Studies // Cited work
Do emotions result in their predicted facial expressions? A meta-analysis of studies on the co-occurrence of expression and emotion
Durán, J. I., & Fernández-Dols, J.-M. (2021). Do emotions result in their predicted facial expressions? A meta-analysis of studies on the co-occurrence of expression and emotion.
Level D Meta-analysis doi:10.1037/emo0001015
What this study supports
Supports the claim that the six classic basic emotions did not reliably co-occur with their predicted facial signal: average co-occurrence effect sizes of .13 for full FACS-coded expressions and .23 including partial expressions, and an average intensity correlation of .30. It pools observational co-occurrence studies, so it is graded D; heterogeneity between samples was found.
- Who was studied
- Random-effects meta-analyses of studies that recorded whether happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear and surprise co-occurred with their predicted facial expressions; the abstract does not state the number of studies.
- Design
- Meta-analysis
- Level of evidence
- Cross-sectional, observational, qualitative work and narrative reviews.
Claims that rest on it
Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.
A meta-analysis found that six classic basic emotions did not reliably co-occur with their predicted facial expressions: average co-occurrence effect sizes were .13 for full expressions coded with FACS and .23 including partial expressions, and reported and expressed intensity correlated on average at .30.
- Scope
- Studies that recorded both a reported emotion and facial behaviour for happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear and surprise.
- Caveat
- Heterogeneity between samples was found, and co-occurrence was highest for disgust and lowest for surprise, so the averages do not describe every emotion equally.
Last reviewed · Review due · measuring-facial-expression-cooccurrence