Parameters of Emotion in

terms of Approach-
Avoidance Directionality
Experiment 5
Objective:
• To compare two sets of judgments of emotion
photographs— one made by the students at
Brown University on the basis of pleasant and
unpleasant ratings and the other made by you
on the basis of approach and avoidance.
• Charles Darwin 1872 – First scientist who
studied the relationship between emotion and
facial expression.
• Ekman 1934 – Conducted an experimental study
of faces of American actors expressing fear,
anger, happiness, and other emotions.
• Cross Cultural – studies and identified (6) facial
expressions recognized by every culture –
surprise, fear, anger, happiness and sadness.
Procedure:
• Examine each photograph carefully. Think of each terms of
whether the face indicates that the person is going towards
or away from objects or persons.
Because there is no actual movement , judgement is made in
terms of static conception.
• Think in terms of whether it appears to “welcome” or not.
“Approach” here means something like acceptance,
“Avoidance” means something like withdrawal from object.
• After you have examined each photograph, rank the
pictures from 1 to 14, with 1 as the most approaching and
14 as the most avoiding expression.