Capturing emotions

New skills for understanding expressions

Workshop overview

Our emotions are hard to describe and sometimes even harder to identify, but we reveal them by involuntary facial expressions. Emotions are expressed on the face broadly in the same way in all cultures. Furthermore, we are all capable of reading emotions on the face with a high degree of agreement, drawing on our basic human skills.

Whilst the method of detecting emotions through reading facial expressions  has long been established in academic psychology (Paul Ekman) it is now being developed for a broad range of commercial uses - from electronic face reading systems in car driving, to security monitoring at airports, to interactive video game playing.

Secondly, the focus on emotional responses which are fleeting and rapid – 'micro expressions' often lasting only a fraction of a second – is consistent with new research into how the brain works.

In this workshop you can expect to:

• Understand expressions in the broader context of the psychology of emotions and  the latest thinking on how advertising works, with a greater focus on emotional, rather than intellectual responses.

• See what potential video analysis has to detect emotions and where it can be best applied. How much can it add to the verbal information which respondents give us? Where does it differ from verbal reporting of emotions and why?  How far can we go in quantifying it? We will be looking at responses to advertising from the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.

• Identify applications where it can be best applied, from branding and advertising through to pricing research. We will look at footage from a case study on well known brands, comparing what is said by respondents with what their facial expressions tell us.

• Explore which market segments are especially suited to facial expressions analysis – for example those who are reluctant to speak to researchers on emotional subjects, or those who cannot express their emotions verbally.

• Understand the implications for traditional qualitative data collection.  If it becomes less important to stimulate lengthy discussion and  deliberation from respondents, our methods of data collection could change.  Could a 15 minute paired video interview, exploiting 'thin slicing' and rapid cognition, replace the lengthy focus group and depth interview?

Level
Intermediate

Workshop leader

John Habershon
Director, Momentum Research, UK

ESOMAR reserves the right to alter or cancel, without prior notice, any of the arrangements relating directly or indirectly to a workshop, for any circumstances beyond ESOMAR’s reasonable control. ESOMAR will nor accept liability for any losses and/or damages participants may suffer on account of alteration or cancellation. Participants are advised to arrange adequate travel and health insurance.