How good are you at reading faces? Find out HERE!
You might think of it as emotional intelligence or even compassion but whatever the label, it’s highly unlikely that you’ve ever thought about your interactions with others in the ways researchers are now exploring.
Without even thinking about it, we utilize various combinations of 43 facial muscles to convey virtually every imaginable emotion. Our faces are emotional broadcast systems; instantaneous, real-time, accurate, free of language and cultural barriers and often lost or ignored.
If we were truly in tune with the emotional information available to us, we could fill a computer hard drive with the data from a typical interaction – before we even say hello!
Was that a welcoming and authentic Duchenne smile: a smile that engages orbicularis oculi muscle to crinkle the corner of your eye?
Or was it an inauthentic Pan Am smile: the impersonal gesture offered by a flight attendant as passengers depart a flight?
New research into the science of emotion suggests learning to read subtle emotional changes could provide us with a big advantage in business.
Will you catch the slight movement of my inner brow, indicating fear?
Will a flare of my outer brow, indicating surprise go totally unnoticed by you?
Facial insights help us to increase the effectiveness of our own interpersonal interactions; giving us solid indicators that we should slow down, switch topics or just stop talking and listen.
Applying the emotional recognition software in the home could mean self-adjusting lighting and temperature control systems and even a refrigerator that senses your mood and locks up the ice cream…
Did I see your zygomaticus major round the corner of your mouth?
Go ahead smile; it is still the best way to relax those around you.
Interested to see how well you can read faces?
Take the visual test HERE!
I only got 6 correct… what was your score?
As always, I welcome your comments directly at jeff@jeffkaplan.com.
BTW- Have you been working on your resolutions? See (PART 1 & PART 2) for advice on making 2016 resolutions stick…
-Jeff
