Darwin's illegitimate children: How body language experts undermine Darwin's legacy

Abstract

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals has received and continues to receive much attention from emotion researchers and behavioural scientists. However, the common misconception that Darwin advocated for the universality of emotional reactions has led to a host of unfounded and discredited claims promoted by “body language experts” on both traditional and social media. These “experts” receive unparalleled public attention. Thus, rather than being presented with empirically supported findings on nonverbal behaviour, the public is exposed to “body language analysis” of celebrities, politicians, and defendants in criminal trials. In this perspective piece, we address the misinformation surrounding nonverbal behaviour. We also discuss the nature and scope of statements from body language experts, unpacking the claims of the most viewed YouTube video by a body language expert, comparing these claims to actual research findings, and giving specific attention to the implications for the justice system. We explain how body language experts use (and misuse) Darwin's legacy and conclude with a call for researchers to unite their voices and work toward stopping the spread of misinformation about nonverbal behaviour.

The use and misuse of evolutionary psychology in online manosphere communities: The case of female mating strategies

“…For example, research on mate preferences or on the behavioural effects of hormones. An article debunking the claims of online body language ‘experts’ was recently published in this journal (Denault & Zloteanu, 2022 ).…”

Finding the missing: using statement analysis to assist in missing persons cases

“…These are individual behaviours that indicate deception and are distinct from other behaviours (Collett, 2003;Ekman et al, 1991;Navarro and Karlins, 2008). Though a majority of research has examined tells in nonverbal communication (Denault and Zloteanu, 2022 for review; Marono et al, 2017Marono et al, , 2018, for the purpose of this paper, tells will refer only to linguistic indicators. Singular cues or tells have benefitted deception detection research previously; however, Hartwig and Bond (2011) suggest that multiple cues may be more useful for detecting deception.…”

Introduction to the special collection: The expression of the emotions in man and animals

“…Our next papers move the conversation along in new directions, with Hunt and Jaeggi ( 2022 ) making a case for ‘specialised minds’ that can explain some of the variance we see in personality and psychopathological traits, while Ene et al ( 2022 ) ask whether ‘it is good to be bad?’, and review the evidence for psychopathy as an adaptive trait. Finally, Denault and Zloteneau ( 2022 ) critically assess the manner in which Darwin's insights into emotional expression are used (and often misued) by professional ‘body language experts’. They conclude with a plea for evolutionary scientists to both recognise, and help remedy, the spread of misinformation on non-verbal behaviour.…”