plays a bigger part in emotion recognition. If this hypothesis was correct, this experiment should express a favoured outcome towards hands being visible. The results showed correct answers of 80 percent hands not visible and 75 percent hands visible.
Every person communicates using both verbal and non-verbal language. Non-verbal language/communication consists of body language, facial expressions and touch. Psychologists have determined that non-verbal communication provide a wealth of information to others regarding their emotions (Burton, Westen, & Kowalski, 2012). An angry look or a stamping foot, can speak just as loud as a shouting person, for example.
Researchers have completed various studies, to research emotion knowledge, if it is inherited or learned (Weiten, 2001). Babies will smile when their main caregiver smiles. Paul Ekman began to study facial expressions and emotions back in 1965, as there was much to learn (Ekman, 1993). Along with Wallace Friesen, their research discovered evidence to explain our universal facial expressions, such as happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, disgust or anger, were used or noticed across many cultures and recognised by many people. Furthermore, this research expanded over ten years of dedication, to develop the Facial Action Coding …show more content…
The knowledge base consists of earlier experiences and consists of all things learned in their lifetime. Experience within our environment, from a young age, shapes our individual perception of others around us (Burton et al, 2012). Newborns are born with an innate ability to recognise or mimic emotions, such as a smile (Adolphs, 2002). As we grow in age, our knowledge base also grows and expands. As a four year old, we know basic emotions, such as sad, mad, happy or scared, however, as we grow we learn to recognise other terms; love, surprise. We also learn how to control our