PROFESSOR PAUL EKMAN: It takes a poet to be able to express in words what a moment and expression can convey. Now, what the face tells you is, that's what's happening right at the moment; this person is about to fight, this person is finding things very distasteful and offensive, or, right at the moment, they're having a great time. And you know that instantly, and you know that without words. And when you, the perceiver see it, you don't necessarily translate it into words, you just know it and feel it.
ANNOUNCER: Paul Ekman realized that our facial expressions are actually a powerful way to let others see what we are feeling.
PAUL EKMAN: A theater like this wouldn't work, if you couldn't look at the back of the globe, be able to distinguish each emotions. And that's just what our research found. But the most long distance transmitter of all is this smile-- you can recognize the smile at 70- 80 meters away, just about the distance that you could throw a rock or a spear. In 1967 and 68 I worked in the highlands of New Guinea, which at that time, had had no contact-- really, virtually no contact with the outside world. Most of the people I studied, I was the first or second outsider they had seen, or they'd never seen a photograph, a magazine, a mirror, television, film, nothing.
ANNOUNCER: The six basic facial expressions he identified were those of happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise, anger, and fear.