Micro-Expression," with the subtitle "How to read others' minds through their facial expressions." Before we begin, I want you all to take a moment and imagine your own facial expression when you feel the following emotions: surprise, disgust, fear, pain, and happiness. If you are reading to this book at home, you can probably make these faces without any hesitation. But if you're in a public place, you probably can't show these facial expressions.
Even if you're in great pain or extremely happy, you try to control your emotions and gestures, not letting your face show anything too extreme in public. The facial expressions that come from within are different from the masked expressions we try to show. For example, when you are troubled but try to smile to hide what's inside, it's visibly different from a genuinely happy expression that comes from the heart. An American TV show called "Lie to Me" is a program that judges truth and falsehood by looking at people's facial expressions and body language.
This show received strong support from audiences around the world. Abroad, the study of human facial expressions has been conducted for a very long time. Experts have created a system for studying human faces by breaking them down into parts based on the muscles in the face, which can accurately assess a person's emotions and thoughts. It has been widely applied in many fields such as investigation, medicine, law, business, and politics.
In this book, the author talks about the six basic emotions and the facial expressions that appear when people experience them, telling you the truth behind people's facial masks. After listening to this book, you will no longer be fooled by facial expressions. Below, we will talk about the six human emotions. The system of controlling the body and face according to emotions is very complex. They have divided emotions into six main types: surprise, disgust, anger, fear, pain, and happiness. You can swipe right to see pictures of the facial expressions that correspond to these six emotions.
What is the relationship between these six emotions, and what kind of facial expressions do they produce? Whether it's animals or humans, when we encounter something sudden, we tend to freeze, showing no immediate action. This is because the brain has not yet received enough information to judge whether the situation is good or bad. Therefore, when encountering something sudden, a person doesn't immediately show any facial expression. After receiving information, whether it's good or bad, the first emotion you receive is surprise.
If the situation is negative, it can create three other emotions: disgust, anger, or fear. If the situation causes a person to feel a sense of loss, it can lead to the fifth emotion, which is pain. But if the situation is positive, making the person feel good, then you will feel happiness, which is the sixth emotion. The face is the part of the body that shows emotions first. Let's listen to the first emotion of humans, which is surprise, and the facial expression that people show when they encounter something surprising. Why do people get surprised? Surprise is caused by a change in something we are paying attention to that exceeds our expectations.
For example, when we throw a stone at a dog that is bowing its head to eat, it will show surprise. It starts to raise its head, its ears stand up straight, listening intently and becoming more cautious than before. It's the same for humans. It remains still for a short period to receive more information. For example, where did the stone come from? Who threw it? Then it can show its next action, whether to run or continue eating its food. The surprised facial expression is the easiest to see. All five parts of a person's face open up.
The eyebrows raise, the eyes open wide, and the mouth hangs open. The eyes open wide to see the object more clearly, to get more information. The eyebrows raise because the eyes are open. The mouth opens wide to gather a lot of oxygen as fuel for the next action, whether to run or to fight. Because if you use your nose to breathe, it requires the throat muscles to contract at the same time, which takes time and energy. Therefore, when surprised, opening the mouth is a natural reaction. By using it for breathing, you can store more energy and be more efficient.
When you encounter something surprising, you can stop your eyebrows and mouth from opening. But what you can't stop is your eyelids. And this is a special feature that you should observe when people encounter something surprising. The eyelids have to open up by themselves to receive as much information as possible from the surroundings to send to the brain. At the same time, if you observe more closely, you will probably see other signs, such as inhaling, which indicates a surprise that cannot be faked. Let's take an example of when you go for an interview. If we are the ones interviewing for a job, how do we know which point we're talking about is catching the interviewer's attention? When you are introducing yourself and get to a point that makes the interviewer's eyelids raise a little, you can assume that they are paying attention to that point. You can talk about that point more and in more detail. That's all for now.
Next, we will talk about the second emotion, which is disgust, and the facial expression that people show when they encounter something disgusting. Disgust occurs when you see spoiled, rotten food that you don't want to look at, smell, or eat. But in different social contexts, people might have different reactions to the same thing. Some might find it disgusting, while others don't think so. For example, some people find cockroaches disgusting. Others think they are not disgusting at all. This book raises two reasons that make people easily show disgust. The first is rejection. The second is annoyance. Why does rejection make people feel disgusted in return? For example, a student doesn't like or refuses to listen to a teacher explaining a lesson because he thinks the teacher doesn't teach well. Therefore, that student will reject everything the teacher says or even hate the subject that the teacher teaches. The second reason is annoyance.
Why can annoyance make people feel disgusted? For example, at a party, there is a person who goes on stage and brags only about himself, making the people around him dislike him, to the point of being annoyed, and it can lead to disgust and dislike. Disgust can create another facial expression, which is generally the five parts of a person's face scrunching together. The eyebrows furrow, the two eyes squint shut, the nose wrinkles up, the mouth pulls up unwillingly. This is a sign that I don't want to see, smell, eat, or hear it anymore. Of course, in public, people can't show such a straightforward facial expression, especially at large gatherings.
We can't show this kind of behavior. But what cannot be faked is the nose wrinkling up, causing the sides of the nostrils to pull to the side. This action causes the mouth to wrinkle up, but the two sides of the mouth go down, which we always see as a pout. This kind of facial expression shows the second emotion, which is disgust. Knowing these facial expressions, you can judge a person's feelings, or you can test their thoughts on a certain matter. If you are negotiating something, you can talk about the important points one by one. When the other party's nose wrinkles up a bit, you can assume that they are not very pleased or do not agree with the point or condition that you have raised. Let's look at the third emotion, which is anger, and the facial expression of a person when they encounter something that makes them angry.
Anger happens when one party loses benefits or respect. Therefore, they show some actions that express dissatisfaction. In documentary videos, when a lion catches a deer for food, or when a shark eats small fish for food, in this kind of situation, there is no anger. Because the two parties have vastly different strength and energy. But when lions and tigers fight to claim territory or to show their strength and dominance over each other, anger will arise, becoming a fight over food or territory. Therefore, anger happens when both parties have similar status and strength, and there is a conflict of interest between them. In life, it's the same. When someone takes something from you or takes advantage of you, you will start to get angry, like when someone rides a motorbike and hits you, or when a neighbor hits your child. The most distinctive feature of the emotion of anger is expressed through the eyes, with an aggressive look.
When angry, the upper and lower eyelids tense and come together, and the eyes glare. Comparing it with a surprised facial expression, they are different in the eyelids and the eyes themselves. When surprised, only the upper eyelids are pulled up, and the eyes are opened wide to see more clearly. But when angry, the eyes are also opened wide, but a bit more intensely. Staring at the target, and the eyelids, both upper and lower, are pulled together. An example from a picture that you all often see is when a husband and wife are arguing. Before a conflict occurs, the party that starts the conflict always shows a facial expression as a sign indicating that they are angry. You can observe that the distance between their eyes and eyebrows starts to close in, and their stare at the target becomes sharper, which we can understand as a glare. This can be assumed to mean that the war between this couple has begun. Next, we will talk about the fourth emotion, the emotion of fear, and the facial expression of a person when they have this emotion.
We feel afraid when we encounter something that can cause a situation that is beyond our ability and control. This emotion is the oldest, existing for millions of years. The event of planes crashing into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, which we call the 9/11 event, caused people around the world to be afraid. And there are many other stories, like when you hear that your family member had a traffic accident, all of these can make you feel afraid. When people are afraid, they find it difficult to control themselves. They can't control their actions, to the point where their hands and feet become weak and they can't move. When in a state of fear like this, the facial expression of a person that is easy to spot is the two eyebrows pulling together, the eyes and mouth opening wide. You will probably notice that the facial expression when angry and the facial expression when afraid have similar features, which is that the eyebrows are pulled together, and the eyes and mouth are opened wide. But when angry, the eyebrows and eyelids press down.
As for the inner part of the eyebrows, they are pulled up and together. But when afraid, the eyebrows and eyelids are raised, and the inner part of the eyebrows is pulled down, which is the opposite of when angry. When angry, the mouth is opened to let out a sharp sound to intimidate the other party. But when afraid, the mouth is opened to inhale. Generally, it's to gather energy to run or to withstand a dangerous situation. In our daily lives, the facial expression of fear is not shown very often. Most people try to hold it back or try to hide it because it shows a person's weakness. But often, the immediate reaction of the face is not easy to hide or control. A facial expression like this is easy to spot: the eyebrows are pulled together and raised, and the eyelids are also raised. Let's talk about a real-life application to avoid letting others know that you are afraid.
You can try to control your eyebrows and eyelids so they don't pull up. If not, other people will see that you are afraid. For example, when going on stage to give a public speech, everyone feels afraid, just to a greater or lesser extent. Practicing the technique mentioned above can reduce the feeling of fear or can reduce the appearance of fear by a significant amount. Next, let's analyze the fifth emotion, which is pain, and the facial expression shown when someone is in pain. Pain comes from loss. For example, losing a loved one, losing a family member, or losing money in business. All of these lead to pain. The emotion of pain is the only one among the six emotions that uses the most energy. Crying is a sign of pain and is a natural reaction. When a child falls on the ground, they cry out, showing their pain. The eyebrows pull together, the eyes squeeze shut, and the nose and mouth open wide. This is a very easy facial expression to recognize.
What about when adults are sad? They don't cry out to let you know like a child does. So how can we tell? The important place you need to observe is the eyebrows, and the inner tips of the eyebrows try to pull up. But the other parts pull down. Why look at the eyebrows then? Why not look at the eyes or the mouth? Because the eyes can use muscles to close, and the mouth can also be forced to open or close. It depends on the level of pain and the person's emotional control, whether they should show this reaction or not to indicate their pain. But the eyebrows cannot lie to people. Understanding these reasons, you can observe your partner. When you talk about something that hurts them, you observe their facial expression. If their face shows these signs: the start of the eyebrows pulling up while the other parts of the eyebrows pull down, the mouth is slightly pursed, and the eyes are glistening, I think you should change the subject.
Earlier, we have already talked about the five emotions: surprise, disgust, anger, fear, and pain. Now let's take a deep breath and talk about happiness. Let's analyze the facial expression of a happy person, which is the sixth emotion. Happiness comes from receiving good information that exceeds one's expectations, which can make us feel pleased and show it through a smile. Observing a happy facial expression requires looking at two things: the eyes and the mouth. The eyes squint, and the mouth is shaped like a "U," moving together. When we encounter something very happy, our eyes close almost into a line, and our mouth opens wide, pulling strongly towards the ears. But not everyone who experiences happiness laughs out loud. Some people just smile inwardly. But we can still tell. The eyes don't close completely, but they look a bit softer, and the mouth tries not to open, creating a smiling gesture.
A happy facial expression requires the eyes and the mouth to cooperate, showing their natural movements. If the eyes are closed but the mouth is wide open, or vice versa, if not, it looks like a fake smile. In life, we can surely tell which one is a smile from the heart and which one is just a fake smile. You have to see if the eyes and mouth cooperate in a natural way or not. Have you ever seen people smile mockingly at each other? You've probably seen it when they smile mockingly. The mouth is a bit crooked and doesn't quite sync with the eyes. If you observe that the eyes are wide open, the mouth is also wide open, or if the eyes are squinted shut, and the mouth is also squinted shut, that is surely a fake smile. Of course, we don't have a standard to be certain in order to see through a person's facial expression to their heart.
If that were the case, there would be no need for actors. People are born with different facial structures. Some are born with arched eyebrows, some are born with straight eyebrows. Some have small eyes, some have a face that naturally looks pitiful. Even if they cry, it looks like they are smiling. Even if they smile, it looks like they are crying. But the three points you need to pay attention to are the eyebrows, the eyes, and the mouth. Being able to observe people's facial expressions is also a special skill that can give you an advantage over others, or you can maintain good relationships with many friends and have long-lasting relationships because of understanding their feelings through their facial expressions. The important points in this book are just this much.
Let's do a quick review. This book has divided human emotions into six different types: surprise, disgust, anger, fear, pain, and happiness. A surprised facial expression, which is easy to spot, is when the eyelids and eyebrows pull up, and the mouth hangs wide open. As for a disgusted facial expression, the nose pulls up a little, and the mouth also tries to pull up along with the nose. And when angry, the eyes glare, and the two eyelids, both upper and lower, pull together. And the distance between the upper eyelid and the eyebrow gets closer. Another facial expression is the fearful one, where the eyebrows pull together, and the mouth opens wide. As for a painful facial expression, the beginning of the eyebrows pulls up, and the ends of the eyebrows droop down. If you encounter a happy situation, the eyes squint, and the mouth pulls up in a U-shape towards the earlobes.
In fact, the human face has various muscle structures and complex mechanisms. But nevertheless, when we understand these reasons, draw them on paper one by one, you will see the differences. And through these observations, you will truly have a special ability to see through to other people's hearts through their facial expressions and their true emotions, and you can also know yourself clearly. The pictures showing the facial expressions for these six emotions.