from the ♬♬Smiling-faces,-smiling-faces-Tell-lies♬♬ dept.
Interacting with other people is almost always a game of reading cues and volleying back. We think a smile conveys happiness, so we offer a smile in return. We think a frown shows sadness, and maybe we attempt to cheer that person up.
Some businesses are even working on technology to determine customer satisfaction through facial expressions.
But facial expressions might not be reliable indicators of emotion, research indicates. In fact, it might be more accurate to say we should never trust a person's face, new research suggests.
"The question we really asked is: 'Can we truly detect emotion from facial articulations?'" said Aleix Martinez, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at The Ohio State University.
"And the basic conclusion is, no, you can't."
Martinez, whose work has focused on building computer algorithms that analyze facial expressions, and his colleagues presented their findings today (Feb. 16, 2020) at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle.
The researchers analyzed the kinetics of muscle movement in the human face and compared those muscle movements with a person's emotions. They found that attempts to detect or define emotions based on a person's facial expressions were almost always wrong.
"Everyone makes different facial expressions based on context and cultural background," Martinez said. "And it's important to realize that not everyone who smiles is happy. Not everyone who is happy smiles. I would even go to the extreme of saying most people who do not smile are not necessarily unhappy. And if you are happy for a whole day, you don't go walking down the street with a smile on your face. You're just happy."
Don't believe everything you see (or hear) -- while trying to not become cynical.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @11:23PM (10 children)
So those super detectives being able to tell if someone is lying or whatever might be total bunk? No way!
(Score: 4, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 17 2020, @11:47PM (7 children)
Somewhat. Pupil dilation isn't a voluntary reaction at all and you have several other tells that can be overridden but it takes a conscious effort or a lot of practice to do so on demand.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @01:46AM (4 children)
Except you don't know why the pupils dilated. Get rekt son.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:46AM
If you're dating a woman with normal pupils and they become big after you two were served by a nigger waiter at that restaurant, it's obvious what's going on, and she should be tossed to the curb immediately after you pretend to use the restroom and bail to leave her stuck with the tab.
Many women fake orgasms. The hardening of the nipples during orgasm is another telltale sign that you did things right, and if she told you that she came while having limp nipples, she's totally full of shit. "Down there," a female orgasm from a man's perspective feels like one tight gradually loosening squeeze rather than a pulse. So of you feel a pulse you should ask her what her kegel routine is.
And with drugs there are other tell-tale signs besides dilated pupils. Of course that case depends on whether or not you tolerate dealing with people under the influence of the specific drug effecting their pupils.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:40AM (2 children)
In fact you do. There is a quite short list of probabilities in any given situation.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @05:04PM (1 child)
Probabilities, yes. Guessing at which is the problem, and then there are the outliers.
Here I thought you were the type of person who disagrees with that sort of pre-crime shit. Ooh ooh, but then they'll take super-meth, concentrate real hard and nail the baddies!
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 20 2020, @03:24AM
It's not pre-crime to pay attention to something likely to happen. Pre-crime is when you go around taking action based on probabilities.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday February 18 2020, @05:17PM (1 child)
Pupil dilation can be affected by drugs. Google says the definition of Pupil is "student".
If someone is smiling at you when they kick you in the balls, some people would advise that you should believe their pleasant facial expression as to their intent and emotional state, rather than believing the action of their foot.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 20 2020, @03:25AM
They may very well be quite happy about kicking you in the balls though. What they're happy about isn't specified or even speculated upon.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Monday February 17 2020, @11:52PM
Assertion failed: Input and output data does not match reactions, nor expression dynamics; interpreter failed to establish a lock.
Core dumped
Unfortunately, detectives never obey assertions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:51AM
No one ever heard of a poker face? Come on SN, you are falling down on the debunking job tonight.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by captain normal on Monday February 17 2020, @11:39PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXoCaMBoZlA [youtube.com]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 17 2020, @11:44PM (5 children)
Facial expressions are not involuntary reactions, dubmasses. Yes, they're conditioned but it's not simple conditioning where happy = smile. You have a whole range of social conditions factoring in like "it isn't polite to make a OMGWTFBBQ face when you see a three hundred pound man with a hairy as fuck back and legs in a cocktail dress anymore". And on top of that there are personality inputs that play a major role; look up the word "stoic" for starters.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:54AM (2 children)
What is the appropriate facial expression to make when your wife's boyfriend buys you a Nintendo Switch?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:54AM
Toothy smile with wide open mouth, beard to hide wimpy jawline, a studio apartment with beanbag chair in New York City or San Francisco, a name like "Skyler" or "Devin," vegetarian or vegan gluten-free diet, and obviously playing any video game made after the year 2000.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:36AM
Spock eyebrow.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @02:39AM (1 child)
Too many words. You sound like a woman.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 18 2020, @03:38AM
Dude, that wasn't even third grade trolling. That was like first grade in the short bus class. Go practice, I'm embarrassed for you.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:16AM
everybody is happy, citizen, happier than in any other place, citizen, they just don't show it often, citizen
Account abandoned.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:55AM
There are a lot of people out there who are entirely capable of wearing a friendly smile as their fist is heading towards your gut.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:57AM (1 child)
On the interrogations I typically ran about 50%. I really sucked at that part of the game.
Hmm, I actually enjoyed that game, and it's been years. Maybe I should pull my PS3 out of the closet and replay it.
On second thought I'll wait for the PS5 and replay it in compatibility mode. All my Grand Theft Auto games are also on the PS2/3, as are my Saint's Row. Come to think of it, if I buy a PS5 that can play PS[2|3] games I could go a couple years without buying any new games.
Funny thing is I can think of 1 PS2 game I'd love to replay, a bunch of PS3 games, and, um, no replays on my PS4. I do have 3-4 games for my PS4 I haven't played yet, but in the past 2 years I can think of 1 game I might want to replay: Witcher 3.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @01:36AM
https://wccftech.com/rpcs3-ps3-performance-gow3-rdr-mgs4/ [wccftech.com]
huhuhuhuhu
Just in case Sony decides to gimp the optical drive to not read the discs or something wild like that. I've seen some of Sony's overpriced games and services (Vue, Now...) on a friend's PS4, so I would put no level of greed above Sony.
Also, there is still a question of whether the PS5 will natively emulate PS3's Cell architecture or require some sort of hardware based in the cloud to do it. But if RPCS3 can get into the shape it's currently in without Sony's help, maybe it's no longer considered difficult. Funnily enough, PlayStation Classic shipped with an open source PS1 emulator [techcrunch.com], possibly unmodified by Sony.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Coward, Anonymous on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:23AM
It's ok to be cynical in some situations while trusting in others. For example, corporate representatives often act as drones rather than human beings. Politicians are professionals at getting people to like them, and truth is at most a hurdle, not something to be respected. The media lives on clicks and ad revenue, and gets spun from inside and outside. It's foolish to be trusting when people like that have the microphone.
OTOH, when I talk to normal people, I assume they are more-or-less like me. No in every detail, but most of them have an aversion to lying. Still, be on the lookout for con artists.