Mastering the fine art of deciphering human emotions..

We frequently express ourselves nonverbally when we are unable or unwilling to speak aloud. Although reading facial expressions is a lost art, we still understand a lot about how emotions are expressed through the face. You'll be surprised to learn that human eyebrows can express a range of emotions, and looking at the jaw can help you avoid getting into a fight, and there's a technique to how you can tell apart emotions that can be seen in the eyes.

Arne Ohman, a psychologist, was interested in whether modern people are more sensitive to animals that once posed a threat to our ancestors, such as spiders and snakes. Ohman conducted a similar experiment with a pretty flower after presenting his participants with an image of a spider and an electric shock. A single electric shock coupled with the spider was sufficient for people to react with fear when shown the spider alone. However, it took a lot more shocks to induce fear in people for the flower's image.

These kinds of irrational feelings can be incredibly potent, particularly if they originate from a traumatic experience during childhood. When Tim was a young boy, his father would frequently tease him in a way that, while it might have seemed innocent to others, was actually cruel and insensitive to Tim. Our emotional responses can be even more volatile if we can trace more widespread human trauma back to our ancestors. For instance, being stuck in traffic can set off a long-forgotten emotional pattern and result in those recognizable irrational outbursts.

The raising of the inner points of the eyebrows, directly above the nose, is one of the most obvious indications of sadness. People who are sad often appear to be smiling because this contraction can also raise the corners of the lips.

And the most reliable indicator of anger is the thinning of the lips, which happens automatically and cannot be consciously controlled. Not all manifestations of anger are the same across cultures and individuals; some are more universal than others. For instance, angry Papua New Guineans control their anger by sealing their mouths and holding back their insults. This indicates that they would prefer to communicate rather than use physical force.

Imagine that you are peacefully relaxing on your balcony in a high-rise apartment building when all of a sudden a body falls past you as it descends to the ground. Your emotional response would likely be a manifestation of either fear or surprise. But how could a bystander distinguish between the two? This can be challenging because ambiguous symptoms like raised eyelids can both signify fear and surprise.

Let's now take a look at a different picture that actually depicts the above-mentioned incident. A woman performing a publicity stunt on a New York high-rise lost her balance in 1978, fell to the ground below, and suffered serious injuries.

Amazingly, the woman was caught on camera by photographer Lou Liotta as she was falling past two men who were on their balcony. The men's expressions were also captured; in this instance, their raised eyelids are the most noticeable features. Given the circumstances and the look in their eyes, it is likely that the men are surprised; if they were afraid, their eyelids would be even more averted.

The voice is equally as important as the smile, which is the most recognizable and universal sign of happy emotions. A smile can represent a wide range of emotions, including relief, exhilaration, gratitude, and sensual pleasure. Many people will smile merely out of politeness and without any positive feelings. It is still possible to read someone's smile, despite this. If you want to determine whether a smile is sincere, pay close attention to the circular muscle that surrounds the eyes because it cannot be voluntarily contracted.

Sometimes knowing the difference between the truth and a lie can mean the difference between life and death. The author examined a 12-minute video of a suicidal patient speaking with a psychiatrist for more than 100 hours. Her almost imperceptible to the human eye microexpressions, which can reveal when she is lying, caught his attention. Potential tragedies could be prevented in the future by screening videotaped interviews to find them.

Suggestion:

Feel free to express your emotions. If you’ve repressed your sadness or anger in the past out of fear of appearing vulnerable, try to reconnect with those feelings in order to have a healthier relationship with your emotions. To help you do this, stand in front of a mirror and recreate the facial expressions that were described in this article. You should be able to recognize when you get the expressions right, which will help you connect to your emotions and overcome the unhealthy habit of bottling them up.

Disclaimer: This article offers a summary of the book Emotions Revealed by Paul Ekman.

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