Dr. Paul Ekman
American psychologist who co-developed the Facial Action Coding System and established the cross-cultural universality of basic human emotions.
Dr. Paul Ekman is one of the most cited psychologists of the 20th century. His research with isolated populations in Papua New Guinea provided the empirical foundation for the theory that seven basic emotions — happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, and contempt — are recognized across all human cultures.
Together with Wallace V. Friesen, Ekman authored the original FACS manual in 1978 and the comprehensive update in 2002. His work directly influenced clinical psychology, deception research, animation (Pixar's facial rigs), and the modern emotion-AI industry.
Mental Edge's analytics framework is inspired by Ekman's FACS methodology and the same Action-Unit research used in peer-reviewed clinical and intelligence work.
Related terms: facial action coding system, seven universal emotions, micro expression
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