Editing Microexpression (section)

==History==
Microexpressions were first discovered by Haggard and Isaacs. In their 1966 study, Haggard and Isaacs outlined how they discovered these "micromomentary" expressions while "scanning motion picture films of psychotherapy for hours, searching for indications of non-verbal communication between therapist and patient"<ref>Haggard, E. A., & Isaacs, K. S. (1966). Micro-momentary facial expressions as indicators of ego mechanisms in psychotherapy. In L. A. Gottschalk & A. H. Auerbach (Eds.), Methods of Research in Psychotherapy (pp. 154–165). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.</ref> Through a series of studies, [[Paul Ekman]] found a high agreement across members of diverse Western and Eastern literate cultures on selecting emotional labels that fit facial expressions. Expressions he found to be universal included those indicating [[anger]], [[disgust]], [[fear]], [[happiness]], [[sadness]], and [[surprise (emotion)|surprise]]. Findings on contempt are less clear, though there is at least some preliminary evidence that this emotion and its expression are universally recognized.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Matsumoto | first1 = David | year = 1992 | title = More evidence for the universality of a contempt expression | journal = Motivation and Emotion | volume = 16 | issue = 4| pages = 363–368 | doi=10.1007/bf00992972| s2cid = 143333167 }}</ref> Working with his long-time friend [[Wallace V. Friesen]], Ekman demonstrated that the findings extended to preliterate [[Fore (people)|Fore tribesmen]] in [[Papua New Guinea]], whose members could not have learned the meaning of expressions from exposure to media depictions of emotion.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ekman|first=P.|author2=Friesen, W.V.|url=http://www.ekmaninternational.com/ResearchFiles/Constants-Across-Cultures-In-The-Face-And-Emotion.pdf|title=Constants across cultures in the face and emotion|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|year=1971|volume=17|pages=124–129|doi=10.1037/h0030377|pmid=5542557|issue=2|s2cid=14013552 |access-date=2015-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228022800/http://www.ekmaninternational.com/ResearchFiles/Constants-Across-Cultures-In-The-Face-And-Emotion.pdf|archive-date=2015-02-28|url-status=dead}}</ref> Ekman and Friesen then demonstrated that certain emotions were exhibited with very specific display rules, culture-specific prescriptions about who can show which emotions to whom and when. These display rules could explain how cultural differences may conceal the universal effect of expression.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ekman|first=Paul|title=Handbook of social psychophysiology|year=1989|publisher=Wiley|location=Chichester, England|author-link=Paul Ekman|editor=H. Wagner & A Manstead|pages=143–164}} Chapter: The argument and evidence about universals in facial expressions of emotion.</ref>

In the 1960s, [[William S. Condon]] pioneered the study of interactions at the fraction-of-a-second level.  In his famous research project, he scrutinized a four-and-a-half-second film segment frame by frame, where each frame represented 1/25th second. After studying this film segment for a year and a half, he discerned interactional micromovements, such as the wife moving her shoulder exactly as the husband's hands came up, which combined yielded rhythms at the micro level.<ref>[http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1966/10000/Sound_Film_Analysis_of_Normal_and_Pathological.5.aspx Sound Film Analysis of Normal and Pathological Behavior Patterns, Condon, W.S.; Ogston, W.D., Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease. 143(4):338–347, October 1966.]</ref>

Years after Condon's study, American psychologist [[John Gottman]] began video-recording living relationships to study how couples interact.  By studying participants' facial expressions, Gottman was able to correlate expressions with which relationships would last and which would not.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gottman.com/49853/Research-FAQs.html |title=Research FAQs |publisher=The Gottman Institute |website=Gottman.com |accessdate=2013-10-26}}</ref> Gottman's 2002 paper makes no claims to [[Accuracy#Accuracy and precision in binary classification|accuracy in terms of binary classification]], and is instead a [[regression analysis]] of a two factor model where [[skin conductance]] levels and oral history narratives encodings are the only two statistically significant variables. Facial expressions using Ekman's encoding scheme were not statistically significant.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gottman | first1 = J. | last2 = Levenson | first2 = R.W. | year = 2002 | title = A Two-Factor Model for Predicting When a Couple Will Divorce: Exploratory Analyses Using 14-Year Longitudinal Data | url = http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118941255/abstract | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130105072544/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118941255/abstract | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-01-05 | journal = Family Process | volume = 41 | issue = 1| pages = 83–96 | doi=10.1111/j.1545-5300.2002.40102000083.x| pmid = 11924092 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> In [[Malcolm Gladwell]]'s book [[Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking|''Blink'']], Gottman states that there are four major emotional reactions that are destructive to a marriage: [[defensiveness]] which is described as a reaction toward a stimulus as if you were being attacked,  [[stonewalling]] which is the behavior where a person refuses to communicate or cooperate with another,<ref>Webber, Elizabeth; Feinsilber, Mike (1999). Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions. Merriam-Webster. pp. 519–. {{ISBN|9780877796282}}. Retrieved 10 December 2012.</ref>  [[criticism]] which is the practice of judging the merits and faults of a person, and [[contempt]] which is a general attitude that is a mixture of the primary emotions disgust and anger.<ref>TenHouten, W.D. (2007). General Theory of Emotions and Social Life. Routledge.</ref> Among these four, Gottman considers contempt the most important of them all.<ref>Gladwell, Malcolm (2005). Blink, Chapter 1, Section 3, ''The Importance of Contempt''</ref>

A 2024 study investigated the impact of then-President Donald Trump's televised COVID-19 address on viewers' emotions, with a focus on his micro-expressions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dolan |first=Eric W. |date=2024-07-17 |title=Scientists unveil the intriguingly divergent impact of Trump's micro-expressions |url=https://www.psypost.org/scientists-unveil-the-intriguing-divergent-impact-of-trumps-micro-expressions/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=PsyPost - Psychology News |language=en-US}}</ref> Researchers found that a specific micro-expression of fear in Trump's address was perceived by his supporters as an authentic emotional cue, enhancing their connection to the speech, indicating that subtle nonverbal cues can influence emotional responses based on political alignment.