How Many Different Expressions Can The Human Face Give?

We communicate non verbally with every movement we make, every posture we hold and every expression we give with our eyes. Dr, Paul Ekman in his book "Emotions Revealed" says it's estimated that the human face can give up to 10,000 different expressions. Our eye language and other nonverbal cues because they are often not under our conscious control our eye language and other body language can reveal the most revealing information about our emotions, our confidence level and even at times whether or not we are telling the truth.

Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

Is There a Science to the Perfect Ugly-Cry Face?

Here is a piece I did for MTV.com on what indicates sincere crying, and why we cry when other people cry, even when we are watching an actor cry on screen!.

Crying is often cathartic. It's an emotional release triggered by a range of feelings — sadness, love, anger, and grief, to name a few. So when you're watching a scene from a television show or movie that makes you feel things, it's a totally normal response. So normal, in fact, that there's an entire MTV Movie & TV Awards category dedicated to things that make us cry.

But not all cries are created equal.

Why is it that when MTV Best Actor nominee Mandy Moore sheds a tear on This Is Us, audiences feel empathy, while Kim Kardashian's tears are meme-ified for the internet's entertainment? Even Claire Danes and her Emmy-winning cry faces have been the butt of internet jokes.

It's not that Danes is exaggerating her sobs for the camera; in fact, it's more likely that she is just extremely good at her job, specifically the crying part of it.
"She gets that sad face, and it kind of lingers and then it fades out, but it's very slow," body-language expert and speaker Patti Wood told MTV News. "That's one of the reasons we're affected by it so profoundly, because most of the time real crying doesn't disappear. True crying lingers and comes and goes in waves."

When we see someone cry onscreen, the mirror neurons in our brains fire, which elicits a very primal response from us — one that mimics what we're seeing. Isopraxism, or the pull to the same energy, is also in effect. "Isopraxism in nature explains why birds fly together and deer run together and why people applaud," Wood said. "That's another thing that's part of what's going on when people see and hear people crying on the screen."

Of course seeing someone cry doesn't always elicit the same response. As Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy, Tearjerker nominee Ellen Pompeo is one of television's most seasoned criers — and also one of the most effective. According to Ad Vingerhoets, the world's foremost expert on crying, how the person cries is an important determinant of how audiences will respond to a character's tears.

Wood says: "In sadness, the inner corners of the eyebrows go up, the eyelids droop, the corners of your mouth go down, and sometimes there's this weird change in the cheeks, like the cheek muscles go toward the nose. In agony, you're pulling your facial muscles in a lot toward the center and downward. That combination is exactly the opposite of what you might find attractive.

"Typically, the facial muscles are balanced and … lifted up, so the eyebrows go up all the way and the eyelids don't droop, they stand up straight; the corners of the mouth go up and the cheeks go up, so you get this upward balanced expression," she added. "In crying, specifically in agony, you get this mixture of up and down, but a lot of down."

To audiences, that downward movement might not be the most aesthetically pleasing. "To us, it might look ugly, and ugly is unpleasant," Wood said.

And when viewers feel unpleasant or uncomfortable, laughing is often a go-to stress response. "We're fighting against the emotion — in this case, sadness — to laugh," she explained.

The relationship the audience has with the crier is also important. For a public persona like Kardashian, some people might feel apathetic toward her emotions, and for an actress like Danes, it might be that her portrayal of pure, unfiltered agony is just too real for some audiences to feel any empathy. Hence her heavily memed facial contortions.

Link to actual article:  http://www.mtv.com/news/3009170/ugly-cry-face-science/


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

Why Do We Avoid Eye Contact In Elevators?

Why do we avoid eye contact in elevators?  We are often in an intimate space less that 16 inches from strangers, and that zone is typically reserved for people we are very close to or are kissing, eye contact can also be a signal of intimacy. So, when we are in an intimate space with strangers we can't control we create equilibrium by avoiding eye contact. This is part of what is called Equilibrium Theory. 

Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

The Face Lift of Attraction - Why We Can Look More Youthful When We Are Highly Attracted to Someone

The Face Lift of Attraction

When you are highly attracted to someone it can change your body chemistry.  It can increase your muscle tone, so for example the “bagging" around the eyes and the face decrease, making you appear more youthful. 


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

Our View of Ourselves Effects the Length of Eye Contact We Feel Comfortable With

Normal eye contact is 3.2 seconds. Our view of ourselves effects the length of eye contact we feel comfortable with. Research shows that more comfortable and warm we feel about ourselves the longer we like making eye contact. Goodness! that explains why I enjoy mutual gaze so much! I like the emotional intimacy of extended eye contact with people I like and trust.


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.