The Face under the Mask

Facial expressions are the closest thing we have to a universal language

“Once you understand emotional expressions, you can build better communications skills which will enhance every part of your life.”

Did you realise so much information is readily available without a person saying a word?

Remember no one, including me, is a mind reader. I never know what someone is thinking but there are personality, emotional and behavioural traits that can be understood by reading a person’s face.

If you are currently thinking this is a load of bulls***, then you may be interested in the science that backs up the tools I use.

Since the time of Aristotle, scientists and philosophers have been fascinated by the relationship between an individual’s facial structure and behaviour. The study of the face is over 2,500 years old. In the 1930s a judge observed the behavioural patterns in the people that appeared before him in court. He decided to pull a research project together and using the scientific principles already established Jones established 68 traits that on research testing gave 92% accuracy on personality.

Universality of facial expressions of emotion has been researched from the 1960s in depth and it was found that there is high cross-cultural agreement in judgements of emotion based on the 43 muscles of the face. There have been over 1000 scientific studies examining judgements of facial expressions and the results have been replicated many times over for seven universal facial expressions of emotion – anger, fear, contempt, surprise, happiness, sadness and disgust. Whether you are born in Birmingham, Bolivia or even born blind we all display the same expressions for those seven universal emotions. The triggers will be different for every individual but the muscle movements the same.

Behaviour-based actions are widely accepted by science, certain non-verbal communications have high agreement amongst experts to interpret a certain behaviour. Context is key when understanding behaviour and there are cultural variations that need to be considered. Some psychologists say that when talking about emotions and feelings that the behaviour reveals more than words spoken.

Adrianne Carter has been instrumental in developing cutting-edge research methodologies to gain insight into emotion, personality and behaviour for the last 20 years. She uses techniques to go beyond what people say or can’t verbalise, to get to what they really feel or know.
Used to help brands, marketers, HR and others to uncover the truth and understand emotions, emotional connections and behaviour, Adrianne started her own company to deliver high-end marketing analysis, training and keynote speeches.

Having worked with global brands Coca Cola, L’Oreal, Disney, Unilever, Samaritans and guest lectures on consumer psychology, Adrianne is also a regular contributor to The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Star, The Daily Mail and ITV’s This Morning as their expert for body language on news items.

To contact Adrianne please visit : https://adriannecarter.com/