The recognition of 18 facial-bodily expressions across nine cultures.

An enduring focus in the science of emotion is the question of which psychological states are signaled in expressive behavior. Based on empirical findings from previous studies, we created photographs of facial-bodily expressions of 18 states and presented these to participants in nine cultures. In a well-validated recognition paradigm, participants matched stories of causal antecedents to one of four expressions of the same valence.