Does life change after noticing facial expressions? By: Sesilly Cruz

Why I chose this topic It was something that I already occasionally noticed, but continued to ignore until I realized that I couldn't do it anymore. This became more apparent with the ever- increasing amount of people I interact with. I thought that it might be a good idea to try to be able to understand what I was noticing. “Maybe the truth is in the face of the person, not the words,” is what I thought.

What are Micro Expressions? Taken from the Paul Ekman Group's website: “Micro expressions are very brief facial expressions, lasting between 1/25th and 1/15th of a second. They occur when a person either deliberately or unconsciously conceals an emotion being felt. Any one of the seven emotions found to have a universal signal may appear in a micro expression: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, contempt, surprise and happiness.”

Perspectives Recognizing emotions improves ability to detect lies. During deception, a person's emotions will usually spill out for a moment, creating a micro-expression. Reading them may tell you what you want to know but also what you don't want to know. Recognizing emotions can increase emotional intelligence. A person will become more empathetic and able to improve his/her relationships by seeing how his/her actions affect others....and more shame Shame...

Three Kinds of Empathy Cognitive: means being able to acknowledge the presence of another person's feelings. It can be useful in discussions and to spur someone into doing something. However, having this kind of empathy does not mean also having sympathy. Emotional: capable of sharing the same emotion as someone else. Having this kind of empathy is great for someone who is in field where there is a constant need for human interaction/relations. A negative side of this is that if a person cannot manage his/her own emotions, there comes the risk of mentally draining him/herself out. Compassionate: somewhat synonymous with being concerned. It means grasping and feeling another person's emotions, and then taking action to support if it is needed.

Observations Over the course of the semester, I've been observing people in a variety of settings, to see what facial expressions I could catch. This also includes my own face-to- face conversations. Recently, I became friends with a girl in a class that I've been taking this semester. One day, I received a progress report, albeit incomplete, from a professor in a different class. My friend already knew this professor from a previous class and when I told her about my lower grade, she flashed an expression of contempt. It was shocking, but I realized that I couldn't jump to a conclusion just yet. Different faces, yet same expression

More Observations The more people and micro expressions I observed, the more I realized that there were many possible reasons for concealing emotions. After some observations, I realized that there was a number of expressions being repeated in the same settings: I usually got more information on a person's thoughts based on the expression given, rather than the words said in these contexts. However, it taught me that taking the truth at face value would make me very miserable. Trial/NewsShameSurpriseDisgust BusRegretContemptShame ClassesContemptSadnessFear

Fake versus Real As I continued to research and observe facial expressions, I found out that there are a number of ways to tell what is a real expression and what is not, like a social/fake smile versus a real smile (called the Duchenne Smile.) These methods included looking for the required facial muscles of a specific emotion and for suppressed expressions. In the case of smiles, one way a discern a real from a fake one is to check for slightly closed upper and lower eyelids (it's a must!) Another thing to look out for is that real smiles should NEVER have a contraction in the forehead region nor have the lower teeth showing (it's creepy anyway.) Showing all 32 of your teeth =Social/fake smile A sincere smile

Mixed Signals One thing that I noticed was that there was a number of combined/mixed signals that I was getting from people I observed. They either made sense being together, like fear and sadness or they were conflicting, like suppressing a sincere smile while flipping me off (it was actually more of a “this is a funny joke” smile while he flipped me off.) It shows that there may be more one thing running through someone's mind as they are expressing themselves and so they can show more than one expression. He is suppressing this: (sincere smile) While expressing this:

Media How to catch a liar (Video) How to catch a liar (Video) Facial Expression Quiz

My Answer Yes, it can change. My own life ended up changing because of what I realized I was doing. Learning to notice and recognize facial expressions meant becoming more exposed to emotions as well as unrelenting acknowledgment of an underlying truth. If it was for better or for worse, I don't really know. I now react to facial expressions more than I thought I ever could, especially if they appear to be directed at me personally. This most likely means that I've become more empathetic towards others, but I also have become more sensitive to others' emotions (there's a difference.) None of my research gave me any philosophical statements, but I still found my answer and a personal truth that will stay with me.

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Bibliography Ekman, Paul. “Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life.” Holt Paperbacks “Why Micro Expressions are Important.” PaulEkman.org. Paul Ekman Group, n.d. Web. Brown, Jack. Body Language Success. 19 May Web. 11 Nov Goleman, Daniel.”Three Kinds of Empathy: Cognitive, Emotional, Compassionate.” danielgoleman.info Web. 12 Jun Ekman, Paul. “Why Lies Fail and Behaviors that Betray Them.” Lying and Nonverbal Behavior: Theoretical Issues and New Findings. Ed. J.C. Yuille. Kluwer Academic, Levinson, Meridith. “Facial Expressions Test.” CIO.com. N.p., Web. 11 Nov Straker, David. ChangingMinds.org Web. 11 Nov