I came across a unique study today. It was published back in Jan 2020, so no wonder it didn’t make waves back then!
Researchers used machine learning and deep neural networks to analyse 6 million videos of human facial expression across 144 countries. What they found was “16 facial expressions occurred systematically across thousands of contexts… and were 70% preserved over 12 world regions.”
Not only is a smile or laughter universal, they also found the same to be true with facial expressions for elation, pain, surprise, anger, triumph, and doubt.
It reminds me of my time learning Spanish in Ecuador back in 2013. I’d find myself in a place like a bakery and lacked the words to respond to the shopkeeper. A cheeky grin and raised eyebrows would often be enough to make them laugh, and either speak slower or gesticulate. Within a couple seconds, my face communicated everything they needed to know to be able to respond.
We’re 7 billion people, and we’re much more alike than we think.