Jennifer Fugate Character Analysis in Talking to Strangers

Jennifer Fugate is an American psychologist and expert in FACS (Facial Action Coding System), a system that assigns a number to each distinctive muscle movement in the face to assess and score different facial expressions. Gladwell has Fugate use FACS to analyze the facial expressions of the characters on an episode of Friends to test Gladwell’s theory that the characters’ transparent facial expressions carry the plot.

Jennifer Fugate Character Timeline in Talking to Strangers

The timeline below shows where the character Jennifer Fugate appears in Talking to Strangers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

2. To test his theory about Friends, Gladwell recruits Jennifer Fugate, a University of Massachusetts psychologist. Fugate is an expert in FACS (Facial Action Coding System).... (full context)

...a “genuine smile.” This smile involves more muscles, particularly those around the eyes. Gladwell asks Fugate to analyze the expression Ross makes in the opening of the episode referenced in this... (full context)