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Unmasking the Face
This reprint edition of Ekman and Friesen's breakthrough research on the facial expression of emotion uses scores of photographs showing emotions of surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, and sadness. The authors of UNMASKING THE FACE explain how to identify these basic emotions correctly and how to tell when people try to mask, simulate, or neutralize them. It features several practical exercises that help actors, teachers, salesmen, counselors, nurses, law-enforcement personnel and physicians -- and everyone else who deals with people -- to become adept, perceptive readers of the facial expressions of emotions.
215 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1975
327 people are currently reading
4904 people want to read
About the author
Paul Ekman
57 books856 followersAmerican psychologist that pioneered the study of emotions' relationship to facial expressions.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
June 29, 2012
I was very pleased with this book. I've been doing a lot of reading on micro-expressions and watching documentaries and tv shows about lie detecting and reading body language, etc, and this book is one of the most helpful resources I've come across so far. Not only is it easy to read, even for those who are completely unfamiliar with micro-expressions or anything related, it covers the basics while not being overly boring for those who are familiar with the subject. Each chapter has very detailed descriptions of the different components to what each universal emotion looks like on the face, with pictures and diagrams to support the facts. They also include circumstances such as using only "fear brows" and how to recognize the different emotions without all the physically displayed facets of the emotion. This novel also included in these chapters the combinations of faces, such as fear-surprise, anger-contempt, or guilt-sadness. The book didn't skip around and had many clear examples. It also had chapters on the science behind this study and the background. Also explained was why this information is useful in everyday life, even for those that aren't scientists, lawyers or law enforcement.
At the end of the book they had faces to test you on how much you learned and supporting chapters on subjects such as reading motives behind emotions, or how micro-expressions are affected by facial deceit.
At the end of the book they had faces to test you on how much you learned and supporting chapters on subjects such as reading motives behind emotions, or how micro-expressions are affected by facial deceit.
Read
March 21, 2010I am changing this book from currently reading to read, even though I haven't read it. I got about halfway through it and decided to use it primarily as a reference book.
The subtitle of this book is "A guide to recognizing emotions from facial expressions". The value is that it has many photos of faces expressing emotions and variations in intensity and combinations of those emotions. It's a training tool for reading faces, and it includes quizzes so you can test yourself.
You may have heard of Paul Ekman. He's the guy on whom the character Cal Lightman on the television show Lie to Me is based.
I learned that emotions are universal, although there are some cultural effects. Happy, sad, anger, and disgust are expressed the same the world over. But what is disgusting to one culture may not be to another. Also, cultures differ in how people try to manage the appearance of their faces in different social situations. For example, mourners may be encouraged to wail or encouraged to keep their sadness under control.
The book has chapters on surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, and sadness. There is also a chapter on facial deceit.
I recommend this book for people whose livelihoods depend on reading faces: coaches and therapists, security guards, lawyers and judges, interviewers, casting agents, etc.
Other than that, it is a good book to have around for those times when you encounter an unusual facial expression on someone with whom you interact.
The subtitle of this book is "A guide to recognizing emotions from facial expressions". The value is that it has many photos of faces expressing emotions and variations in intensity and combinations of those emotions. It's a training tool for reading faces, and it includes quizzes so you can test yourself.
You may have heard of Paul Ekman. He's the guy on whom the character Cal Lightman on the television show Lie to Me is based.
I learned that emotions are universal, although there are some cultural effects. Happy, sad, anger, and disgust are expressed the same the world over. But what is disgusting to one culture may not be to another. Also, cultures differ in how people try to manage the appearance of their faces in different social situations. For example, mourners may be encouraged to wail or encouraged to keep their sadness under control.
The book has chapters on surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, and sadness. There is also a chapter on facial deceit.
I recommend this book for people whose livelihoods depend on reading faces: coaches and therapists, security guards, lawyers and judges, interviewers, casting agents, etc.
Other than that, it is a good book to have around for those times when you encounter an unusual facial expression on someone with whom you interact.
November 6, 2008
Paul Ekman is the world's expert on deceit, facial expressions, and reading the face. He has studied the face more rigorously than any other researcher, and his findings include proof that many basic facial expressions are universal among world cultures, that people have 'micro expressions' which last only a 20th of a second, but indicate concealed or underlying emotions, and that you can be trained to increase your ability to detect concealed emotions. This book is a basic manual of Ekman's findings and is of interest to anyone who is concerned with reading the emotions of his or her fellow human beings.
Read
December 17, 2018From the chapter FACIAL DECEIT
"Four Reasons Why People Control Facial Expressions
"We have coined the phrase DISPLAY RULES to describe what people learn, probably quite early in their lives, about the need to manage the appearance of particular emotions in particular situations. For example, middle-class, urban, white, adult males in the United States follow the display rule of not showing fear in public. Their female counterparts in the pre-matron or pre-maternal role follow the display rule of not showing anger in public. Originally, you may learn the display rule by being told what to do and not to do, or you may learn it by observation and imitation without ever being specifically instructed. Once learned, display rules operate as habits, much like driving a car. You don't think about what you are doing unless you find you have made a mistake. People pause to consider what display rule to follow only if they are in strange circumstances (display rules vary from culture to culture) or if they can't figure out what the situation is, what their role is, what is expected of them.
".... Sometimes display rules are more specific in prohibiting a particular facial expression only in a particular role or social situation. For example, at middle-class American weddings, the bride may publicly cry or look sad, as may her parents, but not the groom or his parents....
"Display rules need not absolutely forbid or demand showing a particular emotion, but may instead specify adjustments in the intensity of an emotion. For example, at funerals the mourners should adjust their own expressions of grief in relation to the grief of others. There seems to be a pecking order of legitimate claims to grief....
"We have been discussing the CULTURAL display rules - conventions about facial expression that are followed by all (non-rebellious) members of a given social class, subculture, or culture. Their role in social life is the first, most widely shared reason people control their facial expressions. The second reason is the role of PERSONAL display rules - habits that are the product of idiosyncrasies in family life.... A personal display rule may also be quite general; histrionic persons customarily over-intensify all emotional expression ....
".... A third reason for facial control is vocational requirement. Actors, obviously, must be skilled in managing their facial expressions. So must good diplomats, trial attorneys, salesmen, politicians, doctors, nurses, and perhaps even teachers....
"The fourth reason why people control their facial expressions is need of the moment.... The embezzler must falsely show surprise when the theft is discovered. The husband must inhibit the smile of pleasure on encountering his lover, if in the presence of his wife.
"Usually when a person is said to lie with his face or words, he lies to meet some need of the moment. But all four reasons for controlling facial expression can involve false messages or the omission of messages. It is just that society condemns lying more if it is done for personal gain.... Rather than calling the process lying, we might better call it message control, because the lie itself may convey a useful message." (pp. 138-139)
Herge's cartoon Tintin as an "ever-ready expressor" of surprise ...
"Four Reasons Why People Control Facial Expressions
"We have coined the phrase DISPLAY RULES to describe what people learn, probably quite early in their lives, about the need to manage the appearance of particular emotions in particular situations. For example, middle-class, urban, white, adult males in the United States follow the display rule of not showing fear in public. Their female counterparts in the pre-matron or pre-maternal role follow the display rule of not showing anger in public. Originally, you may learn the display rule by being told what to do and not to do, or you may learn it by observation and imitation without ever being specifically instructed. Once learned, display rules operate as habits, much like driving a car. You don't think about what you are doing unless you find you have made a mistake. People pause to consider what display rule to follow only if they are in strange circumstances (display rules vary from culture to culture) or if they can't figure out what the situation is, what their role is, what is expected of them.
".... Sometimes display rules are more specific in prohibiting a particular facial expression only in a particular role or social situation. For example, at middle-class American weddings, the bride may publicly cry or look sad, as may her parents, but not the groom or his parents....
"Display rules need not absolutely forbid or demand showing a particular emotion, but may instead specify adjustments in the intensity of an emotion. For example, at funerals the mourners should adjust their own expressions of grief in relation to the grief of others. There seems to be a pecking order of legitimate claims to grief....
"We have been discussing the CULTURAL display rules - conventions about facial expression that are followed by all (non-rebellious) members of a given social class, subculture, or culture. Their role in social life is the first, most widely shared reason people control their facial expressions. The second reason is the role of PERSONAL display rules - habits that are the product of idiosyncrasies in family life.... A personal display rule may also be quite general; histrionic persons customarily over-intensify all emotional expression ....
".... A third reason for facial control is vocational requirement. Actors, obviously, must be skilled in managing their facial expressions. So must good diplomats, trial attorneys, salesmen, politicians, doctors, nurses, and perhaps even teachers....
"The fourth reason why people control their facial expressions is need of the moment.... The embezzler must falsely show surprise when the theft is discovered. The husband must inhibit the smile of pleasure on encountering his lover, if in the presence of his wife.
"Usually when a person is said to lie with his face or words, he lies to meet some need of the moment. But all four reasons for controlling facial expression can involve false messages or the omission of messages. It is just that society condemns lying more if it is done for personal gain.... Rather than calling the process lying, we might better call it message control, because the lie itself may convey a useful message." (pp. 138-139)
Herge's cartoon Tintin as an "ever-ready expressor" of surprise ...
June 19, 2018
I don't know if it's just me but most of these facial expressions are easily read if you pay attention to people's faces. Like, if you regulary watch movies or tend to deal with clients, you'll learn nothing from this because it's a matter of simply paying attention to what's in front of you.
Emotions are not that hard to understand if you're empathic or if you're at least interested in body language.
Although, I really enjoyed this book but not the fact that I had to read it on an ebook version, so, every time I had to go forward and back to see the pictures.
Emotions are not that hard to understand if you're empathic or if you're at least interested in body language.
Although, I really enjoyed this book but not the fact that I had to read it on an ebook version, so, every time I had to go forward and back to see the pictures.
March 20, 2025
If you’ve ever wanted to stare intensely at someone mid-conversation and confidently announce, “Your left eyebrow just twitched, you must be experiencing deep-seated resentment,” then congrats—this book is for you. For everyone else, it’s just a reminder that psychology loves a grift, and always tends to conveniently ignore neurodivergent folks who express and understand emotions very differently.
February 6, 2012
I'm obsessed with the Tim Roth show Lie to Me - this is by Pual Ekman, the facial expression researcher on whom the show is based. It's dry, but fascinating!
March 31, 2024
Decent little book which explains the basic facial expressions associated with base emotions. Nothing too riveting or life altering but thorough enough to teach something.
August 7, 2024
Libro scorrevole, tecnico ma spiegato molto bene. Ringrazio il Prof Buggiani per avermelo consigliato due anni fa.
Dovreste ringraziarlo anche voi, ingrati di Goodreads 😀
Dovreste ringraziarlo anche voi, ingrati di Goodreads 😀
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 1, 2017
In the current state of worldwide affairs, knowing how people feel is a vital skill. Knowing when people are lying, even more so.
While reading emotions might seem like a straight forward task, it is quite certainly not for most. If such were the case, why is it that so many people fall prey for the lies from politicians & people in power when it’s obvious to others they are lying? Why is most of the populace unable to read lies when a select few can do so at will? Dr. Ekman’s book answers those questions rather poignantly.
Transitioning to a quick sidebar that dovetails with this topic, the highly intriguing and groundbreaking show Lie To Me [2009] brought to the fore the issue of spotting lies to solve crimes when coupled with reading microexpressions in individual’s faces.
What are micro expressions a curious mind might inquire? Excellent question.
Micro expressions are very brief facial expressions lasting only a fraction of a second. They occur when a person is either deliberately or unconsciously concealing a feeling. These emotions have universal signals: happiness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust and sadness.
Along with that, throughout the series, not only did Lie To Me feature still-frames of people acting deceitfully, but the show also began to cover various other aspects of people’s behavior in order to find dishonesty.
And it just so happens that individuals can be taught, or can learn by themselves how to spot these errant behaviors.
In plainspeak, in Lie To Me various methods of psychology were employed in order to ascertain whether or not people were being duplicitous. This is vital because it just so happens that the above show was in large part based on the work of behavioral psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman.
Getting back on track, Unmasking The Face – A Guide To Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions by Dr. Paul Ekman is an incredible book that details part of the knowledge that was used within the TV show referenced above.
Unmasking The Face helps individuals be able to pierce of the veil of lies that’s often cast upon them.
In his phenomenal and fascinating book, Dr. Ekman covers some of the tools and data available in order to determine people’s true feelings via their facial expressions.
At its core Ekman gives individuals the facial schematics to enable people to read the emotions referenced above. Along with that, the author also covers many of the psychological reasons why people carry out the actions that they do.
The author also notes why many people make mistakes in reading emotions at certain times.
In cataloguing facial deceit, Ekman also narrows down facial expressions to four reasons: cultural display rules, personal display rules, vocational requirement and the need of the moment. The author then proceeds to expound upon those four reasons at length.
Coupled with that, the three management techniques individuals employ, which are simulating, neutralizing and masking, are also covered in some detail.
Without a doubt, this book is foundational for a robust understanding of reading/understanding people’s behavior at a much more deeper/comprehensive level.
Given all that, the skills in this book should definitely become part of everyone’s repertoire.
While reading emotions might seem like a straight forward task, it is quite certainly not for most. If such were the case, why is it that so many people fall prey for the lies from politicians & people in power when it’s obvious to others they are lying? Why is most of the populace unable to read lies when a select few can do so at will? Dr. Ekman’s book answers those questions rather poignantly.
Transitioning to a quick sidebar that dovetails with this topic, the highly intriguing and groundbreaking show Lie To Me [2009] brought to the fore the issue of spotting lies to solve crimes when coupled with reading microexpressions in individual’s faces.
What are micro expressions a curious mind might inquire? Excellent question.
Micro expressions are very brief facial expressions lasting only a fraction of a second. They occur when a person is either deliberately or unconsciously concealing a feeling. These emotions have universal signals: happiness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust and sadness.
Along with that, throughout the series, not only did Lie To Me feature still-frames of people acting deceitfully, but the show also began to cover various other aspects of people’s behavior in order to find dishonesty.
And it just so happens that individuals can be taught, or can learn by themselves how to spot these errant behaviors.
In plainspeak, in Lie To Me various methods of psychology were employed in order to ascertain whether or not people were being duplicitous. This is vital because it just so happens that the above show was in large part based on the work of behavioral psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman.
Getting back on track, Unmasking The Face – A Guide To Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions by Dr. Paul Ekman is an incredible book that details part of the knowledge that was used within the TV show referenced above.
Unmasking The Face helps individuals be able to pierce of the veil of lies that’s often cast upon them.
In his phenomenal and fascinating book, Dr. Ekman covers some of the tools and data available in order to determine people’s true feelings via their facial expressions.
At its core Ekman gives individuals the facial schematics to enable people to read the emotions referenced above. Along with that, the author also covers many of the psychological reasons why people carry out the actions that they do.
The author also notes why many people make mistakes in reading emotions at certain times.
In cataloguing facial deceit, Ekman also narrows down facial expressions to four reasons: cultural display rules, personal display rules, vocational requirement and the need of the moment. The author then proceeds to expound upon those four reasons at length.
Coupled with that, the three management techniques individuals employ, which are simulating, neutralizing and masking, are also covered in some detail.
Without a doubt, this book is foundational for a robust understanding of reading/understanding people’s behavior at a much more deeper/comprehensive level.
Given all that, the skills in this book should definitely become part of everyone’s repertoire.
August 12, 2014
This book is unintentionally a fantastic resource for creating subtle (or not so subtle) facial expressions for specific emotions or mixed emotions in cartooning, comics or portraits. Three-D modelers whose work seems to have a staring problem might also get a lot of use out of it. All the muscles used for each expression are described and demonstrated, and there are base photos in the back to cut out and use to mix expressions on the fly.
I'm willing to bet writers who get stuck sometimes while trying to show, not tell, might find the breakdowns of each emotion helpful, as well.
The science behind it and the cultural comparisons were a big plus for the geek in me.
I'm willing to bet writers who get stuck sometimes while trying to show, not tell, might find the breakdowns of each emotion helpful, as well.
The science behind it and the cultural comparisons were a big plus for the geek in me.
April 8, 2018
Interessante studio sulla fisiognomica del volto: attraverso le espressioni facciali è possibile, con allenamento e pazienza, riconoscere a colpo d'occhio le emozioni che prova chi ci sta di fronte. Dopo avere imparato le tipologie basilari, sarà possibile destreggiarsi con maggiore agilità tra chi dissimula un'emozione e chi mente spudoratamente. Da questo studio è stata tratta la serie tv "Lie to me", con Tim Roth nel ruolo di protagonista.
September 24, 2017
This book is written as if it was some research paper. It spends too much of the content telling us the validity and importance of studying face to reveal emotions. I didn't really learn anything new. Plus, I was annoyed by the low quality pictures.
March 3, 2020
This is truly groundbreaking work that has been compiled over the past few decades by the genius Paul Ekman and his colleagues. They have mapped the human face for everyone to see. That means, essentially, that there is a way to actually read someone's mind. It's written on their face. This has applications for so many people in so many ways. I have my own uses for it, but it includes not just what we do, but how we sell ourselves and how well we conduct our own personal lives. I can't say enough about Paul Ekman.
February 21, 2024
I actually read this because of rewatching Lie to Me which is based on Ekman’s research. Ekman is a clear, concise writer. It is best to approach this book as a study text and practical tools are provided to aid in furthering your skills area. You can perhaps see in this text that it came earlier on and I feel Ekman s research research grew from here but this is a seminal and foundational text and definitely highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject matter.
February 11, 2025
Can't recommend this at all.
"Our study of these interviews is far from completed. We have yet to test many of our hypotheses about facial leakage"
My breath is bated, waiting for the results of research from 50 years ago.
No one's bothered to update it and I didn't realise until now how old it is.
"Our study of these interviews is far from completed. We have yet to test many of our hypotheses about facial leakage"
My breath is bated, waiting for the results of research from 50 years ago.
No one's bothered to update it and I didn't realise until now how old it is.
January 1, 2021
7!
E’ una guida pratica per iniziare ad imparare i modelli mimici in modo da poter usare l’informazione in modo automatico.
Si descrivono le micro espressioni facciali che caratterizzano l’essere umano.
Un libro molto semplice corredato da numerose fotografie e da interessanti esercizi pratici.
E’ una guida pratica per iniziare ad imparare i modelli mimici in modo da poter usare l’informazione in modo automatico.
Si descrivono le micro espressioni facciali che caratterizzano l’essere umano.
Un libro molto semplice corredato da numerose fotografie e da interessanti esercizi pratici.
July 15, 2022
Interesting topic, but painfully boring book. I expected more content around the latter part of the book more than 100 pages describing obvious emotional tells. I read about this author in another book which inspired me to pick it up.
May 6, 2017
Much better than Ekmans other texts - detailed and practical, with opportunities for skills practice to identify nuances of emotion in facial expressions.
September 9, 2017
most of it is common sense.
November 25, 2017
16.09.2012 28.12.2012
January 25, 2018
Great insight from the world's foremost expert in this field.
August 21, 2018
A great tool for understanding others. I really like this book.
November 9, 2018
Seminal work (for its time). Very good reference all should have if they desire to understand neurolinguistics associated with reactions based on interaction.
March 9, 2020
A fascinating book unlocking the secrets of expressions, enabling us to read what others are really thinking!
May 24, 2021
Good but extremely dry
March 9, 2023
Innamorata
April 2, 2024
It's mandatory
January 16, 2025
Ambitious undertaking of facial emotional nuances.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews