Darwin and Facial Expression

Book excerpt: In Darwin and Facial Expression, Paul Ekman and a cast of other notable scholars and scientists reconsider the central concepts and key sources of information in Darwin's work on emotional expression. First published in 1972 to celebrate the centennial of the publication of Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin and Facial Expression is the first of three works edited by Dr. Ekman and others on the subject. This Malor edition contains new and updated references. Darwin claimed that we cannot understand human emotional expression without understanding the emotional expressions of animals, as our emotional expressions are in large part determined by our evolution. Not only are there similarities in the appearance of some emotional expressions between man and certain other animals, but the principles that explain why a particular emotional expression occurs with a particular emotion also apply across species.