The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
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''The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'' is
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
's third major work of evolutionary theory, following ''
On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' (1859) and ''
The Descent of Man ''The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biol ...
'' (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in ''The Descent of Man'', ''The Expression'' grew in length and was published separately in 1872. This book concerns the biological aspects of emotional life, and Darwin explores the animal origins of such human characteristics as the lifting of the eyebrows in moments of surprise and the raising of the upper lip in an aggressive sneer. A German translation of ''The Expression'' appeared in 1872; Dutch and French versions followed in 1873 and 1874. A second edition of the book, with only minor alterations, was published in 1890. Since its first publication, ''The Expression'' has never been out of print, but it has also been described as Darwin's "forgotten masterpiece". Before Darwin, human emotional life had posed problems to the western philosophical categories of ''mind'' and ''body''. Darwin's interest can be traced to his time as an Edinburgh medical student and the 1824 edition of Sir
Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...
's ''Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression'' which argued for a spiritual dimension to the subject. In contrast, Darwin's biological approach links emotions to their origins in animal behaviour, and allows cultural factors only an auxiliary role in the shaping of expression. This biological emphasis leads to a concentration on six emotional states: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. It also leads to an appreciation of the universal nature of expression, with its implication of a single origin for the entire human species; and Darwin points to the importance of emotional communication with children in their psychological development. Darwin sought out the opinions of some leading British psychiatrists, notably
James Crichton-Browne Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS FRSE (29 November 1840 – 31 January 1938) was a leading Scottish psychiatrist, neurologist and eugenicist. He is known for studies on the relationship of mental illness to brain injury and for the developmen ...
, in the preparation of the book which forms his main contribution to
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
. Amongst the innovations with this book are Darwin's circulation of a
questionnaire A questionnaire is a research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, ...
(probably inspired by his cousin,
Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...
) during his preparatory research; simple psychology experiments on the recognition of emotions with his friends and family; and (borrowing from
Duchenne de Boulogne Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) (September 17, 1806 in Boulogne-sur-Mer – September 15, 1875 in Paris) was a French neurologist who revived Galvani's research and greatly advanced the science of electrophysiology. The era of mo ...
, a physician at the Salpêtrière) the use of
photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
in his presentation of scientific information. Publisher John Murray warned Darwin that including the photographs would "poke a hole in the profits" of the book; and ''The Expression of the Emotions'' is an important landmark in the history of book illustration.


The book's development: biographical aspects

Background: In the weeks before Queen Victoria's
coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
in 1838, Charles Darwin sought medical advice on his mysterious physical symptoms, and then travelled to Scotland for a period of rest and a "geologizing expedition" – but actually spent some of his time re-exploring the old haunts of his undergraduate days. On the day of the coronation, 28 June 1838, Darwin was in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. Two weeks later (15 July 1838), he opened a private notebook with philosophical and psychological speculation – the ''M Notebook'' – and, over the next three months, filled it with his thoughts about possible interactions of hereditary factors with the mental and behavioural aspects of life. It should also be noted that Darwin made his first attempt at autobiography in August 1838. The critical importance of the ''M Notebook'' has often been viewed in relation to Darwin's conception of ''
natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...
'' as the central mechanism of evolutionary development, which he fully grasped towards the end of September 1838, after encountering the sixth edition of
Thomas Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book '' An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...
' ''Essay on Population'' (1826). The ''M notebook'' has a tentative and fragmented quality, especially in Darwin's descriptions of conversation with his father (a successful doctor with a special interest in psychiatric problems) about recurring patterns of behavior in successive generations of his patients' families. Darwin was anxious about the materialistic drift in his thinking – and of the disrepute which this could attract in early
Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
– at the time, he was mentally preparing for marriage with his cousin
Emma Wedgwood Emma Darwin (; 2 May 1808 – 2 October 1896) was an English woman who was the cousin marriage, wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin. They were married on 29 January 1839 and were the parents of ten children, seven of whom survived to adulth ...
who held firm Christian beliefs. On 21 September 1838, Darwin recorded a confused and disturbing dream in which he was involved in a public execution where the corpse came to life and joked about not running away and facing death like a hero. In summary: Darwin put together the central features of his evolutionary theory as he was developing an appreciation of human behavior and family life – and he was in some emotional turmoil. A discussion of the significance of Darwin's notebooks can be found in Paul H. Barrett's ''Metaphysics, Materialism and the Evolution of Mind – Early Writings of Charles Darwin'' (1980). Development of the Text 1866–1872: Very little of Darwin's turmoil surfaced in ''On the Origin of Species'' in 1859, although Chapter 7 contains a mildly expressed argument on instinctive behaviour. In the public management of his evolutionary theory, Darwin understood that its relevance to human emotional life could draw a hostile response. Nevertheless, while preparing the text of ''
The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication ''The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication'' is a book by Charles Darwin that was first published in January 1868. A large proportion of the book contains detailed information on the domestication of animals and plants but it al ...
'' in 1866, Darwin took the decision to publish a book on ''human'' ancestry,
sexual selection Sexual selection is a mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of t ...
and emotional life. After his initial correspondence with the psychiatrist
James Crichton-Browne Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS FRSE (29 November 1840 – 31 January 1938) was a leading Scottish psychiatrist, neurologist and eugenicist. He is known for studies on the relationship of mental illness to brain injury and for the developmen ...
, Darwin set aside his material concerning emotional expression in order to complete ''
The Descent of Man ''The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biol ...
'', which covered human ancestry and sexual selection. He finished work on ''The Descent of Man'' on 15 January 1871. Two days later, he started on ''The Expression of the Emotions'' and, working quickly, completed most of the text within four months; progress then slowed because of a recurrence of his symptoms, triggered by an attack from St George Jackson Mivart. However, on 22 August 1872, he finished work on the proofs. In this book, Darwin brings his evolutionary theory into close approximation with
behavioural science Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through naturalistic o ...
, although many Darwin scholars have remarked on a kind of spectral
Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...
haunting the text of the ''Emotions''. Universal Nature of Expression: Darwin notes the universal nature of expressions in the book, writing: "the young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements." This connection of mental states to the neurological organization of movement (as the words ''motive'' and ''emotion'' suggest) is central to Darwin's understanding of emotion. Darwin himself displayed many biographical links between his psychological life and
locomotion Locomotion means the act or ability of something to transport or move itself from place to place. Locomotion may refer to: Motion * Motion (physics) * Robot locomotion, of man-made devices By environment * Aquatic locomotion * Flight * Locomo ...
, taking long, solitary walks around
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
after his mother's death in 1817, in his seashore rambles near Edinburgh with the Lamarckian evolutionist
Robert Edmond Grant Robert Edmond Grant Doctor of Medicine, MD Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, FRCPEd Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE Zoological Society of London, FZS Geological Society of London, FGS (11 November 1793 – 23 August 1874) was a Br ...
in 1826/1827, and in the laying out of the sandwalk, his "thinking path", at
Down House Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theory of evolution by natural selection, which he had conceived in London before moving to Down ...
in Kent in 1846. These aspects of Darwin's personal life are discussed in
John Bowlby Edward John Mostyn Bowlby, CBE, FBA, FRCP, FRCPsych (; 26 February 1907 – 2 September 1990) was a British psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachmen ...
's (1990)
psychoanalytic PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might be ...
biography of Darwin. Darwin emphasises a shared human and animal
ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
in sharp contrast to the arguments deployed in
Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...
's ''Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression'' (1824). Bell claimed that the facial
muscles Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle ...
were divinely designed to express uniquely human
feeling Feelings are subjective self-contained phenomenal experiences. According to the ''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; and feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations ...
s. Eager to stress the distinction between human and animal communication, Bell wrote: "Expression is to the passions as
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
is to thought." In ''The Expression'', Darwin reformulates the issues at play, writing: "The force of language is much aided by the expressive movements of the face and body" - hinting at a neurological intimacy of language with psychomotor function (
body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
), and underscoring the social value of expression. Darwin's Sources on Emotional Expression: Darwin had attended a debate about emotional expression at the
Plinian Society The Plinian Society was a club at the University of Edinburgh for students interested in natural history. It was founded in 1823. Several of its members went on to have prominent careers, most notably Charles Darwin who announced his first scient ...
in December 1826 when he was a medical student at Edinburgh University. This had been prompted by the publication of Sir
Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...
's ''Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression''; and in his presentation, the
phrenologist Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...
William A.F. Browne Dr William Alexander Francis Browne (1805–1885) was one of the most significant British asylum doctors of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum (1834–1838) in Angus and at the Crichton Royal in Dumfries (1838–1857), Browne introduc ...
(in a spirited account of Robert Grant's Lamarckist evolutionism) ridiculed Bell's theological explanations, pointing instead to the striking similarities of human and animal biology. The meeting then ended in uproar. Forty-five years later, Darwin revisits these arguments and recruits Duchenne's (1862) unmasking of the facial mechanisms, shifting the argument from philosophical speculation to scientific discourse and highlighting the importance of
facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...
. Darwin's response to Bell's natural theology is discussed by
Lucy Hartley Lucy Hartley is a British professor of English attached to the Department of English Language and Literature of the University of Michigan. Her special interests include nineteenth-century studies, intellectual and cultural history, art and polit ...
(2001). In the composition of the book, Darwin drew on worldwide responses to his
questionnaire A questionnaire is a research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, ...
(circulated in the early months of 1867) concerning emotional expression in different ethnic groups; on anthropological memories from his time on ; on conversations with livestock breeders and pigeon fanciers; on observations on his infant son
William Erasmus Darwin William Erasmus Darwin (27 December 18398 September 1914) was the first-born son of Charles and Emma Darwin, and the subject of psychological studies by his father. He was educated at Rugby School and Christ's College, Cambridge, and later became ...
(''"A Biographical Sketch of an Infant"'' – published in 1877 in the philosophical journal ''Mind''), on his family's dogs and cats, and on the orangutans at
London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for science, scientific study. In 1831 o ...
; on simple psychology experiments with members of his family concerning the recognition of emotional expression; on the neurological insights of
Duchenne de Boulogne Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) (September 17, 1806 in Boulogne-sur-Mer – September 15, 1875 in Paris) was a French neurologist who revived Galvani's research and greatly advanced the science of electrophysiology. The era of mo ...
, a physician at the Salpêtrière asylum in Paris; on hundreds of photographs of actors,
babies An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
and children; and on descriptions of
psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psy ...
patients in the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum at
Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
in West Yorkshire. Darwin corresponded intensively with
James Crichton-Browne Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS FRSE (29 November 1840 – 31 January 1938) was a leading Scottish psychiatrist, neurologist and eugenicist. He is known for studies on the relationship of mental illness to brain injury and for the developmen ...
, the son of the phrenologist
William A. F. Browne Dr William Alexander Francis Browne (1805–1885) was one of the most significant British asylum doctors of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum (1834–1838) in Angus and at the Crichton Royal in Dumfries (1838–1857), Browne introduc ...
and now the medical director of the Wakefield asylum. At the time, Crichton-Browne was publishing his extremely influential ''West Riding Lunatic Asylum Medical Reports'', and Darwin remarked to him that ''The Expression'' "should be called by Darwin ''and'' Browne". Darwin also drew on his personal experience of the symptoms of
bereavement Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogniti ...
and studied the text of
Henry Maudsley Henry Maudsley FRCP (5 February 183523 January 1918) was a pioneering English psychiatrist, commemorated in the Maudsley Hospital in London and in the annual Maudsley Lecture of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Life and career Maudsley w ...
's 1870 Gulstonian lectures on ''Body and Mind''. Darwin considered other approaches to the study of emotions, including their depiction in the arts – discussed by the actor Henry Siddons in his ''Practical Illustrations of Rhetorical Gesture and Action'' (1807) and by the anatomist
Robert Knox Robert Knox (4 September 1791 – 20 December 1862) was a Scottish anatomist and ethnologist best known for his involvement in the Burke and Hare murders. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Knox eventually partnered with anatomist and former teache ...
in his ''Manual of Artistic Anatomy'' (1852) – but abandoned them as unreliable, although Shakespearean quotations are scattered through the text. It is notable also that Darwin does not include a discussion of
deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...
in his psychology of emotional expression.


Structure

Darwin opens the book with three chapters on "the general principles of expression", introducing the rather Lamarckist phrase ''serviceable associated habits''. With this phrase, Darwin seeks to describe the initially voluntary actions which come together to constitute the complex expressions of emotion. He then invokes a principle of ''antithesis'', through which opposite states of mind induce directly opposing movements. Finally, he discusses a ''direct action of the nervous system'', in which an overflow of emotion is widely discharged, producing more generalised emotional expression. This is followed by a section (three more chapters) on modes of emotional expression peculiar to particular species, including man. He then moves on to the main argument with his characteristic approach of astonishingly widespread and detailed observations. Chapter 7 discusses "low spirits", including
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
,
grief Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogni ...
, dejection and despair; and the contrasting Chapter 8 "high spirits" with joy, love, tender feelings and
devotion Devotion or Devotions may refer to: Religion * Faith, confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept * Anglican devotions, private prayers and practices used by Anglican Christians * Buddhist devotion, commitment to religious observance * Cat ...
. In his discussion of "low spirits", Darwin writes: "After the mind has suffered an acute paroxysm of grief, and the cause still continues, we fall into a state of low spirits, or we may be utterly cast down and dejected. Prolonged bodily pain, if not amounting to an agony, generally leads to the same state of mind. If we expect to suffer, we are anxious; if we have no hope of relief, we despair." Subsequent chapters include considerations of "reflection and meditation" (associated with "ill-temper", sulkiness and determination), Chapter 10 on hatred and
anger Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, su ...
, Chapter 11 on "disdain, contempt,
disgust Disgust (Middle French: ''desgouster'', from Latin ''gustus'', "taste") is an emotional response of rejection or revulsion to something potentially contagious or something considered offensive, distasteful, or unpleasant. In ''The Expression o ...
,
guilt Guilt may refer to: *Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard *Culpability, a legal term *Guilt (law), a legal term Music *Guilt (album), ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims *Guilt ( ...
,
pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...
, helplessness,
patience (or forbearance) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. Patience may involve perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in disrespect/anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced ...
and affirmation" and Chapter 12 on " surprise, astonishment,
fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
and horror". In his discussion of the emotion of disgust, Darwin notes its close links to the sense of smell, and conjectures an association with excretory products. In Chapter 13, Darwin discusses complex emotional states including self-attention,
shame Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, d ...
, shyness,
modesty Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word "modesty" comes from the Latin word ''wikt:modestus, modestus'' which means "keeping within ...
and
blushing Blushing is the reddening of a person's face due to psychological reasons. It is normally involuntary and triggered by emotional stress associated with passion, embarrassment, shyness, fear, anger, or romantic stimulation. Severe blushing is ...
. Darwin describes blushing as "the most peculiar and most human of the expressions". Darwin closes the book with Chapter 14 in which he recapitulates his main argument: he shows how human emotions link mental states with bodily movement, and are genetically determined, deriving from purposeful animal actions. He comments on the implications of the book: a single origin for the entire human species, with universal human expressions; and he stresses the social value of expression, citing the emotional communication between mother and child.


Illustrations

This was one of the first books to be illustrated with photographs – with seven heliotype plates – and the publisher John Murray warned that this "would poke a erriblehole in the profits". The published book assembled illustrations rather like a Victorian family album, with engravings of the Darwin family's domestic pets by the zoological illustrator T. W. Wood as well as work by the artists
Briton Rivière Briton Rivière (14 August 1840 in London20 April 1920 in London) was a British artist of Huguenot descent. He exhibited a variety of paintings at the Royal Academy, but devoted much of his life to animal paintings. Biography Briton's fat ...
,
Joseph Wolf Joseph Wolf (22 January 1820 – 20 April 1899) was a German artist who specialized in natural history illustration. He moved to the British Museum in 1848 and became the preferred illustrator for explorers and naturalists including David Livi ...
and A.D. May. It also included portraits by the Swedish photographer
Oscar Rejlander Oscar Gustave Rejlander (Stockholm, 19 October 1813 – Clapham, London, 18 January 1875) was a pioneering Victorian art photographer and an expert in photomontage. His collaboration with Charles Darwin on ''The Expression of the Emotions in M ...
(1813–1875), anatomical diagrams by Sir
Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...
(1774–1842) and Friedrich Henle (1809–1885), as well as illustrational quotations from the ''
Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine ''Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine. ou, Analyse électro-physiologique de l'expression des passions des arts plastiques.'' is a monograph on the muscles of facial expression, researched and written by Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulog ...
'' (1862) by the French neurologist
Duchenne de Boulogne Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) (September 17, 1806 in Boulogne-sur-Mer – September 15, 1875 in Paris) was a French neurologist who revived Galvani's research and greatly advanced the science of electrophysiology. The era of mo ...
(1806–1875). As a result of his domestic psychology experiments, Darwin reduced the number of commonly observed emotions from Duchenne's calculation of more than sixty
facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...
s, to just six "core" expressions: anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness and sadness. Darwin received dozens of photographs of psychiatric patients from
James Crichton-Browne Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS FRSE (29 November 1840 – 31 January 1938) was a leading Scottish psychiatrist, neurologist and eugenicist. He is known for studies on the relationship of mental illness to brain injury and for the developmen ...
, but included in the book only one engraving ( photoengraved by James Davis Cooper) based on these illustrations – sent on 6 June 1870 (along with Darwin's copy of Duchenne's ''Mécanisme'') (''Darwin Correspondence Project'': Letter 7220). This was ''Figure 19'', p. 296 – and showed a patient (Crichton-Browne reported) under the care of Dr James Gilchrist at the Southern Counties Asylum (of Scotland), the public wing of the Crichton Royal in Dumfries.


Reception


Contemporary

The review in the January 1873 ''
Quarterly Journal of Science ''Quarterly Journal of Science'' was the title of two British scientific periodicals of the 19th century. The first was established in 1816 by William Thomas Brande, as the ''Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts''. He edited it w ...
'' concluded that "although some parts are a little tedious, from the amount of minute detail required, there is throughout so much of acute observation and amusing anecdote as to render it perhaps more attractive to general readers than any of Mr. Darwin's previous work".


Modern

Eric Korn, in the ''
London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...
'', describes how the book was claimed, and he argues subverted, by
Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...
and her "sympathisers", and then presented afresh by
Paul Ekman Paul Ekman (born February 15, 1934) is an American psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco who is a pioneer in the study of emotions and their relation to facial expressions. He was ranked 59th out of ...
. Ekman had collected pro-Darwin, anti-Mead evidence, Korn wrote, for the universality of human facial expression of emotions. Darwin, suggests Korn, avoided unsettling the Victorian public by arguing that humans had "animal traits", and instead charmed them by telling stories of "human traits in animals", thus avoiding too much explicit talk of natural selection at work. Darwin preferred to leave the evolutionary implications hanging. Korn points out that the book has never been out of print since 1872, calling into question Ekman's talk of "Darwin's lost masterpiece". The "Editor's notes" at the "Mead Project source page" on the book comment that


Publication

Darwin concluded work on the book with a sense of
relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
. The proofs, tackled by his daughter
Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Henrie ...
("Ettie") and son Leo, required a major revision which made Darwin "sick of the subject and myself, and the world". ''The Expression'' was published by John Murray on 26 November 1872. It quickly sold around 7,000 copies and was widely praised as a charming and accessible introduction to Darwin's evolutionary theories. A second edition was published by Darwin's son in 1890, without several revisions suggested by Darwin; these were not published until the third edition of 1999 (edited by
Paul Ekman Paul Ekman (born February 15, 1934) is an American psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco who is a pioneer in the study of emotions and their relation to facial expressions. He was ranked 59th out of ...
).


Influence

Published as a sequel to ''The Descent of Man'', ''The Expression'' was assured of a wide readership in mid-Victorian England. However, the early death of
George Romanes George John Romanes FRS (20 May 1848 – 23 May 1894) was a Canadian-Scots evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanis ...
(1848–1894) robbed Darwin of a powerful advocate in the field of comparative psychology and his impact on academic psychology was muted, partly because of
Wilhelm Wundt Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (; ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and ...
's dimensional approach to the emotions and the widespread influence of the behaviorist school during the twentieth century. The generous style of biological illustration was followed in work on
animal locomotion Animal locomotion, in ethology, is any of a variety of methods that animal (biology), animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flying, hopping, soari ...
by photographer Eadweard
Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...
(1830–1904) (leading to
cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
), and by the Scottish naturalist
James Bell Pettigrew James Bell Pettigrew FRSE FRS FRCPE LLD (26 May 1834 – 30 January 1908) was a Scottish anatomist and noted naturalist, aviation pioneer and museum curator. He was a distinguished naturalist in Britain, and Professor of Anatomy at St Andrews ...
(1832–1908); in the extensively (and controversially) illustrated works of the evolutionary biologist
Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...
; and – to a lesser extent – in
D'Arcy Thompson Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson CB FRS FRSE (2 May 1860 – 21 June 1948) was a Scottish biologist, mathematician and classics scholar. He was a pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology, travelled on expeditions to the Bering Strait a ...
's ''
On Growth and Form ''On Growth and Form'' is a book by the Scottish mathematical biologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860–1948). The book is long – 793 pages in the first edition of 1917, 1116 pages in the second edition of 1942. The book covers many top ...
'' (1917). Darwin's ideas were followed up in
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
' ''What Is An Emotion ?'' (1884); and, in the James-Lange theory of emotions, James develops Darwin's emphasis on the physical aspects, including the visceral ( autonomically mediated) components of emotion. In
Walter Cannon Walter Bradford Cannon (October 19, 1871 – October 1, 1945) was an American physiologist, professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. He coined the term "fight or flight response", and developed the theory ...
's ''Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage'' (1915), Cannon introduces the famous phrase ''
fight or flight response The fight-or-flight or the fight-flight-or-freeze response (also called hyperarousal or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. It was first des ...
'', formulating emotions in terms of strategies for interpersonal behaviour and amplified in groups or crowds (
herd behavior Herd behavior is the behavior of individuals in a group acting collectively without centralized direction. Herd behavior occurs in animals in herds, packs, bird flocks, fish schools and so on, as well as in humans. Voting, demonstrations, rio ...
). More recent psychological theories of emotion have been set out in the Papez-Maclean hypothesis, the Two factor theory of emotion ( Schachter and
Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
) and the
Theory of constructed emotion The theory of constructed emotion (formerly the conceptual act model of emotion) is a theory in affective science proposed by Lisa Feldman Barrett to explain the experience and perception of emotion. The theory posits that instances of emotion are ...
. On 24 January 1895,
James Crichton-Browne Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS FRSE (29 November 1840 – 31 January 1938) was a leading Scottish psychiatrist, neurologist and eugenicist. He is known for studies on the relationship of mental illness to brain injury and for the developmen ...
delivered a notable lecture in
Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
, Scotland ''On Emotional Expression'', presenting some of his reservations about Darwin's views. Crichton-Browne argued for a greater role for the higher cortical centres in the regulation of the emotional response, and touches on the theme of
gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
differences in emotional expression, anticipating the approach of sociologist
Norbert Elias Norbert Elias (; 22 June 1897 – 1 August 1990) was a German sociologist who later became a British citizen. He is especially famous for his theory of civilizing/decivilizing processes. Biography Elias was born on 22 June 1897 in Bresla ...
in ''
The Civilizing Process ''The Civilizing Process'' is a book by German sociologist Norbert Elias. It is an influential work in sociology and Elias' most important work. It was first published in Basel, Switzerland in two volumes in 1939 in German as ''Über den Prozeß ...
''. In 1905, Sir Arthur Mitchell, a psychiatrist who had served as
William A.F. Browne Dr William Alexander Francis Browne (1805–1885) was one of the most significant British asylum doctors of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum (1834–1838) in Angus and at the Crichton Royal in Dumfries (1838–1857), Browne introduc ...
's deputy in the Scottish Lunacy Commission, published ''About Dreaming, Laughing and Blushing'', linking some of Darwin's concerns with those of psychoanalysis.
Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...
's early publications on the symptoms of
hysteria Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...
(with his influential concept of unconscious
emotional conflict Emotional conflict is the presence of different and opposing emotions relating to a situation that has recently taken place or is in the process of being unfolded. They may be accompanied at times by a physical discomfort, especially when a functio ...
) acknowledged debts to Darwin's work on emotional expression and Darwin's impact on
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
is discussed in detail by Lucille Ritvo.
John Bowlby Edward John Mostyn Bowlby, CBE, FBA, FRCP, FRCPsych (; 26 February 1907 – 2 September 1990) was a British psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachmen ...
makes extensive reference to Darwin's ideas in his presentations of
attachment theory Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans. The most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal ...
. Constitutional (psychosomatic) theories of
personality Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, mos ...
were elaborated by neurologist
Paul Schilder Paul Ferdinand Schilder (February 15, 1886, Vienna – December 7, 1940, New York City) was an Austrian psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and medical researcher. Neurological research work (in both neurophysiology and neuropathology), coupled with an a ...
(1886–1940) with his notion of the
body image Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in a number of disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, ps ...
, by the psychiatrist
Ernst Kretschmer Ernst Kretschmer (8 October 18888 February 1964) was a German psychiatrist who researched the human constitution and established a typology. Life Kretschmer was born in Wüstenrot near Heilbronn. He attended Cannstatt Gymnasium, one of the o ...
and in the (now largely discredited) somato-typology of W H Sheldon (1898–1977). The biological aspects of the human emotions were further explored by
Desmond Morris Desmond John Morris FLS ''hon. caus.'' (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book ''The Naked Ape'', and for his televisi ...
in his (richly illustrated) popular scientific book ''Manwatching'',Morris, Desmond (1978) ''Manwatching: A Field Guide To Human Behaviour'' London: Triad Panther. and recent research has confirmed that while cultural factors are critical in the determination of gesture, genetic factors are crucial to the formation of
facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...
. In 2003, the
New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...
published ''Emotions Inside Out: 130 Years after Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'', a collection of 37 papers (edited by Paul Ekman) with recent research on the subject.


See also

* Affect display *
Body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
* Book illustration *
Charles Darwin's health For much of his adult life, Charles Darwin's health was repeatedly compromised by an uncommon combination of symptoms, leaving him severely debilitated for long periods of time. However, in some ways this may have helped his work, and Charles Da ...
*
Emotion and memory Emotion can have a powerful effect on humans and animals. Numerous studies have shown that the most vivid autobiographical memories tend to be of emotional events, which are likely to be recalled more often and with more clarity and detail than ...
*
Emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence (EI) is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can emotion recognition, recognize their own emotions and those of others, use em ...
* Emotions in animals *
Evolution of emotion The study of the evolution of emotions dates back to the 19th century. Evolution and natural selection has been applied to the study of human communication, mainly by Charles Darwin in his 1872 work, ''The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Ani ...
*
Facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...
*
Nonverbal communication Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, Posture (psychology), posture, and body language. It includes the use of social cues, kinesi ...
*
Posture (psychology) In humans, posture can provide a significant amount of important information through nonverbal communication. Psychological studies have also demonstrated the effects of body posture on emotions. This research can be traced back to Charles Da ...


References


Sources

*


External links

*. *. *. Free e-book versions:
D. Appleton, New York, 1899
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals, The 1872 books Books by Charles Darwin Books about emotions Books about mental health History of mental health in the United Kingdom Books about evolution Neuroscience books English-language books John Murray (publishing house) books