2014年10月21日星期二

Unmasking the Face: chapter 1-chapter 3 review

"Unmasking the Face" Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen 

Chapter 1: introduction 
Chapter 2: why mistakes are made in understanding facial expressions 
Chapter 3: research on facial expressions of emotion



There are three categories of the face that can transmit information: static, slow, and rapid. Static and Slow is judged by the natural appearance on the face such as the skin color or age, which can only be defined as an impression because there is a limited science explanation. Rapid signals however, is what the book investigates about, which have direct connections with emotions. Emotions are different from moods. Emotions only last for a few minutes or longest an hour. Moods on the other hand, is an average feeling that can last at least a day. Facial expressions are to identify emotions, which only come across faces for a few seconds. It is extremely rare when a facial expression lasts for more than 5 minutes. Usually when long facial expressions appear, they are not genuine expressions, which means that the person doing them does not have the same emotion as the expression, but use them for mocking or exaggeration.

People are more easily remembered with their faces than their bodies. However, many people also fail to identify facial expression while conversing. This is because we rarely look at the other person’s face when talking. Looking into another person’s eyes directly is shown as an impolite gesture in the conventional society. Also because the auditory information get through quicker than the visual information, so it’s always much easier to listen than look.


Charles Darwin first purposed the hypothesis that facial expressions are universal in the world. However, it has only been proven later on that facial expressions are universal but at the same time differ from culture. For example, a Japanese will cover his expression more than an American. As that being said, universal facial expressions might be caused by the social media nowadays, where people might have learned them though movies, television etc.

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