Facial recognition--the science of reading people's thoughts by their facial expressions--is an idea I am fascinated by. I love the thought that there is some underlying universal expressions that we share as humans that belie what we're truly thinking: the disgust before the platitudes, the disguised happiness, whatever we feel, our face tells and these tells are universal across nationality, language, gender, class, race, etc. Amazing.
I'm not usually a Gladwell fan (though his New Yorker articles are actually genuinely good--he should stick to long-form pieces like that instead of overblown books based on well-accepted and understood ideas) but this article (The New York, 8/5/02) on the practice is fantastic.
I'd like to become a better face reader. I've been caught out myself a few times lately...
apparently i too have a problem controlling my face. "control your face!" she said. whateva.
ReplyDelete