Born to Be Good_The Science of a Meaningful Life

by Dacher Keltner

  The canonical studies of human emotion, studies of the universality of facial expression, of how emotion is registered in the nervous system, how emotion shapes judgment and decision making, had never looked into these states. The groundbreaking studies of emotion had only examined one state covered by the term “happiness.” But research is often misled by “ordinary” language, the language we speak rather than the language of scientific theory. Happiness is a diffuse term. It masks important distinctions between emotions such as gratitude, awe, contentment, pride, love, compassion and desire—the focus of this book—as well as expressive behaviors such as teasing, touch, and laughter. This narrow concentration on “happiness” has stunted our scientific understanding of the emotions that move people toward higher jen ratios. By solely asking “Am I happy?” we miss out on the many nuances of the meaningful life.

  My hope is to shift what goes into the numerator of your jen ratio, to bring into sharper focus the millisecond manifestations of human goodness. I hope that you will see human behavior in a new light, the subtle cues of embarrassment, playful vocalizations, the visceral feelings of compassion, the sense of gratitude in another’s touch to your shoulder, that have been shaped by the seven million years of hominid evolution and that bring the good in others to completion. In our pursuit of happiness we have lost sight of these essential emotions. Our everyday conversations about happiness are filled with references to sensory pleasure—delicious Australian wines, comfortable hotel beds, body tone produced by our exercise regimens. What is missing is the language and practice of emotions like compassion, gratitude, amusement, and wonder. My hope is to tilt your jen ratio to what the poet Percy Shelley describes as the great secret of morals: “the identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, action, or person, not our own.” The key to this quest resides in the study of emotions long ignored by affective science. It will require that we return to Darwin’s country home, Down House, in Kent, England, and that we travel with Paul Ekman to the highlands of New Guinea.

  2

  Darwin’s Joys

  IN 1967, PAUL EKMAN was lucky to land his Cessna on a small clearing in a jungle of New Guinea (the plane had lost a wheel on takeoff). He arrived with a packet of photos, film equipment, and a hypothesis in hand. He was there thanks to U.S. government malfeasance in South America. A government agency had been funding counterinsurgency research in left-leaning South American countries under the guise of public opinion research. When a congressional committee found out, the funds were quickly shunted to a promising but relatively unknown young researcher—Ekman—for a cross-cultural study of emotion recognition.

  Ekman traveled to New Guinea to ascertain whether people from a culture remote from Western influence, a people living in pre-industrial, hunter-gatherer conditions, would interpret photos of facial expressions of six emotions—anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise—as you or I would. Ekman doubted he would obtain such findings. He was steeped in the cultural relativist assumptions of the era. He had little notion that this work, however it turned out, would catalyze the study of emotion. Nor did he suspect that this work would unravel time-honored notions about the place of emotion in human nature. He was making the trip in the discovery-oriented spirit of Charles Darwin.

  DARWIN’S JOYS

  Darwin’s Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals sold 9,000 copies in its first printing, becoming a best seller in its day. Expression sparked spirited discussion among scientists and laypeople alike in the parlors and cafés of Victorian England. Perhaps most important to Darwin, the book met with modest smiles of approval from his wife, Emma. She rightly anticipated that a book on emotional expression would unsettle prim and hierarchical Victorian ideology less than Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.

  In the aftermath of On the Origin of Species, Darwin responded to a barrage of attacks on his theory of evolution. The most impassioned of these attacks centered upon whether natural selection could account for the design of human beings. Creationists were giving way to evolutionary accounts of the origins of rocks, reefs, shales, mollusks, barnacles, and finches. Their empirical open-mindedness had clear limits, though: They recoiled at the possibility that humans themselves were products of evolution, descended from apes, shaped by natural selection, not touched by the hand of God or designed according to ideas of perfectibility.

  Emotions have long been a battleground for competing views of human nature. This once again proved to be the case in this clash between evolutionists and creationists. Creationists like the anatomist Sir Charles Bell argued that God had graced humans with special facial muscles that allowed them to express uniquely human emotions, lofty, “higher” moral sentiments like sympathy, shame, or rapture, emotions unknown to “lower” species. The uniqueness of human facial expression, by implication, was proof of the discontinuity of the human species from other species. The subtle emotional expressions you might observe in your spouse or children, Bell reasoned, were the visible traces of the handiwork of God. Those facial muscles were part of a rationale for why humans should be at the top of the great chain of being, master of other species.

  With his astounding powers of observation, Darwin took on this challenge. He marshaled an eclectic variety of data to document “mental continuities” between human and animal expression. Amid the fifteen to twenty-five letters that arrived each day at his house from his correspondents (Darwin was a prolific letter writer), observations flowed in about emotional displays in other animals, expressive outbursts that sounded remarkably akin to those of our loved ones. There were detailed accounts of terriers frowning in concentration, pug dogs mugging intelligence, and monkeys throwing temper tantrums. Darwin himself catalogued the emotional displays of his dog Polly, a terrier who lay curled in devotion at Darwin’s feet as he labored on his articles, books, and correspondences in his study. Darwin closely studied his beloved ten children. He relied on the astute observations of mothers he knew to limn the expressions of emotion—wails of pain, laughter and smiling, sulking and tenderness—that emerged early in life. He turned with fervor to a new technology—photography. Darwin collected over 100 photos, photos of actors portraying different emotions and of the specific muscle actions produced by electrical stimulation.

  These kinds of data led Darwin to a rich portrayal, the most detailed ever achieved, of human emotional expression. Unlike the scientists who would study emotion some one hundred years later, Darwin posited many different positive emotions, sixteen by my count. His theorizing about the evolution of positive emotions revealed a jen ratio unusually high for our field. The table below summarizes Darwin’s observations, which are a poetic periodic chart of how emotions are expressed, the embodied signatures of brief subjective states.

  DARWIN’S DESCRIPTIONS OF EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION

  EMOTION

  EXPRESSIVE BEHAVIORS

  NEGATIVE EMOTION

  ANGER

  TREMBLE, NOSTRILS RAISED, MOUTH COMPRESSED, FURROWED BROW, HEAD ERECT, CHEST EXPANDED, ARMS RIGID BY SIDES, EYES WIDE OPEN, STAMP GROUND, BODY SWAYS BACKWARDS/FORWARDS

  ANXIETY

  INNER ENDS OF EYEBROWS RAISED, CORNERS MOUTH DEPRESSED

  CONFUSION

  STAMMER, GRIMACES, TWITCHINGS OF FACIAL MUSCLES

  CONTEMPT

  LIP PROTRUSION, NOSE WRINKLE, EXPIRATION, PARTIAL CLOSURE OF EYELIDS, TURN AWAY EYES, NOSE WRINKLE, UPPER LIP RAISED, SNORT, EXPIRATION

  DISAGREEMENT

  CLOSE EYES, TURN AWAY FACE

  DISGUST

  LOWER LIP TURNED DOWN, UPPER LIP RAISED, EXPIRATION, MOUTH OPEN, SPITTING, BLOWING OUT PROTRUDING LIPS, CLEAR THROAT SOUND, LOWER LIP, TONGUE PROTRUDED

  EMBARRASSMENT

  LITTLE COUGH, BLUSH

  FEAR

  TREMBLE, EYES OPEN, MOUTH OPEN, LIPS RETRACTED, EYEBROWS RAISED, CROUCH, PALE, PERSPIRATION, HAIR STANDS ON END, MUSCLES SHIVER, YAWN

  GRIEF

  INNER ENDS OF EYEBROWS RAISED, C
ORNERS OF MOUTH DEPRESSED, FRANTIC MOVEMENTS, MOTIONLESS, HEAD HANGS, EYELIDS DROOP, ROCK TO AND FRO, FACE PALE, MUSCLES FLACCID, EYELIDS DROOP, CONTRACTED CHEST, TEARS, OBLIQUE EYEBROWS, DEEP SIGHS, BEAT HANDS, EYELIDS DROP

  GUILT

  GAZE AVERSION, SHIFTY EYES, GRIMACE

  HORROR

  BODY TURNED AWAY, SHRINKING, ARMS PROTRUDING, SHOULDERS RAISED, ARMS PRESSED AGAINST CHEST, SHUDDER, DEEP INSPIRATION/EXPIRATION, SHUT EYES, SHAKE HEAD

  INDIGNANCE, DEFIANCE

  FROWN, BODY ERECT, HEAD ERECT, SQUARE SHOULDERS, CLENCH FISTS

  ILL TEMPER

  FURROWED BROW, NOSE WRINKLE, LIP CORNERS PULLED DOWN

  NEGATION

  HEAD THRUST BACK

  OBSTINATENESS

  MOUTH FIRMLY CLOSED, LOWERED BROW, SLIGHT FROWN

  PAIN

  WRITHE ABOUT, PIERCING CRIES, GROANS, LIPS COMPRESSED, RETRACTED, TEETH CLENCHED, WILD STARE, PERSPIRATION, FURROWED BROW, NOSTRILS DILATED, PROFUSE SWEATING, PALLOR, UTTER PROSTRATION, EYES CLOSED, SQUARE MOUTH (LIPS CONTRACTED), COMPRESSION OF EYEBALL, MUSCLE AROUND EYES CONTRACTED, PYRAMIDAL MUSCLE CONTRACTS, UPPER LIP RAISED, NOSTRILS NARROWED, SCALP/FACE/EYES REDDENED, INSPIRATION, SOBBING, LACHRYMAL GLAND SQUEEZED, LAUGHTER, TEARS

  PERPLEXED

  SCRATCH HEAD, RUB EYES

  RAGE

  UNCOVERED TEETH, HAIR BRISTLE, FACE REDDENS, CHEST HEAVES, NOSTRILS DILATED, QUIVER, TREMBLE, TEETH CLENCHED, RESPIRATION LABORED, FRANTIC GESTURES, VEINS ON FOREHEAD/NECK DISTENDED, BODY ERECT, BENT FORWARD, ROLL ON GROUND AND KICKING, SCREAMING (CHILDREN), FURROWED BROW, GLARE, PROTRUDING LIPS, RETRACTED LIPS, TOSS ARMS ABOUT, SHAKE FIST, HISSING

  RESIGNATION

  OPEN HANDS, ONE OVER OTHER, ON LOWER PART OF BODY

  SADNESS

  CORNER MOUTH DEPRESSED, INNER CORNER EYEBROWS RAISED

  SNEER, SNARL

  CORNER OF LIP OVER TEETH RAISED

  SHAME

  BLUSH, HEAD AVERTED, HEAD DOWN, EYES WAVERING, EYES DOWN/AWAY, TURN BODY AWAY, FACE AWAY, BLINKING EYELIDS, TEARS

  SULKY

  POUT, PROTRUDE LIPS, FROWNING, LIFT SHOULDER AND JERK IT AWAY

  TERROR (INTENSE FEAR)

  PALLOR, NOSTRILS FLARE, GASPING, GULPING, PROTRUDING EYEBALLS, PUPILS DILATED, HANDS CLENCHED/OPENED, ARMS PROTRUDED, SWEAT, PROSTRATION, BODY RELAXED, EYEBROW CORNERS TIGHTENED AND RAISED, UPPER EYELIDS RAISED, LIP CORNERS PULLED SIDEWAYS, BRISTLING OF HAIR, LOSS OF HAIR COLOR

  WEAKNESS, IMPOTENCE APOLOGY

  SHOULDER SHRUG, INWARD TURN OF ELBOWS, HANDS EXTENDED WITH PALMS OPEN, EYEBROWS RAISED

  POSITIVE EMOTION

  ADMIRATION

  EYES OPENED, EYEBROWS RAISED, EYES BRIGHT, SMILE

  AFFIRMATION

  NOD HEAD, OPEN EYES WIDELY

  ASTONISHMENT

  EYES OPEN, MOUTH OPEN, EYEBROWS RAISED, HANDS PLACED OVER MOUTH

  CONTEMPLATION

  FROWN, WRINKLE SKIN UNDER LOWER EYELIDS, EYES DIVERGENT, HEAD DROOPS, HANDS TO FOREHEAD, MOUTH, OR CHIN, THUMB/INDEX FINGER TO LIP

  DETERMINATION

  FIRMLY CLOSED MOUTH, ARMS FOLDED ACROSS BREAST, SHOULDERS RAISED

  DEVOTION (REVERENCE)

  FACE UPWARDS, EYELIDS UPTURNED, FAINTING, PUPILS UPWARDS AND INWARDS, HUMBLING KNEELING POSTURE, HANDS UPTURNED

  HAPPINESS

  EYES SPARKLE, SKIN UNDER EYES WRINKLED, MOUTH DRAWN BACK AT CORNERS

  HIGH SPIRITS, CHEERFULNESS

  SMILE, BODY ERECT, HEAD UPRIGHT, EYES OPEN, EYEBROWS RAISED, EYELIDS RAISED, NOSTRILS RAISED, EATING GESTURES (RUBBING BELLY), AIR SUCK, LIP SMACKS

  JOY

  MUSCLE TREMBLE, PURPOSELESS MOVEMENTS, LAUGHTER, CLAPPING HANDS, JUMPING, DANCING ABOUT, STAMPING, CHUCKLE/GIGGLE, SMILE, MUSCLE AROUND EYES CONTRACTED, UPPER LIP RAISED

  LAUGHTER

  TEARS, DEEP INSPIRATION, CONTRACTION OF CHEST, SHAKING OF BODY, HEAD NODS TO AND FRO, LOWER JAW QUIVERS UP/DOWN, LIP CORNERS DRAWN BACKWARD, HEAD THROWN BACKWARD, SHAKES, HEAD/FACE RED, MUSCLE AROUND EYES CONTRACTED, LIP PRESS/BITE

  LOVE

  BEAMING EYES, SMILING CHEEKS, TOUCH, GENTLE SMILE, PROTRUDING LIPS (IN CHIMPS), KISSING, NOSE RUBS

  MATERNAL LOVE

  TOUCH, GENTLE SMILE, TENDER EYES

  PRIDE

  HEAD, BODY ERECT, LOOK DOWN ON OTHERS

  ROMANTIC LOVE

  BREATHING HURRIED, FACE FLUSHED

  SURPRISE

  EYEBROWS RAISED, MOUTH OPEN, EYES OPEN, LIPS PROTRUDED, EXPIRATION, BLOWING/HISSING, OPEN HANDS HIGH ABOVE HEAD, PALMS TOWARD PERSON WITH STRAIGHTENED FINGERS, ARMS BACKWARDS

  TENDERNESS (SYMPATHY)

  TEARS

  Here amid Darwin’s precise observations, one learns that we cough when embarrassed. Darwin notes subtle distinctions in the displays of admiration and devotion. He reveals that we close our eyes when describing horrors and raise our eyebrows when remembering. When feeling resigned, we rest one open hand upon another on a lower part of our bodies. In a burst of high spirits we just might get caught rubbing our bellies or smacking our lips. Images of friends and family burst into our minds when we read Darwin’s descriptions: Confusion is a stammer, grimace, and twitching of facial muscles (my colleagues at faculty meetings); defiance is expressed in the frown, erect body and head, square shoulders, and clenched fists (my daughters when asked to leave a play date).

  Why do our emotional expressions look as they do? Why does anger, for example, have the furrowed brow, upper eyelid raise, and tightened, clenched mouth? Why does it not involve any of the thousands of other possible facial muscle combinations? To answer this question, Darwin invoked three principles of expressive behavior. According to the principle of serviceable habits, expressive behaviors are vestiges of more complete actions that have led to rewarding outcomes in our evolutionary history. As a result, they tend to re-occur over time and become reliable signals of internal states and likely actions. Disgust, for example, looks as it does with wrinkled nose, flared nostrils, open mouth and protruding tongue because it is the vestige of vomiting, and signals our experience of revulsion when noxious substances enter the mouth or are at risk of doing so (or noxious ideas risk contaminating the mind). The facial expressions we observe today are a rich shorthand for communicating the possibility of more full-bodied actions—attack, flight, embrace.

  Darwin arrived at his second principle of expressive behavior—the principle of antithesis—in part from observations of his stable dog Bob. One of Bob’s characteristic displays was the “hot house face,” a sullen canine display of drooping head, ears, and tail. Darwin reliably observed this display when Bob was denied pleasure—a run with Darwin in the country, for example. Bob’s display, which charmed Darwin so, took the opposite form of the upright ears, head, and tail seen when Bob merrily ran alongside his owner. Here Darwin discerned a broader principle organizing this endearing display of disappointment: the principle of antithesis, which holds that opposing states will be associated with opposing expressions. One of the clearest signs of dominance, shown by alpha apes, CEOs, and pedantic professors alike, is the arms and head akimbo. In this display the individual expands the chest, holds clasped arms behind the head, and leans back. This signal of dominance is the diametrical opposite of the signs of weakness and impotence (see table)—head movements down, shoulder constriction.

  Finally, in good Victorian fashion, Darwin held that certain expressive behaviors were organized according to the principle of nervous discharge. This principle holds that excess, undirected energy is released in random expressions, such as head scratches, face touches, leg jiggles, nose tugs, hair twists, and the like. One prevailing metaphor of emotion, at the very heart of Freud’s theory of emotional conflict and the psychodynamic mind, is that emotions are like fluids in containers. We boil over, blow our top, get steamed, and feel ready to explode during numerous states, from anger to rapturous ecstasy to sexual desire. Many emotional states, therefore, should produce seemingly random behaviors that reflect the intrapsychic hydraulics of emotion. We tug at our hair when nerv
ous, shake our head when embarrassed, and bite our lips when feeling desire and the impulse to hop in the sack with our dinner date.

  This extraordinary culling, sifting, and winnowing of observations of humans and nonhumans left Darwin exhausted and in physical pain at the end of each day of writing, but he turned quickly to his Expression book. As he parsed the realm of expressive behavior, tracing it back to our primate predecessors, he realized the critical data that he lacked: a study that would address whether facial expressions are universal to a human species shaped by a common history of selection pressures. He queried English missionaries in other countries (receiving thirty-six responses) about whether they had observed expressions not seen in Victorian England. They had not. Of course, Darwin’s manner of asking the question may have encouraged the answers he sought. He returned to his notes about his encounters with the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, and New Zealand during his five-year voyage on the Beagle. When Darwin met the Fuegians, who greeted the passengers of the disembarking Beagle naked, with arms flailing and long hair streaming, Darwin was the first to make friends with them by reciprocating their friendly chest slaps. Perhaps in those recollections he saw signs of universal human expression. The definitive data, however, would come 100 years later, in the paradigm-shifting research of Paul Ekman.