Five faces

Facial Expression

Overview

By the time we are small children, we have learned some of the ways to control facial expressions, both to get our faces to convey what we want and to keep what we want to keep hidden. We learn about facial displays and how to manage them from our culture.

Cataloging Facial Displays

Some researchers have come up with a summary of facial displays by parts of the face and what these displays can mean.

  1. Nose: nostril flare (arousal).
  2. Lips: grin (happiness, affiliation, contentment); grimace (fear); lip-compression (anger, emotion, frustration); canine snarl (disgust); lip-pout (sadness, submission, uncertainty); lip-purse (disagree).
  3. Brows: frown (anger, sadness, concentration); brow-raise (intensity).
  4. Tongue: tongue-show (dislike, disagree).
  5. Eyelids: flashbulb eyes (surprise); widened (excitement, surprise); narrowed (threat, disagreement); fast-blink (arousal); normal-blink (relaxed).
  6. Eyes: big pupils (arousal, fight-or-flight); small pupils (rest-and-digest); direct-gaze (affiliate, threaten); gaze cut-off (dislike, disagree); gaze-down (submission, deception)
Source: The Center for Nonverbal Studies

Ray Birdwhistle

A variety of facial expression or elements of facial expressions that have been mapped, that is, for which research Ray Birdwhistle created notations, so he could account for their appearance in exchanges:

Blank faced

Single raised brow

Media brow contraction

Raised brows

Wide eyed

Wink

Squint

Closed eyes

Sidewise look

Stare

Rolled eyes

Slitted eyes

Glare

Eyes upward

Flared nostrils

Sneer

Smile

Droopy mouth

Tongue in cheek

Pout

Clenched Teeth

Toothy smile

Open mouth

Lip biting

Pursed lips

Ear wiggle

  

Reading Facial Displays

Facial display is familiar to us all, and we know how to read facial expressions well. I took these pictures at a birthday party at my house recently. How would you classify the facial expressions of the woman in red in each one? Even with terms like those Birdwhistle provides, classification of facial displays in words is difficult. Look at these five examples, and try to decide what you think these expressions mean. Send your best guesses to the me via email, and I'll compile them to see if we reach a class consensus.

Facial Expression 1
Facial Expression 2
Facial Expression 3
Facial Expression 4
Facial Expression 5

Conclusion

We learn to read and to manage affect displays for many reasons. Sometimes the requirements of our jobs requires us to control what our faces say. Teachers would be in deep trouble if they allowed their faces to show their feelings, and likewise so would students! Physicians, clergy, sales people, and especially politicians learn to manage what their faces say. Research indicates that by age 3 children can intentionally hide their emotional expression when attempting to deceive an adult.

Even in our daily interactions we manage our facial displays. If we meet someone who is attractive to us but unavailable, we may not want to show too much of our feelings. If we play cards, we may cultivate a poker face. If our friend gets the wonderful job that we applied for too, we may want to compose our face to convey a message other than the one we really feel. The fact that we manage our facial displays so much indicates that we have a fairly high awareness of how information is coded and transmitted in this channel.