Welcome to My Favorite Human Behavior Hack

Are you ready to watch the world in HD?

Reading someones face is a complex skill that needs

to be practiced, honed and perfected. Luckily, I have
created this ultimate guide to break it down and
teach you the clues behind hidden emotions.

If you want to know how someone is really feeling

or peek into what theyre secretly thinking, Im happy
to tell you that youre in the right place.

Lets Get Started!

Vanessa | Science of People

 A Secret Superpower
The face is the window into the soul--if you
know how to read it.

Once you learn the science of reading the

face, you unleash the essential secret
superpower of understanding nonverbal
behavior and reading people.

We can already tell a lot about someone by

t h e i r f a c e , b u t t h e a b i l i t y t o re a d
microexpressions is incredibly helpful for
understanding the people in our lives!
What is a Microexpression?

Microexpression: a brief, involuntary facial

expression that humans universally make
when we feel an intense emotion.
Dr. Paul Ekman has conducted
groundbreaking research on facial
expressions and decoding the human
face--his findings are actually the
premise of the hit show Lie to Me.
Ekman discovered that
microexpressions are universal: for
example, people in the U.S. make the
same face for sadness as indigenous
people in Papua New Guinea who have
never seen TV or movies to model.
 WARNING!
Before we move forward, I need to warn you:

Microexpressions are extremely powerful

They will forever change the way you read and understand people.You will begin to
spot them everywhere- whether in person, on TV or in pictures.

Once you learn them, they cannot be unlearned.

Still with me?

 Spot the Expression
There are 7 universal microexpressions:
Surprise
Fear
Disgust
Anger
Happiness
Sadness
Contempt
 Surprise
The brows are raised and curved
Skin below the brow is stretched
Horizontal wrinkles across the forehead
Eyelids are opened, whites of the eye showing above and below
Jaw drops open and teeth are parted but there is not tension
or stretching of the mouth

*Surprise elongates the face more than any other

microexpression
 Watch videos of each
microexpression on our
microexpression playlist
on Youtube
 Fear
Brows are raised and drawn together, usually in a flat line
Wrinkles in the forehead are in the center between the brows,
not across

Upper eyelid is raised, but the lower lid is tense and drawn up
Upper eye has white showing, but not the lower white
Mouth is open and lips are slightly tensed or stretched and
drawn back
 Disgust
Upper lip is raised
Lower lip is raised
Nose is wrinkled
Cheeks are raised
Lines show below the lower lid
*This is the same expression you make when you smell
something bad
 Anger
The brows are lowered and drawn together
Vertical lines appear between the brows
Lower lid is tensed
Eyes hard stare or bulging
Lips can be pressed firmly together with corners down or
square shape as if shouting

Nostrils may be dilated

The lower jaw juts out
 Want more? Check out:

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InCaptivateyoull learn a wealth ofvaluable shortcuts,

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These arent the people skills you learned in school.

 Happiness
Corners of the lips are drawn back and up
Mouth may or may not be parted, teeth exposed
A wrinkle runs from outer nose to outer lip
Cheeks are raised
Lower lid may show wrinkles or be tense
Crows feet near the outside of the eyes
Happiness versus FAKE Happiness

The expression on the left is real

happiness, the one on the right is fake
happiness where the side eye muscles
are not engaged.

See the difference?

 Be HAPPY
Anyone can fake a smile, but its easy to tell the
difference between real and fake happiness.

The only true indicator of happiness is when the muscles

along the sides of the eyes are activated and pulled up--if
someones smile isnt reaching their eyes, its not genuine.

*We want to see your crows feet!

 Sadness
Inner corners of the eyebrows are drawn up and in

Skin below eyebrow triangulated, with inner corner up

Corner of the lips are drawn down

Jaw comes up

Lower lip pouts out

*This is the hardest microexpression to fake!

 Contempt
Contempt is the simplest microexpression:

One side of the mouth raises

Known also as a smirk, contempt is the ultimate negative
facial expression--its a signal of hatred and disdain.

Surprisingly, we see this face in a lot of profile pictures

*Check your social media pictures to make sure youre not

sending the wrong message out into the world!
 Try these faces in the mirror so you can see what
they look like on yourself. Then, you will be able to
detect them in the people in your life.

*Fun Fact: if you make the facial expression, youll also begin to feel the
emotion yourself.
 Try it:
If you are talking to someone about a vacation or activity you think they like, are
they showing you genuine happiness, fake happiness, disgust or another emotion?

If you accuse someone of cheating or breaking an office rule, do they show surprise
or fear?

See if their facial expressions matches the context of the conversation or situation - youd
be surprised to see the true emotions behind what someone is telling you.

*Sometimes knowing what expression youre seeing is just as important as an emotion that
youre NOT seeing!
 Want to Dig a Little Deeper?
Do you know when someone is lying to you?

We like to think we are great at spotting liesbut on

average we can only detect deception with about 54%
accuracy. Thats barely better than chance!

I believe learning how to spot deception is a life skill.

We should all know how to have more honest interactions.

We should all be able to protect ourselves from liars. We
should all be able to decode hidden emotions.

That is what our new course is all about.

Lie Detection in 100 Minutes

 You Did It!
Congratulations! You have mastered the art of
reading faces.

I hope you had as much fun learning about

microexpressions as I had teaching you.

Before you go, heres a challenge for you: on

the next reality TV show or political debate you
watch, try to see how many microexpressions
you can spot. I can promise you, its addicting.

Happy decoding!
xoxo,Vanessa