Why should we analyze facial expressions?
Introduction to what we can do better by understanding facial expressions
When we meet with friends, family, and strangers, we look at their faces, a lot. According to one study, we look at the people’s faces 80% of the time when they are speaking. Our fascination with faces develops early. Newborns less than an hour old spend more time looking at things that look like faces and we develop dedicated brain areas that respond selectively to people’s faces.
We might be prone to look at each others’ faces because they can be rich sources of information. Facial expressions can convey an individual’s emotions, thoughts, and action tendencies, as well as how social interactions transpire. Imagine seeing someone laugh in a movie theater. We can assume with reasonable confidence that the person laughing is having a good time. On the other hand, a person frowning could be feeling otherwise.
We can also speculate how social interactions are going by looking at how facial expressions are exchanged. A couple on a date smiling and laughing at the same time with each other could be assumed to be building a strong affection to one another. A disjointed reaction such as one person smiling while the other is frowning could be an indication that the relationship is not going so well.
