Facial expressions and micro-expressions are intertwined. What do I mean by this? Micro-expressions are expressed through the face. Explaining the meaning of micro-expressions, foremost researcher on the concept, Paul Ekman, said that: “Micro expressions are facial expressions that occur within 1/25th of a second. They are involuntary and expose a person’s true emotions. They can happen as a result of conscious suppression or unconscious repression. These facial expressions are universal, meaning they occur on everyone around the world.” In the latter part of the description, we can see him refer to micro-expressions as facial expressions. So, this makes the argument settled. Everyone flashes micro expressions and no one can hide them. Reading micro expressions is the key to enhanced emotional awareness and deception detection. Learning to spot micro expressions gives you an edge in any social situation (Ekman, 2018).
A research by Ekman has shown that all the world over, we express the same seven universal emotions. They include: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, contempt, and happiness. When someone conceals an emotion, “leakage” often occurs on that person’s face. In other words, micro expressions often flash across their face without their knowledge. Most people do not recognize these important clues but law enforcement officers and people dealing with people at different stages of their career must know how important this is.
Haggard and Isaacs were the first to describe micro expressions in their study of psychotherapeutic interviews. They first referred to them as micro momentary expressions. They explained their appearance as the result of repression. Haggard and Isaacs also implied that these fleeting expressions could not be recognized in real time. However, Ekman and Friesen later showed that with proper training anyone could learn to see micros as they occurred. Ekman and Friesen also broadened the explanation of why micros occur.
In 1967, Dr. Ekman began to study deception. He started with clinical cases in which the patients falsely claimed they were not depressed. These patients later committed suicide when not under supervision. When patients’ films were examined in slow motion, Ekman and Friesen saw micro expressions which revealed strong negative feelings that the patient was trying to hide.
Micro expressions happen when people hide their feelings from either themselves or others. Importantly, both instances look the same. You cannot tell from the expression itself whether it is the product of suppression (deliberate concealment) or repression (unconscious concealment) (Ekman, 2018).
What is important for observers is that while these behaviors do occur, we must not attach more meaning to them than we should. Some television programs have always confused and deceived people on this. As scholars in the field have always maintained, there is no single behavior indicative of deception. In fact, Joe Navarro in his article opines that there is nothing like signs of deception, he rather advises that: “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 other words something is bothering us, the questions is what?” Some of the issues he listed are indicators of stress, psychological discomfort, anxiety, dislike, issues, or tension (Navarro, 2011).
Knowing how to read and interpret micro-expressions is an essential part of understanding nonverbal behavior and reading people. Let’s quickly run through the basic micro-expressions. When a person is expressing surprise, their eyebrows are raised and curved. Also, the skin below the brow is stretched. You will also notice some horizontal wrinkles across the forehead. Further, the eyelids are opened, white of the eye showing above and below and jaw drops open and teeth are parted but there is no tension or stretching of the mouth (Vanessa, 2018).
For the signals of micro-expression of fear, the eyebrows are raised and drawn together, usually in a flat line. There would be wrinkles in the forehead, that is, in the center between the eyebrows, not across. The upper eyelid is raised, but the lower lid is tense and drawn up. In the same vein, eyes have the upper white showing, but not the lower white and the mouth is open and lips are slightly tensed or stretched and drawn back (Vanessa, 2018).
For the feeling of disgust, the upper eyelid would be raised, also, the lower lip is raised. The nose becomes wrinkled, cheeks raised and then, lines show below the lower eyelid (Vanessa, 2018).
Now to the micro-expression of anger, the eyebrows are lowered and drawn together, vertical lines appear between the eyebrows, the lower lid becomes tensed, the eyes are in hard stare or bulging, lips can be pressed firmly together, with corners down, or in a square shape as if shouting, nostrils may become dilated, and the lower jaw juts out (Vanessa, 2018).
Then, to the feeling of happiness which is always marks by raised cheeks. Corners of the lips are drawn back and up, you will notice that the mouth may or may not be parted, teeth exposed. Then, a wrinkle runs from outer nose to outer lip, and the lower eyelid may show wrinkles or be tense. The last sign is that crow’s feet near the outside of the eyes (Vanessa, 2018).
Sadness micro-expression is marked by inner corners of the eyebrows which are drawn in and then up. The skin below the eyebrows is triangulated, with inner corner up, the corners of the lips are drawn down, jaw comes up and the lower lip pouts out (Vanessa, 2018).
The last universal micro-expression is that of hate or contempt. This is simply denoted with one side of the mouth raised. The best way to identify them is to practice them on yourself first, and see if you can detect them in the people in your life (Vanessa, 2018).
References
Ekman, P (2018). Micro Expressions. Retrieved fromhttps://www.paulekman.com/resources/micro-expressions/
Navarro, J (2011). Body Language vs. Micro-Expressions. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/spycatcher/201112/body-language-vs-micro-expressions
Vanessa (2018).The Definitive Guide to Reading Micro-Expressions. Retrieved from https://www.scienceofpeople.com/microexpressions/
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