{"id":80875,"date":"2022-10-03T16:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T20:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=80875"},"modified":"2022-10-13T09:52:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:52:21","slug":"how-to-read-faces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-read-faces\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Read Faces to Build Deeper Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Is it possible to accurately read someone&#8217;s facial expressions? What can be learned? When should you try to do this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>Captivate<\/em>, Vanessa Van Edwards discusses Paul Ekman\u2019s concept of universal facial expressions in the context of building deeper relationships. We&#8217;ll see how she recommends using the technique and what Ekman has to say about its abuse. We&#8217;ll also discuss a study that challenges the theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for a discussion on how to read faces and what you can learn from doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-read-faces\">How to Read Faces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Edwards presents and discusses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paulekman.com\/resources\/universal-facial-expressions\/\">Paul Ekman\u2019s theory of seven universal facial expressions<\/a> and says that, when you know how to read faces, you can determine if people are being honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/facial-microexpressions\/\">Facial microexpressions<\/a> are tiny, near imperceptible facial gestures that appear and disappear in less than a second and communicate one of the following seven emotions. The features of the seven microexpressions are:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Anger:<\/strong> Brow furrowed, eyes and lips narrowed<\/li><li><strong>Contempt:<\/strong> Lips tightened and raised on one side of the face<\/li><li><strong>Happiness:<\/strong> A symmetrical smile displaying teeth, plumped cheeks, eye corners wrinkled<\/li><li><strong>Fear:<\/strong> Eyes wide, forehead and eyelids raised, mouth slightly open<\/li><li><strong>Surprise:<\/strong> Eyes wide, eyebrows raised and rounded, jaw hanging<\/li><li><strong>Disgust:<\/strong> Nose wrinkled, upper lip raised, cheeks and lower eyelid tight<\/li><li><strong>Sadness:<\/strong> Brow furrowed, eyelids drooping, lower lips pouting, mouth corners frowned<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Edwards recommends that you look for microexpressions in the following situations:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>When someone\u2019s talking, to see if their microexpression aligns with or contradicts the words coming out of their mouth&nbsp;<\/li><li>When someone\u2019s listening to you, to decipher how they truly feel about what you\u2019re saying&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Edwards says that, once you know how to identify the emotion that a microexpression reveals, you should acknowledge it and adjust your behavior to address it. She recommends you do the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Recognize the emotion and try to identify where it\u2019s coming from<\/strong>. For example, if a colleague tells you about a report deadline she has to meet and says, \u201cI feel fine about it, everything\u2019s on track,\u201d but her microexpression reveals fear, try probing a little deeper to see if maybe things aren\u2019t going as smoothly as she says.<\/li><li><strong>Respond to the emotion by providing the person with information, support, or solutions<\/strong> where you\u2019re able. Using the same example above, if you discover that your colleague is overwhelmed because she\u2019s not going to meet her deadline, ask how you can help lighten her workload or alleviate her anxiety. These are offers you might not have otherwise made without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-pay-attention\/\">paying attention<\/a> to her microexpression and your generosity will enhance your relationship.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Abusing Universal Facial Expressions<\/strong><br><br>Since co-discovering the seven universal facial expressions, Paul Ekman asserts that he\u2019s become aware of concerns about their misuse and warns that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paulekman.com\/blog\/dangers-reading-micro-expressions\/\">bad actors can use microexpressions to manipulate and exploit people, most often by invading their privacy and taking information without permission<\/a>. The \u201cinformation\u201d being taken is primarily <em>how <\/em>the speaker feels. For example, if someone tells you that they like your shared boss, but their facial expression shows contempt instead, your sharing of that information can be deemed a violation and theft of their private thoughts. Ekman acknowledges that in some cases this is helpful (like a doctor recognizing signs of abuse in her patient), but, in other cases, it\u2019s dangerous (such as in legal scenarios). In fact, it was the Department of Defense that brought this to Ekman\u2019s attention.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at another caution regarding this theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Has the Concept of Universal Expressions Been Debunked?<\/strong><br><br>One <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4752367\/\">notable study<\/a> determined that perceptions of emotion depend on cultural and conceptual contexts and aren\u2019t universally consistent. In the study, participants from the US and Himba ethnic group were exposed to visual images and orally-translated stories to see if they identified the same emotions. When given the seven expressions to choose from, answers were fairly consistent among each group, but there were differences between the US participants and the Himba, which indicates a cultural distinction.<br><br>When the participants were not given a pool of answers to choose from, however, the consistency among the Himba dropped significantly. This indicates that there is a conceptual difference between the emotions as compared with the US participants, which challenges Ekman\u2019s argument that humans innately demonstrate these expressions regardless of environment. You may also want to be wary of assuming that someone\u2019s microexpression reveals the absolute truth of what they\u2019re feeling, as some research challenges the notion of facial expression universality, finding that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4752367\/\">perceptions of emotion depend on cultural and conceptual contexts<\/a>.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is it possible to accurately read someone&#8217;s facial expressions? What can be learned? When should you try to do this? In Captivate, Vanessa Van Edwards discusses Paul Ekman\u2019s concept of universal facial expressions in the context of building deeper relationships. We&#8217;ll see how she recommends using the technique and what Ekman has to say about its abuse. We&#8217;ll also discuss a study that challenges the theory. Keep reading for a discussion on how to read faces and what you can learn from doing so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":80881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,9],"tags":[766],"class_list":["post-80875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-psychology","tag-captivate","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Read Faces to Build Deeper Connections - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to learn how to read faces? 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