Researchers say that there are six primary affect or emotions and have identified typical or prototypical ways they are communicated. Examples of these can be seen in the “faces” link in the Methods of Research lesson. The numbers in parenthesis below refer to the faces on that link.

Disgust (1): upper lip is raised and brow is lowered, nose is wrinkled, lip is pushed up but not tense

Happiness (3): corners of lips drawn up and back (smile), wrinkle from corner of nose to corner of mouth, wrinkles (crows feet) at corners of eyes

Fear (5): brows raised and drawn together, wrinkles in center of forehead, upper eyelid raised, mouth open or drawn back with lips tense

Anger (6): brows lowered and drawn together, vertical wrinkles between the brows, eyelids tensed with hard stare (bulging appearance), lips either tightly pressed together or tense and squared as if shouting

Surprise (7): brows raised, skin below the brow is stretched, horizontal lines across the forehead, eyes open wide, jaw drops but without a lot of tension

Sadness (10): inner corners of eyebrows turned up, corners of lips are down or trembling