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Psychological Phenomena

Micro-Expression

Perception and Psychophysics Effects

A micro-expression is a brief, involuntary facial expression that reveals a genuine emotion a person is experiencing, typically lasting only a fraction of a second, far shorter than an ordinary voluntary facial expression. Micro-expressions are thought to occur when a person consciously or unconsciously attempts to conceal or suppress how they are feeling, so the true emotion leaks out briefly before the deliberate expression takes over. Psychologist Paul Ekman's research on universal facial expressions of emotion contributed substantially to the study of micro-expressions and their use in detecting concealed emotion.

Facts
First Described Year
1966 2
In their 1966 study, Haggard and Isaacs outlined how they discovered these "micromomentary" expressions while scanning motion picture films of psychotherapy. (w-bbfill-psychology6-0926)
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Emotional Phenomenon 1
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Microexpression
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microexpression
Quote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microexpression
the innate result of a voluntary and an involuntary emotional response occurring simultaneously
2. Wikipedia: Microexpression
Wikipedia article text
Quote, Wikipedia article text
In their 1966 study, Haggard and Isaacs outlined how they discovered these "micromomentary" expressions while scanning motion picture films of psychotherapy.
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