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- Antiquity: practice of face-reading known as physiognomy; attempts to compare the physical characteristics of people with the intent to understand them psychologically
- Middle Ages: facial morphology provided clues not to temperament but to fate
- 18th century: Lavaters Fragments of Physiognomy very popular in Europe
- 19th century: Lombroso founded ``criminal anthropology''
[Darwin 1872]: The movements of expression give vividness and energy to our spoken words.
[Ekman & Friesen 1967]: Facial expressions usually communicate the quality and nature of emotions, while body cues tell more about the intensity of emotions.
[Malandro, Barker & Barker 1989]: The face is a primary nonverbal communicator of feelings and emotion.
[Fridlund 1994]: Our faces, together with our language, are social tools that help us navigate the social encounters that define our``selves'' and fashion our lives.
Emotional View versus Behavioral Ecology View of Faces ([Fridlund 1994]): In contrast to the Emotions View, the Behavioral Ecology View of facial displays does not treat them as ``expressions'' of discrete, internal emotional states, or the outputs of modular affect programs. For ... the behavioral ecologist, displays have their impact upon others' behaviour because ... vigilance for and comprehension of signals coevolved with the signals themselves. The balance of signaling and vigilance, countersignaling and countervigilance, produces a signaling ``ecology'' that is analogous to the balance of resources and consumers, and predator and prey, that characterize all natural ecosystems.
[ Table 2.1.: ]
List of idioms concerning facial expression:
- to face someone down
- to talk until one is blue in the face
- to tell one to ones face
- to make a face at someone
- to keep a straight face
- to catch someones eye
- eyeball-to-eyeball / face to face
- to pull the wool over someones eyes
- to look at someone cross-eyed
- A
- Intensifying
Often societal pressures cause us to respond to the expectations of others, and at times such as these we usually exaggerate our facial behaviours to meet these expectations.
- B
- Deintensifying
In some situations we monitor normal reactions to respond more appropriately to others.
- C
- Neutralizing
We neutralize emotions at times when we are unsure of the outcomes.
- D
- Masking
We frequently replace felt emotions with emotions thought to be more appropriate.
Facial muscles can be consciously controlled in all areas of the face except the eyes. Because the eye muscles are not as readily controlled, the ocular response reveals not only the truth but also much about a persons individual personality structure. Eye contact is an aid to social interaction.
Definitions:
- gaze:
- simply looking at another person or object
- mutual gaze:
- used to delineate those times when that someone looks back but does not necessarily make eye contact
- eye contact:
- used for occasions in which two people look directly into one another eyes
Major functions of eye behaviour ([Malandro, Barker & Barker 1989])
- A
- Establishing and defining relationships
Eye contact determines the type of interaction that will take place and how the interaction will develop. It shows a willingness on your part to admit interest in others and allows others to gain information about you.
- B
- Channel control
Common methods of controlling the communication channel are:
- turn-taking
- power displays
- gaze aversion.
- C
- Displaying emotion
- D
- Reducing distractions
Our eyes can be easily distracted by visual stimuli. While looking away or upward we are involved in the nonvisual function of reducing distractions. The pause from looking at others helps us to organize our thoughts.
Next: The Facial Mask
Up: Facial Expression and Speaking
Previous: Introduction to Nonverbal Communication
Dafydd Gibbon
Mon Sep 14 14:35:18 MET DST 1998