chapter 9 review: Sadness

Chapter 9 review: sadness

-         People are often sad because of losses. There is no physical pain from sadness; instead people suffer from loss, disappointment or hopelessness.

-         Sadness is a passive feeling

-         There are differences between distress and sadness

i.                Distress is usually caused by physical pain

ii.              Sadness usually follows distress, but they are still two separate emotions

iii.             Distress involves audible reactions, such as crying, whereas sadness is a more controlled and no active elements are visible

iv.             Usually sadness is more acceptable than distress for the person attempting to comfort. However, it doesn’t mean that sadness is better than distress for the person experiencing it.

v.              Distress is more obvious in appearance, thus more easier to ‘read’

-         The intensity of sadness

i.                   Mild sadness: being “blue” or gloomy

ii.                 Extreme sadness: mourning

iii.         Less intense sadness varies by the less apparent facial areas

-         Blending of sadness

i.                   Sadness most often blends with anger and fear

sadness (brows/forehead and eyes/upper eyelids) + disgust (mouth and lower eyelids) "Unmasking the Face, Paul Ekman, p.125" 

sadness(brows/eyes) + anger (mouth) 

"Unmasking the Face, Paul Ekman, p.124" 

sadness(brow/eyelids) + fear (mouth) 

"Unmasking the Face, Paul Ekman, p.122" 

-         Facial expression of sadness

i.                   The inner corners of the eyebrows are drawn up

ii.                 The Skin below the eyebrow is triangulated, with the inner corner up

iii.                The upper eyelid inner corner is raised

iv.                The corners of the lips are down or the lip is trembling (Unmasking the Face, Paul Ekman, p.126) 

Facial expression of sadness (Unmasking the Face, Paul Ekman, p.127)