Likely even HARDER to precisely quantify than broader, more macro and overt gestures.
Not really, once you know how to spot them, they're very obvious and are read by the trained observer with a very high degree of reliability AND validity...
Has anyone done sufficient work to establish what ARE, and what ARE NOT culturally-specific things in the area of 'micro-gestures'?
Yes, more than one, there are many studies done, you only need to go to a University library and take a look at the research...
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.
A micro expression has nothing to do with pupil dilations... a micro expression is a very quick change of facial expression while the person changes his head position or the target of his eye focus... these micro expressions can be spotted during normal conversation with people, and people don't even realize they make these micro expressions... a micro expression occurs in the middle of another facial expression... a very crude but simple example of a micro expression would be when someone is speaking with you about something sensitive and he's smiling as if he's enjoying himself, but then for a moment he looks away, maybe at a passing car, the smile is gone, but then he looks back to you with the smile again... that lost smile is an indication of the person's real feelings, he's not enjoying himself, he's only putting on a pretense for you... this is a very crude example...
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.
ALL body language must be taken within the context of the individual and the situation... this is why you can't simply write a cookbook interpretation for each gesture, it all depends on the person and the circumstance...
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.
ALL psychometric tests must also be reliable and valid for specific cultures... of course, you can't administer one culturally specific test to an individual from another culture... this is the obvious first rule in all psychometric and psychodiagnostic testing...
GZ |
