What is EMFACS, and how can I obtain it?

EMFACS (Emotion FACS) is a selective application of FACS scoring, in which the coder only scores behavior that is likely to have emotional significance. To do this, the coder scans the video for core combinations of events that have been found to suggest certain emotions.

The coder only codes the events in a video record that contains such core combinations — they use FACS coding to score those events, but they are not coding everything on the video. So EMFACS is FACS selectively applied. EMFACS saves time as one is not coding everything. The drawback is that it can be harder to get intercoder agreement on EMFACS coding as the coders have to agree on two things: 1) whether to code an event (a result of their online scanning of the video for the core combinations) and 2) how to code those events that they have chosen to code. Bear in mind, EMFACS coding still yields FACS codes, so the data have to be interpreted into emotion categories.

EMFACS is only a set of instructions on how to selectively FACS code in this way. The EMFACS instructions are only available to people who have passed the FACS final test. The reason is that we have to make sure people have mastery of FACS before applying rules to use FACS selectively in this way. This is based on the wishes of the authors of EMFACS, Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen, and it makes good sense. Only people who know FACS as a comprehensive system can correctly apply it on a selective basis. If you take the final test and pass, you can receive the document.