One concept that interested
me was facial displays. Terms like poker-face and sad-eyes are commonplace in
society. As with everything else regarding the study of communication, I love
to learn the nuances that, more often than not, go overlooked by most of us in
our day to day interactions with other people. There are times when I know,
just by face and eyes, whether or not to pursue a certain direction in a
conversation. I have at times used facial expressions to indicate to others
that I don’t want to be approached.
On the flip side I’m
regularly astounded by the number of people that are completely oblivious to
facial expressions. With simple flexing of muscles we can display such things
as happiness, sadness, curiosity, apathy, and anger. With such a wide range of
emotional states that can be expressed without ever having to speak a word, it’s
amazing how many people fail to understand a mood.
I found pretty interest your post because I discovered for my self how much you can get, just by observing people's faces. Sometimes there is no need of words. For example when my youngest son, who is 2.5 years old, tries to get something that is not allowed for him, he always check how do I look at him. In 100% cases he knows for sure if allow him or not, just by looking at my face.
ReplyDeleteI thought about your question couple times as well. One thing I figured out is that many times, we fail to notice facial expressions when we are too preoccupied with the issue at hand. Or we could be too busy and not take the time to read into the facial expression, or just simply unfortunately not care. I also believe there are people who simply do not know how to read facial expressions. I agree with you, it is interesting how all people are able to express their moods through expressions and their eyes. I am very grateful that there are communication classes that teach and point out these facts.
ReplyDelete