Re: "First of all, I'm not talking about broad cultural gestures that are taught and expressed... I'm referring to the micro expressions, the small facial reactions, these are very definitely universal, this is a known and scientific fact, these are involuntary gestures which all humans express..."
Likely even HARDER to precisely quantify than broader, more macro and overt gestures. (But sounds like interesting work!)
Question that is still laying out there though: Has anyone done sufficient work to establish what ARE, and what ARE NOT culturally-specific things in the area of 'micro-gestures'?
Second point: a 'micro-gesture' (I assume) might be involuntary things such as pupil dilation --- but those type of things were *not* what you were displaying in the pics you posted. <g> What you posted showed BROAD apparent 'gestures', not 'micro', (but even there the pics were displayed totally without context... for example, where where they taken? Under what circumstances? If a guy is craning his neck to look up to folks in the top bleached seats for example, then one could easily select from low-angle-shot photos of the event to have the photo give an IMPRESSION of 'haughtiness' of some such. But, without CONTEXT, the photo would mean essentially nothing.... Might not even be a 'gesture' at all. :-)
Re: there is a huge body of research and knowledge on this subject, I wouldn't dismiss it so quickly just because you're not familiar with it..."
(I didn't 'dismiss' anything. What I said was: "show me the universality", "show me that such gestures have A) been cataloged, and their meaning is clear, and B) that there is not culturally different meanings. Or, if there is, that they have been accounted for....)
"... for instance, the Rorscharch test is nothing but a standardized bunch of ten ink blots, but they tell you a wealth of information about the individual when the test is administered..."
Excellent example!
But I'd refer you to a different 'deep' psychological test, the Lucher Color Test --- which can *also* tell you a wealth of information about a test subjects inner thoughts... but which has been WIDELY SHOWN to be CULTURALLY ORIENTED. (Basically, applicable to Western European culture.)
While NOT APPROPRIATE with folks from different cultural backgrounds.
(For example... the WESTERN attitudes towards the color 'black' --- expressions of sadness, gloom, funereal overtones, etc., are *totally different* for someone from an Asian culture. For example for the Vietnamese 'black' represents celebrations and happy times... it's a color worn at weddings. :-) |
