Facial Expressions Of Emotion Are Innate, Not Learned

The article in the ScienceDaily  claims that according to a new study, facial expressions of emotion are 'hardwared' into our genes which means that instead of learning how to express the emotion, we are already born with the ability to do so. The study is the first of its kind to demonstrate that sighted and blind individuals use the same facial expressions, producing the same facial muscle movements in response to specific emotional stimuli. Matsumoto compared the facial expressions of sighted and blind judo athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. He found out that both the blinded and the sighted athletes manage their expressions of emotion in the same way according to social context. For example, both the blinded and the sighted athletes that lost showed the same emotion. This shows that the facial expressions are innate because the blinded athletes did not have a chance to observe and learn to express the emotions and still showed the same facial expression as the sighted athletes did. 

I chose this article over the others because I think that it is really interesting that the facial expressions of emotion are innate. To be honest, I have always thought that you learn how to express the emotions from the others but this study clearly shows that I was mistaken. 

I think that this article relates to one of the evolutionary theories which suggests that the emotions are natural and innate. One of the main reasons why are they innate is because they are meant to help us survive and back then they could even save our lives.