FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES

  Dear readers and friends,

Today I want to introduce you to another very interesting topic: FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES. Obviously it's just a small article that doesn't want to be exhaustive but just to intrigue you and maybe more ...

Paul Ekman and facial expressions

 

Calibration

Through the calibration I take «the measurements» of my interlocutor's communication. It is a careful observation process that allows us to create a map of the state of the 3 language levels of our interlocutor.

Minutes

• HotWords • Values ​​• Beliefs • Policies

Paraverbal

• Pitch • Volume • Rhythm • Rests

Not verbal

• Gestures • Facial expressions • Eye movements • Breathing

This American psychologist says he was in a remote village in the heights of Papua New Guinea to study the local inhabitants and see if it was possible to find among them the same emotions felt by other peoples. The natives were amazed at the sight of Ekman eating food unknown to them. In particular, one of them stood looking at Ekman with a particular expression. The enthusiastic scholar of their reaction, photographed the expression of disgust highlighted on the face of this member of the tribe and wrote: "The photograph illustrates that the man is disgusted by the sight and smell  the scientist. It was precisely by following this Tribe that Ekman was able to notice how the basic expressions were universal because they can be found in different populations, even in the Fore which is isolated from the rest of the world. So he decided to draw up a list of emotions divided into primary and secondary.

The primary emotions

• Anger , generated by the frustration that can be manifested through aggression;

• Fear , an emotion dominated by instinct  which has as its objective the survival of the subject in a dangerous situation;

• Sadness , it originates as a result of a loss or an unfulfilled goal;

• Joy , positive state of mind of those who consider all their desires satisfied;

• Surprise, originates from an unexpected event, followed by fear or joy;

• Disgust , repulsive response

• Contempt , feeling and attitude of total lack of esteem and disdainful rejection towards people or things, considered devoid of moral or intellectual dignity

 

Secondary emotions

– cheerfulness , feeling of full and lively satisfaction of the soul;

– envy , an emotional state in which a person feels a strong desire to have what the other has;

– shame , emotional reaction that one feels as a result of the transgression of social rules;

– anxiety , emotional reaction due to the foreshadowing of a hypothetical, future and distant danger;

 – resignation , state of mind of one who patiently accepts pain, misfortune;

– jealousy , an emotional state that derives from the fear of losing something that already belongs to the subject;

– disappointment , a state of sadness caused by the observation that the expectations, the hopes cultivated are not reflected in reality.

- hope , tendency to believe that phenomena or events are manageable and controllable and therefore addressable towards hoped-for outcomes as better;

– forgiveness, replacement of negative emotions following   a perceived offense (eg anger, fear) with positive emotions (eg empathy, compassion);

– offense , moral damage that is caused to a person with acts or

with words;

– nostalgia , a state of malaise caused by an acute desire for a distant place, for an absent or lost thing or person, for a finished situation that one would like to relive;

– remorse , state of pain or psychological disturbance experienced by those who believe they have behaved or acted contrary to their moral code;

• Primary emotions are universal and innate emotions

• Secondary emotions, on the other hand, are more complex and the result of environmental and socio-cultural influences

• The expression of emotions occurs through the activation of certain muscles. Man has the ability to control facial expressions through 46 muscles which are the main vector of emotional communication.

• Although humans can voluntarily adopt a particular facial expression, there are two different nervous circuits for the facial muscles, one of which is involuntary .

• The activation of a particular emotion is able to activate even involuntary circuits, for this reason it is impossible to completely deny the expression of an emotion: some muscles will activate anyway, even if perhaps only for a brief moment.

FACIAL MICROEXPRESSIONS

This is how the study of microexpressions was born. 

A micro expression is a quick, involuntary expression that appears on the face when trying to mask or conceal an emotion. It usually appears in stressful situations, when you have something to gain or lose. That is when you lie or deceive yourself. Micro expressions appear for 1/25th of a second and reveal the true emotion of the person beneath their facade

.

The study of expressions

There are two methods for studying the facial expression of emotion

1. Method of the components : an attempt is made to analytically identify the mimic movements that contribute to determining a certain facial expression

2. Judgment method : an emotional expression is submitted to the evaluation of "judges" to obtain the interpretation and recognition of the emotion manifested. The best known analytical method is the FACS – FACIAL ACTION CODING SYSTEM created by Ekman and Friesen

Facsimile technique

• The FACS technique is used by attributing a combination of codes corresponding to certain facial micro-movements (called Action Units) made by the person. Optionally, a movement intensity can also be identified. The combination of these movements can lead to a subsequent decoding or a "translation" of the code into a predominantly emotional and usually unconscious meaning.

• In legal and investigative contexts: cross-examination, interrogation, expert opinion, but also a simple interview with the client in the legal context can be improved by the  standardized analysis of facial micro-expressions. In fact, given a certain amount of communication, facial micro-expressions always add further analytical material that can be wisely used to formulate in-depth and investigative questions.

Subliminal micro signals

More than half of our communication belongs to the non-verbal world. Keep an eye out for inconsistencies between what is said and what is expressed with the body Eg head movements congruent with Yes or No or blinking.

Tension - Liking - Rejection

 

What are subliminal microsignals?

• MICRO -> Short and Small

• SIGNALS -> Symptoms that indicate something

• SUBLIMINAL -> Below the threshold of consciousness for both the issuer and  for those who receive them and therefore not manageable

Microsignals of satisfaction

Oral area

• linguino

• Analog Kiss

• Bring your fingers to your mouth

• Biting the lip

Other areas of the body

• Stroke the hair

• Stroking the earlobe

• Stroke the neck

• Stroking the cheeks

• Stroking the chin

Body and object management

• Bring the torso forward

• Bring an object closer to you

• Roll up the sleeves of your shirt/jacket

• Stroking objects

• Playing with the ring on your finger

• Get close to people

Voltage microsignals

• Light perspiration at the source or above the upper lip

• Scrapers

• Scratch (nose tip maximum tension)

• Tapping time with your foot

• Tap your fingers on the table

• Gesturing with glasses, pens, objects

• Biting nails or objects

 

Microsigns of rejection

• Get away from a person

• Move objects away

• Move the torso backwards

• Brushing: of clothes, on parts of the body

As we have seen, it is not easy to see the micro-expressions and even the subliminal signals, training is needed and attention is very important; that in many articles I underline its importance in all fields of our lives.