What somebody’s face tells
All f ive sensory modalit ies – sight , smell, hearing, t ast e and t ouch – are f ound on or near t he f ace, and of t hese t ouch is t he only modalit y also t o be f ound elsewhere on t he body. But t he f ace isn’t simply a locat ion f or housing all t he sensory modalit ies – it ’s also t he most import ant source of out going signals in t he f orm of speech and f eat ures of t he voice like accent and int onat ion, as well as myriads of expressions involving t he eyes and muscles of t he head and f ace. Some f acial expressions, like t he st art le ref lex, are ent irely involunt ary; ot hers, like t he smile, may be a genuine expression of pleasure or a deliberat e at t empt t o creat e an impression of genuine pleasure. Because t he f ace is part ly under conscious cont rol, it ’s a major weapon in our daily at t empt s t o mislead and deceive each ot her. In spit e of t his, t he f ace remains t he prime source of inf ormat ion about our emot ional st at es – it ’s by observing our f aces t hat ot her people can t ell whet her we are f eeling happy, sad, angry, surprised or f right ened. Looking at our f ace, t hey can also t ell whet her we’re f eeling dominant or submissive. T he f ace conveys dominance signals in t wo ways. T he f irst way is t hrough ‘f acial at t ribut es’ – f or example, whet her t he eyebrows are large or small, t he chin is square or round, or t he eyes are close t oget her or set wide apart . T he second way is t hrough ‘f acial act ions’ – f or example, how t he eyes are widened or narrowed, t he eyebrows raised or lowered, or t he chin is pushed f orward or pulled back. A person’s f acial at t ribut es t end t o last f or decades, somet imes f or most of t heir lif e. Facial act ions, on t he ot her hand, may change f rom one second t o t he next . Several
f acial
at t ribut es
are
associat ed
wit h
dominance.
People wit h square jaws are judged t o be more dominant t han t hose who have weak, receding jawlines. People who have prominent ridges above t heir eyes are also regarded as more dominant , and so are people wit h t hin lips. Physiognomic at t ribut es play a major role in how people are t reat ed. Men who have a ‘dominant f ace’ are likely t o have sex earlier in lif e and t o have more sex. Research has also shown t hat men who have more dominant f aces are more likely t o at t ain high rank in t he army. Non-human primat es and humans share many signals of dominance. Several species of apes and monkeys, f or example, lower t heir eyebrows as a dominance t hreat signal. It ’s t he same wit h humans. People whose brows are set low, or who lower t hem, are seen as dominant , while t hose who have raised brows, or who elevat e t hem t emporarily, are seen as submissive. T his is one of t he reasons why women pluck t heir eyebrows – by making t hem t hinner and raising t hem, women creat e a semi- permanent submission display, which men are supposed t o f ind at t ract ive. T he language of raised and lowered eye- brows is widely underst ood. However, t here are part s of t he world, including Af rica and Asia, where raised eye- brows are not int erpret ed
Discover more at: http://dor.academy/en/what-somebodys-face-tells/