Microexpressions according to Paul Ekman

Paul Ekman is considered by the American Psychological Association (APA) as one of the most prestigious and influential psychologists of the 21st century. He is one of the greatest references in the field of lie detection and the relationships between emotions and facial expressions. In addition, he was co-discoverer of microexpressions. In this article… We explain what they are, how they appear and their relevance!

Ekman considers that microexpressions manifest themselves in the course of a conversation, and can and usually go completely unnoticed by the potential recipient. However, its importance is manifest, because They are rapid facial movements, not controlled by the person and that represent different emotions.

From facts to theory

Paul Ekman is one of the people who best knows how genuine emotions are drawn on our faces.. He defines himself as “a scientist whose discoveries have changed the way I think.”

After years promulgating the particularity of emotions, he secured funding for a project that became the turning point of his career. This endorsement helped him study, on site and in depth, the origin of emotions in more than twenty cultures.

His results helped him establish his best-known generalization: Emotions are not cultural, but biological. Therefore, they are universal and the result of genetic expression.

Thanks to these genes, certain muscle groups of the face contract simultaneously in a certain pattern depending on the emotional state the person is in. If you are happy, you will make movements that are radically different from those you would make if you were overcome with fear. In turn, two others are derived from this idea.

Universal and related to emotions

The first is that The appearance of microexpressions occurs in a similar way in all human beings. That is, all people, regardless of the culture they have internalized, their development, the way they were raised or how they spent their childhood, for example, open their mouths to express surprise.

The second, that There is a group of universal emotions that are closely related to these small gestures. A small smile, a quick arch of the eyebrow, a sudden itch in the nose… All of these are small variations in the muscles of the face, practically imperceptible and involuntary, which in most cases are a reflection of our emotions.

Therefore, its central proposal is that, given that there are well-defined emotions and a predetermined way of expressing them, it is entirely plausible that other people can recognize them, understand them, and even use them for certain purposes.

Emotions that microexpressions represent

We need emotions to make decisions, communicate, understand others or ensure the transmission of our genes. With this motivation, Ekman identified up to 10,000 different expressions. In 1978, together with Wallace Friesen, he classified them in his Facial Coding System (FACS), based on the anatomy of the facial muscles.

Could you tell what emotion we are talking about if someone wrinkles their nose and upper lip? Could you tell if someone is afraid just by looking into their eyes? We explain to you which microexpressions correspond to these 6 universal emotions:

Happiness: Elevation of the cheeks. Retracted and elevated lip corner. Wrinkles in the skin under the lower eyelid. Wrinkle between the nose and upper lip and in the outer area of ​​the eyes.Disgust: Elevation of the upper lip. Generally asymmetrical. Wrinkles on the nose and areas near the upper lip. Wrinkles on the forehead. Elevation of the cheeks wrinkling the lower eyelids.Gonna: Eyebrows low, contracted and obliquely arranged. Tense lower eyelid. Lips tense or open as if to scream. Prominent look.Fear: Elevation and contraction of the eyebrows. Raised upper and lower eyelids. Lips in tension. Sometimes the mouth is open.Surprise: Elevation of the eyebrows, arranged in a circular position. Tightening the skin under the eyebrows. Eyelids open (upper raised and lower lowered). Descent of the jaw.Sadness: Lower angles of the eyes downward. Eyebrow skin in the shape of a triangle. Lowering of the corners of the lips, which may even be trembling.

Learn to detect lies in 32 hours

Paul Ekman assures that The most common reason people lie is to avoid punishment for breaking a rule. He believes that, given the current concern about the honesty of those around us, microexpressions can help us detect the lies they try to make us believe.

These micromovements last 25th of a second. This is imperceptible to the human eye if it is not trained to do so. For this reason, the psychologist decided to carry out a test on nearly 15,000 people, with which he showed that 99% of the participants were not able to perceive them.

From there the repercussions that knowing how to read others could have began to be highlighted. Hence, she began to give workshops on how to catch liars and discover those microexpressions that give them away. The most surprising thing is that it claims that it is possible to learn to detect them in just 32 hours!

The key is to identify the variations/dissonances from the person’s normal behavior. For example, if someone is stating something and at the same time raising their shoulders very slightly, they are probably telling a lie. The same thing can happen if he scratches his nose or moves his head to the side.

However, nothing is 100% reliable. There is always a small margin of error. As the writer Roberto Espinosa points out, the reliability of the detection depends more on the one who analyzes than on the one who gestures: “it is said that there are no bad liars, but only good experts.”

The automatism of microexpressions

Being sufficiently trained in the detection of microexpressions can be favored by their automaticity. That is, they cannot be hidden or concealed in an absolute manner. While you can try to hide them for a certain time, it is practically impossible to mask them all the time.

Even the most liars and people most used to scamming others are incapable of controlling their unconscious indefinitely. Sooner or later, to the trained eye, they end up giving themselves away.

It is also true that, although training is essential to decipher these microexpressions, sometimes it is not so simple. In practice, detecting them involves paying close attention to the other person, staring at them, observing them from a distance… And this can be uncomfortable for the person who is being evaluated without realizing it.

In addition, sometimes it also affects the “informational noise” that masks the way of gesturing. Thus, Sometimes it is totally necessary to use specialized equipment to capture these moments.

They allow us to develop certain skills

According to Paul Ekman, training in the detection of microexpressions can help us develop certain social and emotional skills. Between them, our emotional intelligence or empathy, improving the management of our own emotions.

Being skilled and quick in identifying these small gestures allows us to recognize certain behaviors and better appreciate the feelings of others. It also helps us to be more aware and express our own emotions more accurately, increasing the chances that others will understand us. So, we become people more sensitive to the range of emotionswhich increases our connection with other people.

Many equate him to figures such as Darwin, Wundt, Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Cattell or Sternberg. Paul Ekman, without a doubt, has become one of the emblems of current psychology. His contributions to this area have laid the foundations for a true emotional educational trend.

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