Microexpressions Handbook

CONTENTS 01. history 02. anger 03. contempt 04. disgust 05. fear 06. joy 07. saddness 08. conclusion

HISTORY

01

I

n order to properly anchor us, let’s start with what the term “micro-expressions” means or has come to mean. In 1966 two researchers by the name of Haggard and Isaacs discovered, while looking at films of couples in therapy, what they described as “micromomentary expressions.” They noted behaviors that would flash by so quickly they were difficult to see except by slowing the film down. A few years later, building on this earlier work and observing these same behaviors, Paul Ekman coined the term “micro expressions” while he was studying deception. Ekman later incorporated this into his book, “Telling Lies,” which you really should read if you care about nonverbals.

What Haggard and Isaacs, as well as others, found was that our faces often reveal hidden sentiments that are being intentionally concealed. This was obviously useful in detecting issues during couples’ therapy. Unfortunately, over time the term “micro expressions” grew to include too many things; failing for instance to differentiate between the truly miniscule, the small, and the larger facial distortions. There was also a failure to differentiate between the behaviors that were fast and those which were super-fast, but which had little to do with being “micro” or small. Lastly there was a failure to differentiate behaviors that are asymmetrical or that oddly freeze in place such as when we hold a tense smile at a snarling dog.

First we should recognize, as David Matsumoto has pointed out, that there are behaviors, gestures, or expressions of the face that do occur without conscious prompting which leak or reveal our true feelings or sentiments. Some of these behaviors or expressions flash before us very quickly (1/15, 1/25 of a second) and others loiter there seemingly too long. Also there are behaviors that are difficult to observe because they are so tiny (twitching muscles just under the eye for example) while others are quite large or as “large” as they can be given the size of some small facial muscles.

05.

What is important for observers is that while these behaviors do occur, we must not attach more meaning to them than we should.

Shows such asLie to Me (now cancelled) made it seem that if you saw one of these behaviors then the person is lying. Nothing could be further from the truth. For as Ekman, Frank, DePaulo, Burgoon, and Vrij have repeatedly told us, there is no single behavior indicative of deception (Matsumoto, et. al. 2011, 1-4; Navarro 2008). There are indicators of stress, psychological discomfort, anxiety, dislike, issues, or tension, but not deception - I’m sorry to say. In fact, rather than focus on deception, in my experience, it is far more useful to become an “Issue Detector” because that is really what we are observing. When we see the physical displays of psychological discomfort, we are really seeing our bodies communicating there are “issues”; in ohter words something is bothering us, the questions is what?

Facial Gestures of Nervousness and Tension:

O

ne way to understand facail gestures or behaviors is to divide them up by what they do, not whether they are mini, micro, or macro, which does not take into account speed or in some cases lengthy, asymmetical or rigid presentations. The following is not a comprehensive list by if you focus on these five areas, you find it easier to identify how others truly feel or what they think:

EXAMININGACE THE FACE

Lips that are sucked into the mouth Squinting eyes Lip compression Quivering lips Quivering chin Furrowed forehead Corners of mouth twitching or pulling oddly toward the ear very quickly

06.

Facial Gestures of Dislike or Disagreement: Pursed lips usually mean I don’t like or I disagree Upper half of lip on one side rises as does nose Rolling of the eyes Nose crinkle Eyelid flutter

A

T

RECOMMENDATIONS

fter studying nonverbals for over 40 years, I think it is wiser to understand what all of the body communicates, not just the face, or just “micro-expressions.” Especially knowing that the feet are more accurate than the face in revealing sentiments and intentions and that all of our body is constantly transmitting vital information (Navarro 2008). In fact, as I note in Clues to Deceit there are over 215 behaviors associated with psychological discomfort and most of those are not in the face.

h ese internal responses may last a full minute or more—far longer than the expressions themselves, which last no more than two or three seconds. When people try to hide their emotions, their expressions may flash for onefifteenth to one-twentieth of a second—just long enough for others to see them.

After that, people can wipe away their “microexpressions,” as Ekman describes them. It is much harder to remove all traces of feeling from the voice.

That’s why Ekman tells police to keep their suspects talking.

Let’s take a look at each of these expressions.

08.

ANGER

02 11.

ANGER Both the lower and upper eyelids tighten as the brows lower and draw together.

Eye glare

The jaw thrusts forward, the lips press together, and the lower lip may push up a little.

14. a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong; wrath; ire.

CONTEMPT

03

15.

CONTEMPT This is the only expression that appears on just one side of the face:

Lip corner tightened and raised on only one side of the face

16.

17.

the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.

DISGUST

04

19.

DISGUST narrowing of the eyes nose wrinkling upper lip raised

14. the feeling of repugnance caused by something offensive; strong aversion

FEAR

05 17.

FEAR eyebrows raised and pulled together raised upper eyelids lowered lower eyelids

18.

Lips slightly stretched horizontal back to ears

a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined

SADNESS

06

21.

SADNESS Drooping upper eyelids

Losing focus in eyes

22.

Slight pulling downward of lip corners

affected by unhappiness or grief; sorrowful or mournful

JOY

07 24.

JOY Crinkling in the outter corner of the eye

Raising of the lower eyelids

25.

Upward pulling of the corners of the lips

the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying

CONCLUSION

08

28.

CONCLUSION

W

hether faces can express any more than these seven emotions is a matter of some debate. There could be specific expressions for contentment, excitement, pride, relief, guilt, and shame, Ekman says, but they have yet to be delineated. Individual elements of each expression can occur in varying intensities or may be missing altogether. A look of mild surprise can be shown by the eyes alone, for instance, if the mouth doesn’t move.

Emotion usually leads to an expression, but studies have shown that the process can also work in reverse: If you force your face to look sad or angry, the rest of your body will react as well, and you may involuntarily begin to feel those emotions. A look of anger will make your heart speed up and your blood vessels dilate until your skin turns red; a look of fear can make your hands cold and clammy and your hairs stand on end; a look of disgust can make you nauseated.

I

f you truly want to learn about body language and nonverbal communications and go beyond the tripe usually served on television, give yourself a treat and read Desmond Morris’ trilogy on nonverbals (Manwatching, Bodywatching, Peoplewatching).

Morris looks at humans with the critical eye of a scientist discovering a new species and explains why we do the things we do. He is an authority without equal when it comes to nonverbal communications and as a zoologist and anthropologist, will open your eyes as no other author or expert can, with perhaps the exception of Charles Darwin, who started it all one day while watching orangutans in the London zoo.

29.

REFERENCES Darwin, Charles. 1872. The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals.

New York: Appleton-Century Crofts.

Ekman, Paul. 1985. Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace,Politics, and Marriage. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Haggard, E. A. and Isaacs, K.S. 1966. Micromomentary Facial Expressions. In Methods of Research in Psychology, L.A. Gottschalk and A.H. Auerback, Eds.. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.

Matsumoto, David, et. al. 2011. Evaluating Truthfulness and Detecting Deception New Tools to Aid Investigators. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, (January):1-8.

Morris, Desmond. 1985. Bodywatching. New York: Crown Publishers.

Morris, Desmond. 1980. Manwatching. New York: Crown Publishers.

Morris, Desmond. 2002. Peoplewatching: New York: Crown Publishers Navarro, Joe. 2011. Clues to Deceit. Amazon Kindle.

Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every Body is Saying. New York: Harper Collins.

Porter, S., & ten Brinke, L. (2008). Reading between the lies: Identifying concealed and falsified emotions in universal facial expressions. Psychological Science, 19, 508-514.

Vrij, A., Granhag, P. A., & Porter, S. 2010. Pitfalls and opportunities in nonverbal and verbal lie detection. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 11, 89-121.

CONTENTS 01. history 02. anger 03. contempt 04. disgust 05. fear 06. joy 07. saddness 08. conclusion

HISTORY

01

I

n order to properly anchor us, let’s start with what the term “micro-expressions” means or has come to mean. In 1966 two researchers by the name of Haggard and Isaacs discovered, while looking at films of couples in therapy, what they described as “micromomentary expressions.”

They noted behaviors that would flash by so quickly they were difficult to see except by slowing the film down. A few years later, building on this earlier work and observing these same behaviors, Paul Ekman coined the term “micro expressions” while he was studying deception.

Ekman later incorporated this into his book, “Telling Lies,” which you really should read if you care about nonverbals.

What Haggard and Isaacs, as well as others, found was that our faces often reveal hidden sentiments that are being intentionally concealed.

This was obviously useful in detecting issues during couples’ therapy. Unfortunately, over time the term “micro expressions” grew to include too many things; failing for instance to differentiate between the truly miniscule, the small, and the larger facial distortions. There was also a failure to differentiate between the behaviors that were fast and those which were super-fast, but which had little to do with being “micro” or small. Lastly there was a failure to differentiate behaviors that are asymmetrical or that oddly freeze in place such as when we hold a tense smile at a snarling dog.

First we should recognize, as David Matsumoto has pointed out, that there are behaviors, gestures, or expressions of the face that do occur without conscious prompting which leak or reveal our true feelings or sentiments. Some of these behaviors or expressions flash before us very quickly (1/15, 1/25 of a second) and others loiter there seemingly too long. Also there are behaviors that are difficult to observe because they are so tiny (twitching muscles just under the eye for example) while others are quite large or as “large” as they can be given the size of some small facial muscles.

05.

What is important for observers is that while these behaviors do occur, we must not attach more meaning to them than we should. Shows such asLie to Me (now cancelled) made it seem that if you saw one of these behaviors then the person is lying. Nothing could be further from the truth. For as Ekman, Frank, DePaulo, Burgoon, and Vrij have repeatedly told us, there is no single behavior indicative of deception (Matsumoto, et. al. 2011, 1-4; Navarro 2008). There are indicators of stress, psychological discomfort, anxiety, dislike, issues, or tension, but not deception - I’m sorry to say.

In fact, rather than focus on deception, in my experience, it is far more useful to become an “Issue Detector” because that is really what we are observing. When we see the physical displays of psychological discomfort, we are really seeing our bodies communicating there are “issues”; in ohter words something is bothering us, the questions is what?

O

ne way to understand facail gestures or behaviors is to divide them up by what they do, not whether they are mini, micro, or macro, which does not take into account speed or in some cases lengthy, asymmetical or rigid presentations.

The following is not a comprehensive list by if you focus on these five areas, you find it easier to identify how others truly feel or what they think:

EXAMININGACE THE FACE

Facial Gestures of Nervousness and Tension: Lips that are sucked into the mouth Squinting eyes Lip compression Quivering lips Quivering chin Furrowed forehead Corners of mouth twitching or pulling oddly toward the ear very quickly

Facial Gestures of Dislike or Disagreement: Pursed lips usually mean I don’t like or I disagree Upper half of lip on one side rises as does nose Rolling of the eyes Nose crinkle Eyelid flutter

T

h ese internal responses may last a full minute or more—far longer than the expressions themselves, which last no more than two or three seconds. When people try to hide their emotions, their expressions may flash for onefifteenth to one-twentieth of a second—just long enough for others to see them.

After that, people can wipe away their “ mi c roex pres s i ons,” as Ekman describes them. It is much harder to remove all traces of feeling from the voice. That’s why Ekman tells police to keep their suspects talking. Let’s take a look at each of these expressions.

08.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A

fter studying nonverbals for over 40 years, I think it is wiser to understand what all of the body communicates, not just the face, or just “micro-expressions.”

Especially knowing that the feet are more accurate than the face in revealing sentiments and intentions and that all of our body is constantly transmitting vital information (Navarro 2008). In fact, as I note in Clues to Deceit there are over 215 behaviors associated with psychological discomfort and most of those are not in the face.

ANGER

02

ANGER Both the lower and upper eyelids tighten as the brows lower and draw together.

Eye glare

The jaw thrusts forward, the lips press together, and the lower lip may push up a little.

14. a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong; wrath; ire.

CONTEMPT

03

CONTEMPT

This is the only expression that appears on just one side of the face:

Lip corner tightened and raised on only one side of the face

16. the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.

DISGUST

04

DISGUST

narrowing of the eyes nose wrinkling upper lip raised

14. the feeling of repugnance caused by something offensive; strong aversion

FEAR 05

FEAR

eyebrows raised and pulled together raised upper eyelids lowered lower eyelids Lips slightly stretched horizontal back to ears

18. a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined

SADNESS

06

SADNESS Drooping upper eyelids

Losing focus in eyes

Slight pulling downward of lip corners

22. affected by unhappiness or grief; sorrowful or mournful

JOY

07

JOY

Crinkling in the outter corner of the eye

Raising of the lower eyelids

Upward pulling of the corners of the lips

25.

the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying

CONCLUSION

08

W

CONCLUSION

hether faces can express any more than these seven emotions is a matter of some debate. There could be specific expressions for contentment, excitement, pride, relief, guilt, and shame, Ekman says, but they have yet to be delineated. Individual elements of each expression can occur in varying intensities or may be missing altogether. A look of mild surprise can be shown by the eyes alone, for instance, if the mouth doesn’t move. Emotion usually leads to an expression, but studies have shown that the process can also work in reverse: If you force your face to look sad or angry, the rest of your body will react as well, and you may involuntarily begin to feel those emotions. A look of anger will make your heart speed up and your blood vessels dilate until your skin turns red; a look of fear can make your hands cold and clammy and your hairs stand on end; a look of disgust can make you nauseated.

29.

I

f you truly want to learn about body language and nonverbal communications and go beyond the tripe usually served on television, give yourself a treat and read Desmond Morris’ trilogy on nonverbals (Manwatching, Bodywatching, Peoplewatching). Morris looks at humans with the critical eye of a scientist discovering a new species and explains why we do the things we do. He is an authority without equal when it comes to nonverbal communications and as a zoologist and anthropologist, will open your eyes as no other author or expert can, with perhaps the exception of Charles Darwin, who started it all one day while watching orangutans in the London zoo.

REFERENCES Darwin, Charles. 1872. The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals.

New York: Appleton-Century Crofts.

Ekman, Paul. 1985. Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace,Politics, and Marriage. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Haggard, E. A. and Isaacs, K.S. 1966. Micromomentary Facial Expressions.

In Methods of Research in Psychology, L.A. Gottschalk and A.H. Auerback, Eds.. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.

Matsumoto, David, et. al. 2011. Evaluating Truthfulness and Detecting Deception New Tools to Aid Investigators. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, (January):1-8.

Morris, Desmond. 1985. Bodywatching. New York: Crown Publishers.

Morris, Desmond. 1980. Manwatching. New York: Crown Publishers.

Morris, Desmond. 2002. Peoplewatching: New York: Crown Publishers Navarro, Joe. 2011. Clues to Deceit. Amazon Kindle.

Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every Body is Saying. New York: Harper Collins.

Porter, S., & ten Brinke, L. (2008). Reading between the lies: Identifying concealed and falsified emotions in universal facial expressions.

Psychological Science, 19, 508-514.

Vrij, A., Granhag, P. A., & Porter, S. 2010. Pitfalls and opportunities in nonverbal and verbal lie detection. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 11, 89-121.