NBA Players

Facial Behavior
Drew Kennedy

Hypotheses
More successful players will exhibit more usage of the
zygomatic major muscle to create smiles.
More successful players will exhibit more usage of the
corrugator muscle in a manner that resembles anger than
problem players.
Problem players will exhibit more signs of anxiety than
successful players.
Problem players will exhibit more usage of the corrugator
muscle in a manner that resembles sadness than successful
players.

Inspiration
Dan Hill Facial Coding Expert
Hired by Milwaukee Bucks
Player profiles
High anxiety and sadness key sign of problem/unsuccessful player
Successful players show more smiles but also high level of
frustration

Methods
Picked two players I considered successful
Lebron James and Steph Curry
Picked two players I considered problem players
Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard

Watched postgame interview after win and loss for each

player
Tallied distinct expressions of anger, sadness, happiness,
contempt, and anxiety

Used textbook to find descriptions of these expressions and

muscles used

Eliminating bias was difficult

Watched videos several times each and watched at 25% speed

Results

Lebron James
(S)

Carmelo
Anthony (P)

Steph Curry
(S)

Dwight
Howard (P)

Win

Loss

Win

Loss

Win

Loss

Win

Loss

Mad

10

Sad

Happy

Conte
mpt
Anxiet
y
Totals

26

15

12

17

21

13

12

Discussion

Limitations
Facial Action Coding System is laborious and time
consuming to master
Could not study each person in depth
I could not control the questions being asked