As microexpressões faciais: uma investigação semiótica do poder de comunicação da face humana

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to propose the intertwining between interpretation of Facial Expressions - micro and macro – in Paul Ekman's theory with the interpretation of emotions in the light of Charles Sanders Peirce's Semiotics, with philosophical and psychoanalytic support from Bento de Espinosa, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The idea of working on this meeting was due to the disagreement (corroborated by the psychologist Paul Ekman) between the scientist Charles Darwin, who defended the theory that emotions are universal, and the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who confronted his theory saying that emotions suffer cultural and environmental interference. More than determining who is right, the research seeks knowledge in the vast field of semiotics to bring elements that can elucidate the formation and interpretation of emotions, and their possible neuro-psycho-social unfolding. For this, the facial matrices of each of the seven emotions considered universal – according to Paul Ekman's theory – will be presented, then compared with Peirce's three universal categories, so we can measure the influence of the signs in the trigger, in the interpretation or in the simple emotions’ display. Semiotics enters as a resource to contribute to the understanding of the concepts of sensation, emotion and feeling in this process of signification and leakage of communication through the face