Becoming a Facial Decoder
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BECOMING A FACIAL DECODER
We mentioned previously that some researchers- the psychologist Paul Ekman is the best known- have studied whether facial expression reveal true emotions. These researchers have distinguished real smiles (so called Duchenne smiles, named after French physician Guillaume Duchenne) from fake smiles. Duchenne found genuine smile raised not only the corners of the mouth (easily faked) but also cheek and eye muscles (much more difficult to fake). So, one way to determine whether someone is genuinely happy or amused is to look at the muscles around the upper cheeks and eyes-if the person’s eyes are smiling or twinkling, the smile is genuine. Ekman and his associates have developed similar methods to detect other emotions, such as anger, disgust and distress. They call their method Facial Action Coding System (FACS). According to Ekman the key to identifying real emotions is to focus on micro-expressions, or those facial muscles we cannot easily manipulate.
Dan Hill has used FACS to study the facial expressions of CEOs and found they vary dramatically not only in their Duchhene smiles but also in the degree to which they display positive versus negative facial expressions. Below is Hill’s analysis of the facial expressions of some prominent executives:
Jeff Bezos, Amazon 51% positive
Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway 69% positive
Michael Dell, Dell Computers 47% positive
Larry Ellison, Oracle 0% positive
Bill Gates Microsoft 73% positive
Steve Jobs, Apple 48% positive
Phil Knight, Nike 67% positive
Donald Trumph, The Trumph Organization 16% positiv
Questions:
1. Most research suggests we are not very good at detecting lying, and we think we’re much better than we are. Do you believe FACS would improve your ability to detect lying in others?
2. Do you think the information in this case could help you tell whether someone’s smile is genuine?
3. Is your
BECOMING A FACIAL DECODER
We mentioned previously that some researchers- the psychologist Paul Ekman is the best known- have studied whether facial expression reveal true emotions. These researchers have distinguished real smiles (so called Duchenne smiles, named after French physician Guillaume Duchenne) from fake smiles. Duchenne found genuine smile raised not only the corners of the mouth (easily faked) but also cheek and eye muscles (much more difficult to fake). So, one way to determine whether someone is genuinely happy or amused is to look at the muscles around the upper cheeks and eyes-if the person’s eyes are smiling or twinkling, the smile is genuine. Ekman and his associates have developed similar methods to detect other emotions, such as anger, disgust and distress. They call their method Facial Action Coding System (FACS). According to Ekman the key to identifying real emotions is to focus on micro-expressions, or those facial muscles we cannot easily manipulate.
Dan Hill has used FACS to study the facial expressions of CEOs and found they vary dramatically not only in their Duchhene smiles but also in the degree to which they display positive versus negative facial expressions. Below is Hill’s analysis of the facial expressions of some prominent executives:
Jeff Bezos, Amazon 51% positive
Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway 69% positive
Michael Dell, Dell Computers 47% positive
Larry Ellison, Oracle 0% positive
Bill Gates Microsoft 73% positive
Steve Jobs, Apple 48% positive
Phil Knight, Nike 67% positive
Donald Trumph, The Trumph Organization 16% positiv
Questions:
1. Most research suggests we are not very good at detecting lying, and we think we’re much better than we are. Do you believe FACS would improve your ability to detect lying in others?
2. Do you think the information in this case could help you tell whether someone’s smile is genuine?
3. Is your