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FacialActionCodingSystem

Is anyone familliar with the work of Paul Ekman (Professor of Psychology, in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California Medical School, San Francisco)?

http://www.paulekman.com/

He studies faces and claims that he has a technique for understanding a bit about the emotional state of the person who is talking to you, even if they are intentionally trying to be deceptive.

I read this article about his work

The Naked Face
Can you read people's thoughts just by looking at them?
Copyright 2002, Malcolm Gladwell

http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_08_05_a_face.htm

I was really intrigued so I bought his most recent book

Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life

and his older book:

Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage

The books are being shipped, so I have no first hand experiance. However I could see a big application to these in any sort of tense meeting. Not just because of the ability to detect lies but also because the techinque claims to be able to get at the persons underlying emotions. The article has sections which sound as if you could detect a persons motiviations:

Look, Clinton's got this way of rolling his eyes along with a certain expression, and what it conveys is "I'm a bad boy."

On the screen, Kaelin moved forward to answer the question, and in that fraction of a second his face was utterly transformed. His nose wrinkled, as he flexed his levator labii superioris, alaeque nasi. His teeth were bared, his brows lowered. "It was almost totally A.U. nine," Ekman said. "It's disgust, with anger there as well, and the clue to that is that when your eyebrows go down, typically your eyes are not as open as they are here. The raised upper eyelid is a component of anger, not disgust. It's very quick." Ekman stopped the tape and played it again, peering at the screen. "You know, he looks like a snarling dog."

Ekman rewound the tape, and replayed it in slow motion. "Look at this," he said, pointing to the screen. "Twice, after being asked serious questions about whether he's committed treason, he's going to smirk. He looks like the cat who ate the canary." The expression was too brief to see normally. But at quarter speed it was painted on his face?the lips pressed together in a look of pure smugness. "He's enjoying himself, isn't he?" Ekman went on. "I call this?duping delight? the thrill you get from fooling other people."

I suspect that this kind of training would really help with the kind of "interaction puzzles" that the Satir interaction model is good at diagnosing. I imagine that it would be very helpful to have an understanding of the emotions of the person that I am talking to while trying to remain congruent. It would help to keep the words in context and prevent a misunderstanding caused by bad phrasing.

I will let you know what I think about the books when they arrive. Does anyone have any experiance with his training? He offers different in person courses.

If the book is disappointing I reserve the right to remove this page and save myself some embarrassment.

KenEstes 2003.04.22

The logic in the quotes above is very similar to that applied to polygraphs. But getting from the general to the specific about people is not easy. I think that's a good thing.

MikeMelendez 2003.04.23

Another way I thought about using this is with myself. I may tell myself that I am happy with something, but am I kidding myself? Looking in the mirror or being concious of my facial muscles might help me understand my feelings. This is like trying to be aware of my heart rate while in a meeting at work. If I notice my heart rate pick up, I can ask myself why.

DwaynePhillips 24 April 2003

I wonder if this technique could be helpful for self regulation. For example if you notice that you are getting angry perhaps you could learn to help calm yourself by changing your expression.

I have been studying meditation to help with some of these issues. I think that the Buddhists have some useful ideas about how to help become more of a change artist by allowing yourself to adapt to the current situation. I am disappointed that the Buddhists I have found are not interested in current psychological research which is related. I have some books coming which may be related to the Buddhist/Phycology issue. I will let you know if I think anything is particularly useful.

Also there are other good articles on the Gladwell website. Take a look, I spent a week reading all the article and found all kinds of cool stuff.

KenEstes 2003.04.24

For example if you notice that you are getting angry perhaps you could learn to help calm yourself by changing your expression.

Yes. Smile is one. Another is for you to look at what is going on with "soft eyes." Or when you feel stuck, just tip your head.

There are lots of physical things that work like this identified in many different disciplines, and based on many different models. You can carry around a talisman or token that reminds you of an experience that you found useful and powerful. You can stand up if you are sitting, sit differently if you want to stay sitting, or walk. You can eat a garden salad with tuna for lunch, vs. a cheese steak. These all will influence your "thinking."

Two techniques with a known physiological basis are deep breathing, and rythmic laterally opposed movement. Many, many disciplines use intentional breathing as a part of their technique. Any kind of rhythmic, laterally opposed movement - walking, swimming (crawl or backstroke) - sets up a detectable electrical rhythm in the brain that changes EEG rythms, brain activity, and the distribution of brain activity.

We have lots of ways to influence the system which we each are. The "sort data, have a big idea in your head, decide in your head, and do" process in only one. Some say this last process doesn't even exist. -- JimBullock, 2003.04.24

I have not had a chance to buy the CD's for this yet. I think they just came out, but I have been reading John Gottman's books and he uses these results and I found this link which is similar.

  Gaining Face
   Our software helps people with Asperger's syndrome,
  high-functioning autism, and similar issues learn to
  recognize facial expressions. 
  

KenEstes 2003.09.29

I recieved the CD's recently. They are not very well written software. Your windows screen must be configured to use some minimum resoultion or you can not see all the buttons. There is no written documentation with the CD's. However I think this is still very interesting. I have only had the CD's a few days and already I can notice small differences between the photos that I did not notice previously. I suspect that I will be better at noticing changes in facial expressions if I continue to use these CD's as practice.

I was not that found of the book. The book has very little information about his research and little practcale suggestions about using this technology in the real world. In all I found it to be a bit empty.

KenEstes 2004.01.22