What Is She Thinking – The Psychology Behind Facial Expressions?

November 17, 2019 / Kenny Moody / 100 Comments
What Is She Thinking – The Psychology Behind Facial Expressions?


This episode is brought to you by Skillshare. Get 2 months of Skillshare free and learn
new skills by using the link in the description. Being able to understand facial expressions
is an important part of nonverbal communication. When you only listen to what a person is saying,
but ignore what their face is telling you, you only really have half the story. Words may not match emotions, and the face
can act as a window and reveal what someone is actually thinking and feeling. So what can we pick up when we understand
a person’s facial expressions better? That’s what we’ll be exploring today,
in this episode of The Infographics Show: What is She Thinking? The Psychology Behind Facial Expressions. When you understand facial expressions, you’re
able to gather information about how the other person is feeling, thereby guiding your interactions
accordingly and enabling you to have more meaningful conversations. There are experts who study this body language
stuff. You may already know that, if you’ve ever
watched an episode of Lie To Me, the TV show about a leading deception researcher who seeks
out criminals by studying facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. But the real life experts can help with everything
from singles trying to figure out how that first date went, to cops in the interrogation
room. Research by Dr. Paul Eckman, an American psychologist,
deception detection expert, and inspiration behind the TV show Lie To Me, tells us that
there are seven emotions, resulting in universal facial expressions that are the same regardless
of race or culture. These are surprise, fear, disgust, contempt,
anger, sadness, and happiness. Try this exercise; look into the mirror and
practice making the facial expressions that go along with these emotions. Try it a few times and carefully study how
you look. This will help you to become better at recognizing
them in other people. But what if someone is trying to hide how
they genuinely feel? Ok, let’s talk about micro expressions. Micro expressions were first mentioned in
a 1966 psychotherapy report by Ernest Haggard and Kenneth Isaacs, and they’re attributed
to the seven emotions we just mentioned. A micro expression happens when someone’s
trying to conceal their true feelings. One example could be that woman sitting across
the table from you on a first dinner date. She’s trying to be polite by laughing at
your jokes but she really doesn’t think you’re funny. Yep, sorry to say, but the truth is if you
can recognize those micro expressions, it’s not always great news. Micro expressions typically last less than
half a second, and sometimes they’re even faster. You can think of them like a hint of a concealed
emotion, which leaks out when people are trying to control their feelings. Another example might be a job interview,
where someone wants to be perceived as motivated and positive but inside they are experiencing
some negative emotions. As hard as they may try, it’s likely that
at some point their inner feelings will show up on their face. This is all interesting, but how do we actually
spot these expressions when observing a person’s facial movements? We’ve researched some psychology websites
to find out more. Let’s dive in and take a look: Eyebrows – Eyebrows can tell a lot about
how a person is feeling. If they’re raised and arched the person
is surprised; lowered and knit together, it’s anger; and the inner corners drawn up, well
that hints at sadness. Watch someone’s eyebrows next time you are
speaking to them and see if you can get a handle on how that person is feeling. Eyes can tell us more about a person than
another other part of the face. Wide open suggests surprise; staring intensely
means anger; people have crow’s feet crinkles when they’re happy; dilated pupils can indicate
fear or romantic interest; and rapid blinking suggests dishonesty or stress. And then there’s the mouth where a dropped
jaw is surprise; an open mouth maybe be fear; one side of the mouth raised suggests hate;
corners raised means happiness; and the corners drawn down usually suggest someone is sad. Other signals to look for are, biting of the
lip, which means anxious, pursed lips means distaste, and if they’re covering their
mouth, then they’re probably hiding something. So those are just a few tips to get you thinking
about the facial expressions you might see during a conversation. If you find it tricky to read another person’s
emotions by observing their expressions, you may need more practice, as it takes some time
to get the hang of. So what if you’re on a first date; getting
to know that special lady over dinner? How can you effectively gage romantic interest? To assess facial expressions it is it generally
best to ask direct questions and then observe the responses. But bear in mind, the person might be acting
differently from how they feel, so don’t be pushy or aggressive in your questions. The more at ease they are, the more you’ll
pick up. Of course it’s not always polite to ask
repeated questions when on a date, so what else can you do? Well actually the face is only one piece of
the puzzle. There is other body language you can look
out for, to confirm the quick smile she gave you, was in fact indicating attraction…Someone
who’s interested in getting to know you better, will have open body language. If standing close by, she may face you rather
than shy away. Arms will be open rather than crossed, as
crossing the arms is defensive, and playing with hair, or hand to mouth gestures can be
seen as positive signs. On the flipside, if your date has at least
one of their feet facing the exit, it could be an unconscious hint that they want to end
the night and head home alone. So it seems there’s a lot to learn from
facial expressions. In fact our understanding of the link between
physical expression and emotion dates as far back as Charles Darwin, who was known for
researching emotion, believing emotion to be biological and universal This was just a little bit of insight into
human psychology. Have you ever wondered how you can read, lead,
and manage whole teams? Then check out this and other classes on Skillshare! Skillshare is an online learning community
with over 20,000 classes in psychology, finance, animation, and more. If you use our promo code, you will get Premium
Membership for 2 months completely free! Premium Membership gives you unlimited access
to all of the classes available on Skillshare! Join the millions of other people who are
already members, and support The Infographic Show at the same time, by going to Skillshare.com/
infographics5 or clicking the link in the description, and start learning today! How good are you at reading people’s expressions
and do you have any amusing dating stories where you’ve missed all the signals? Let us know in the comments section. Also, be sure to check out our other video
called What Is Love & Will You Ever Fall IN Love?! Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!

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