Paul Ekman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Ekman
Born	February 15, 1934 (1934-02-15) (age 91) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education	University of Chicago New York University (BA) Adelphi University (MA, PhD)
Known for	Microexpressions, Lie to Me
Spouse(s)	Mary Ann Mason
Scientific career
Fields	Psychology Anthropology
Doctoral advisor	John Amsden Starkweather

Paul Ekman (born February 15, 1934) is an American psychologist famous for being a pioneer in the study of emotions. He is best known for his discoveries about how our feelings are connected to our facial expressions. His work has been so influential that he was named one of the 100 most important psychologists of the 20th century.

Ekman's research changed how scientists understood emotions and nonverbal communication (body language). He created new ways for researchers to study these topics. His work even inspired the popular TV show Lie to Me and he helped the creators of the Pixar movie Inside Out.

Early Life and Education

Paul Ekman was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in a Jewish family. His father was a pediatrician (a doctor for children) and his mother was a lawyer.

At just 15 years old, Ekman started studying at the University of Chicago. He later earned his bachelor's degree from New York University. He originally wanted to be a psychotherapist, a professional who helps people with their feelings.

However, after joining the U.S. Army in 1958, he saw that research could be used to make life better for many people at once. This experience inspired him to become a researcher instead. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Adelphi University.

A Career Studying Faces

After his time in the army, Ekman began his long career as a researcher. He received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health for 40 years to support his studies on nonverbal behavior. In 1972, he became a professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he taught for many years before retiring in 2004.

A fellow psychologist named Silvan S. Tomkins encouraged Ekman to focus his research on facial expressions instead of just body movements. This led to some of his most important discoveries. He also wrote his most famous book, Telling Lies, which is still popular today.

Uncovering Universal Emotions

A long time ago, the famous scientist Charles Darwin suggested that basic human emotions were universal, meaning people all over the world experience and show them in the same way. However, in the 1950s, many experts believed that facial expressions were learned from a person's culture.

Ekman decided to test these ideas. He traveled the world and showed pictures of different facial expressions to people from many cultures.

Are Facial Expressions the Same Everywhere?

Ekman's studies found that people from both Western and Eastern countries agreed on what emotion each facial expression showed. He found that expressions for anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise were recognized by everyone.

To be absolutely sure, he and his colleague Wallace V. Friesen traveled to Papua New Guinea. They worked with the Fore people, a tribe that had very little contact with the outside world. The Fore people had never seen movies or magazines, so they couldn't have learned expressions from media.

Even the Fore people matched the same faces to the same emotions. This was strong proof that some expressions are truly universal and part of being human, not just learned from culture.

The Seven Basic Emotions

Through his research, Ekman identified a set of basic emotions that have their own unique facial signals. These are often called the seven basic emotions:

• Anger
• Fear
• Disgust
• Happiness
• Sadness
• Surprise
• Contempt

Later in his career, Ekman suggested that there are other emotions, such as amusement, embarrassment, guilt, and relief.

How to Read a Face

Ekman didn't just prove that emotions were universal. He also created tools to help people study and understand facial expressions in great detail.

Creating a "Dictionary" for Faces

In 1978, Ekman and Friesen developed the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). You can think of FACS as a "dictionary" for the face. It describes every single muscle movement the human face can make.

Each small movement is called an "action unit" (AU). By breaking down any facial expression into its AUs, researchers can measure expressions very precisely. This system is still used today by psychologists, doctors, and even computer animators.

Spotting Hidden Feelings

Have you ever tried to hide how you really feel? Ekman discovered that tiny, quick expressions, called microexpressions, can flash across a person's face when they try to hide an emotion. These expressions last for less than half a second but can reveal a person's true feelings.

Ekman developed training tools to help people learn to spot these microexpressions. This skill can be useful for everyone, from therapists trying to understand their patients to people with autism who want to better recognize emotions in others.

Detecting Deception

Ekman's work on hidden emotions led him to study lying. He became interested in how to tell if someone is not being truthful. He found that while there is no single sign that proves someone is lying, clues can be found in their facial expressions and body language.

His research on microexpressions was a key part of this. He also studied verbal clues, such as how people use language to distance themselves from what they are saying. This work formed the basis for his book Telling Lies and was a major inspiration for the TV show Lie to Me, where the main character is an expert in spotting deception. Ekman worked as a scientific advisor on the show.

Influence and Legacy

Paul Ekman's work has had a huge impact. In 2009, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. His research laid the groundwork for the modern field of affective neuroscience, which studies how emotions work in the brain.

He also worked with Pixar on the 2015 movie Inside Out to help them accurately show how emotions work inside a person's mind. His discoveries continue to help us understand the important role emotions play in our lives.

See also

In Spanish: Paul Ekman para niños

Other emotion researchers

• Lisa Feldman Barrett
• Marc Brackett
• Daniel Cordaro