Learn the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)
The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is a comprehensive, anatomically-based system for coding all observable facial behavior that has been used in a wide range of applied and basic research contexts, from research on emotion, communication, and psychopathology to health psychology and forensics. EDIT THIS TEXT.
[video about FACS here]
FACS is a system for describing facial action.
FACS describes facial movement on the basis of elemental units called action units or AUs. Each AU represents the movement that occurs when underlying muscle fibers contract. For instance, AU1, which occurs when frontalis, pars medialis contracts, lifts the inner corner of the eyebrow.
To learn each AU, coders learn the appearance changes associated with each action, practice performing the AU, and learn the intensity scoring for the action.
5-day FACS Workshops
The 5-day FACS workshop takes you through the entire training manual for the Facial Action Coding System and helps prepare you for the final test for certification as a FACS coder. This workshop is the only FACS workshop endorsed by Paul Ekman
What to expect
Learn the AUs for each facial movement
Learn the intensity of each AU
Get practice coding with video images
Benefit from interction with others while learning the material
Guidance and expert advice
Get feedback on your coding
Since its first publication in 1978 by Ekman & Friesen, the FACS manual has been designed to be self-instructional. That is, people would read the manual, do practice coding with video images, and eventually take a final test for certification.
As the manual is long and tedious, many people benefit from interaction with others in learning the material. The workshop offers a dynamic group setting for learning FACS in about a week, with the benefit of guidance and feedback from an expert.
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FAQs
What does this training qualify me to do?
After FACS training one is qualified to FACS code. This means that one has learned a basic system for describing anatomical movement of the face. You will walk away with a level of understanding facial movement that few others in the world have. Realize that FACS was designed for researchers. I have trained researchers, therapists, physicians, business people, and animators. Anyone seriously interested in how and why the face moves (and there are numerous applications of that knowledge) can benefit from this training. It is a big commitment for big understanding.
Will this training prepare me to train my team to be coders?
Once you pass the FACS test all you have demonstrated is that you know the AUs. FACS certification does not confer expertise. Certification means that you know the system well enough to code. It does not mean you know it well enough to train others. Consider this analogy – it is like obtaining your driver’s license. Once you pass the driving test and get your license it means you are qualified to drive a car. It does not mean that you are qualified to teach others to drive. Expertise in FACS requires accumulating extensive experience coding.
Can I learn this in less than 5 days?
FACS training was originally designed by Ekman & Friesen to be self-instructional, wherein one works alone with the manual. Using this method it takes at least 100 hours of self-study. The 5-day workshop is accelerated, but even that requires some advanced preparation. There is no way to shorten the training any further, as it would be incomplete. The emphasis is on expert instruction in FACS, the gold standard system of detailed measurement of observable, often subtle facial movements.
What if I just want to learn to identify emotions?
You will find that learning FACS will give you sensitivity to subtle facial movements that few others have. This is not, however, a workshop for learning to recognize emotions. Nor is it a course on deception detection. It is true that one of the main ways in which FACS has been applied is to the study of facial expressions of emotion, but emotional interpretations emerge in the data processing stage — not at the coding stage. The strength of FACS coding is its objectivity. I do spend some time in the workshop talking about techniques and resources for emotion interpretation, but our emphasis is on learning to code facial action using this powerful measurement technique.
You can get more simple training in recognizing facial expression of emotion without FACS training, in much less time, for much less money. If you want to become more attuned to the expression of the 7 basic emotions, you go to Paul Ekman’s website and look into the micro-expression training. It will teach you how to recognize the prototypical emotion expressions in people’s faces, especially when they occur rapidly (as microexpressions). It does not teach about measuring facial movement, however, nor does it train you to detect very subtle facial changes.