Researchers Find 21 Different Facial Expressions

Researchers at the Ohio State University recently announced that the average human had 21 different facial expressions (1). Previously people thought there was only anger, happiness, disgust, surprise, sadness and fear. These expressions are considered universal across cultures, religions and races. That list has now been expanded to include more subtle impressions.

The recognition is based off of the way the muscles move behind the skin to create an expression (3). People can generally recognize these emotions based upon the expression a person provides in any given circumstance. Finding 21 different expressions changes the amount of information a person can gain from watching anothers face.

Famous philosophers such as Aristotle, Rene Descartes, Leonard Da Vinci and Charles Darwin believed in facial expressions as traits hundreds of years before modern findings. Research has now supported their discoveries originally derived from watching, studying, and artistically recreating people. They were astute reviewers of the world and were able to discern these patterns among varying interactions with people. 

You may be surprised that facial expression is something most of us do and our brains are hardwired to do so with mixed accuracy. Without the ability to discern the social networks in which we live it would be difficult to create trust and accurately understand friend from foe. Reading facial expressions, even if not on a conscious level, is something we are born with like the ability to speak, understand, grow or develop.

Processing of facial expressions is a deep process similar to speech. The human mind can read and understand the meaning of comments and activities through this para-language. The philosophers were deep processors and were able to slowly start understanding the patterns of life and what makes us the same and what makes us unique. 

The practical application can range from anything related to software development, theater, interrogation, psychological research, and much more. It is considered “honest communication” because people are not able to easily hide these emotions as a natural reaction to events within the world. If you question a person’s motives given them new information and see how they react. Go with your gut!

The Secrets to Successful Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

Spoken language is the medium that allows us to express ourselves and obtain information with other people. Those who can communicate well are likely to find additional success that others are unlikely to realize. A paper by Binod Mishra (2009) helps to define how both verbal and non-verbal components of language interact to create higher levels of communicative skill. 

He argues that social media interferes with our ability to communicate while writing reports and papers improve upon this ability. Social media such as texting might be more like “ttyl” or “brb”. The medium of cell phones limits full expression without significant effort and cost to the user in terms of contracts. Report writing, as seen in college, helps to encourage higher levels of expression. However, nothing compares to the verbal skills and non-verbal we use when communicating with others. 

Verbal Skills:

Verbal skills are the vocal messages we send to others. They can be figurative or literal. How loud we speak, the type of voice, pitch and pronunciation say something about us as a person as well as the message we are sharing. Most of us consciously focus on the verbal words but subconsciously pick up the non-verbal cues. 

Voice: This is the way in which we utilize our voice to give hints about our nature and attitude. 

Volume: People should be knowledgeable enough to lower or raise one’s voice based upon the audience and room acoustics. 

Pitch: Average rate of words between 120 and 175 words per minute. 

Pronunciation: The ability and skill to say the words correctly. 

Non-Verbal Cues:

Sigmund Freud once said, “He who has eyes to see and ears to hear can convince that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chats with his finger tips, betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”  The way in which we use our body impacts the other true meanings of our messages. When we align our body with our messages we make a more trustworthy communication style. 

Facial Expression: The face creates honest language based within our biological development. Feelings like pain, annoyance, and joy are common. The face also shows confusion, mischief, and many other thought processes. 

Eyes: The eyes are the “windows of our soul” and expresses truthfulness, intimacy, concern naughtiness, joy, surprise, curiosity, affection and love. Make eye contact with the target of your conversation. 

Body Movements: Gestures and postures also contribute to communication even when the speaker doesn’t know it. 

Silence and Pauses: Using pauses and silence can emphasis meanings and interest. 

In my experience, I have learned that it is more important to watch the person than it is to listen to what is literally being said. Each person comes with needs, desires, wants, and goals. Understanding them puts the message within a broader context and this could impact how you respond to such methods. If you watch closely enough and do it long enough you will learn things about people they haven’t yet recognized in themselves. 

Mishra, B. (2009). Role of paralanguage in effective English communication. The Icfai University Press; India

Non-verbal Communication from Mohamed Mahmoud

Effective Use of Paralanguage in the Workplace

Paralanguage is related to the use of subtle messages that includes tone, prosody, intonation, tempo, syllable emphasis, and other hints that create additional meaning beyond the words themselves. Knowing and understanding how paralanguage influences clarity can help in creating more effective conversation in the workplace. Managers who are capable of creating higher levels of congruency between the words they use and the paralanguage associated with those words can increase their communication effectiveness and organizational influence.

Most information comes from non-verbal aspects of communication and alignment between these two concepts creates congruence. A study of university lecturers helped identify that those who used appropriate pitch, loudness, variability, pauses, and fluency increased audience satisfaction (Md Zani, et. al, 2011). The audience paid more attention and were more focused on the concepts. This helps ensure that the messages not only came across well but were also received by members of the audience.

If the use of paralanguage can benefit the quality of communication in a public forum it can also benefit management and employee relationships. As employees seek to understand expectations, directions, and practical information they will listen beyond the words into paralanguage to determine both intent and hidden meaning. This intent, whether positive or negative, will help ensure the truthfulness of the message. 

In many cases employees are not consciously aware of these messages and intuitively prescribe them to the words being spoken. The use of paralanguage is a system that develops within a cultural heritage to further expand the language capabilities between members (Wang De-hue, 2007). Because we are raised within a particular culture we may have some difficulty interpreting the meaning of messages from other cultures. The more we associate with other cultures the more able we are to understand their subtle messages.

We begin to become aware of that language at a young age in the same way that we become aware of social context. At the age of six children are still more likely to judge the actual words versus the subtle differences in paralanguage (Morton & Trehub 2001). Yet by the time they become adults they are much more astute at this overall judgment between spoken language and its subtle paralanguage. 

To create congruence of language also creates clarity in the message as well as its perceived honesty. For many managers it is about being aware of such language and its potential impact on employees that will help them create stronger relationships with employees as well as more effectiveness within their management style. It is through continuous practice that managers can improve both the giving as well as the reception of such messages. 

Organizations should consider a level of training in language usage as it pertains to the workplace. A number of studies have indicated that both written and verbal communication skills are important factors of success in the workplace. Employee resistance, misinterpretation, wasted employee effort, conflict, and general labor relations are all associated with the proper use of language. The concept becomes even more important as leaders grow in influence and power. It is difficult for them to clearly articulate their strategic visions if they are inadvertently giving off mixed signals that are interpreted differently by different sectors of society.

Md Zani, et. al. (2011). The relationship between lecturers’ paralanguage and student’s satisfaction in Universiti Teknologi Mara, Kendah, Malaysia. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in business, 3 (6). 

Morton & Trehub, S. (2001). Children’s understanding of emotion in speech. Child Development, 72 (3).

Wang, D. & Li, H. (2007). Nonverbal language in cross-cultural communication. US-China Foreign Language, 5 (10).