Reading someone’s facial expressions can be tricky if you do not know what to look for. When it comes to long-standing expressions, they can be faked or they can change quickly. But micro expressions are facial expressions that can happen as fast as a quarter of a second, but they can tell more about a person’s real reaction than almost any other form of body language.
The Honesty Of A Micro Expression
Many aspects of body language can be faked, but it has been clinically proven that it is nearly impossible to manufacture or suppress a micro expression. These are true emotional reactions to some sort of stimulus, and they can be invaluable to anyone who wants to try and understand what a person is really thinking.
The Essential Elements Of Micro Expressions
After years of research, scientists have been able to break micro expressions down into seven groups. Those groups are:
<ul>
<li>Anger</li>
<li>Fear</li>
<li>Sadness</li>
<li>Contempt</li>
<li>Joy</li>
<li>Surprise</li>
<li>Digust</li>
</ul>
There are thousands of micro expressions that can be used, but all of them fall somewhere within these seven categories. There is plenty of research available that catalogs each type of micro expression and puts those expressions into their proper category. Since these expressions happen so fast, it takes a while to be able to successfully identify them as they occur.
The Power Of Micro Expressions
It can be easy to dismiss micro expressions as conditioned responses taught by movies, television or other widely available visual stimulus. But science has done studies that prove that micro expressions are genuine human responses to various forms of verbal and visual stimulus.
It was found that isolated tribes on the African continent shared the same micro expressions as people who grew up and live in the civilized world. In an even more compelling discovery, it was also found that people who are blind from birth share the same micro expressions as everyone else. These findings prove that micro expressions are true mirrors into the real feelings of any person in any situation.
Who Needs To Understand Micro Expressions?
Anyone can study micro expressions and learn how to read people better, but certain professions will find significant value in understanding micro expressions. If you want to attain elite status in business, sales, acting, social work and charitable work, then it is essential that you be able to use micro expressions to your advantage.
Anyone can fake a smile and a slowly brewing crying fit can be anyone’s most powerful ally. But micro expressions are almost impossible to fake, which makes them the real indicator as to what a person is thinking. The person who can read and interpret micro expressions is the one with the upper-hand in any situation.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!