Facial Expressions

Body language expresses the atmosphere in which the interaction between two human beings takes place. A smiling, optimistic person induces a state of well-being, whereas an apathetic, ungroomed individual induces quite the opposite.

Within the inter-human communication, 35% is made up of verbal communication, and 65% stands for non-verbal one. Some authors even say that the non-verbal communication can take 90% of the entire communication process. In cities, the active persons meet daily tens or hundreds of persons with which they communicate non-verbally.

Paul Ekman (1997) considered that the affect displays (facial expressions) communicate information, but are not always intentional. While people give affect displays to render a message, their emotional facial expressions are unintentional.

In their work entitled "The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: category, origins, usage and coding", Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen propose a system of categories for classifying the non-verbal behavior based on the origins, functions and their coordination. Among these there are also the affect displays, which are the facial movements rendering the emotional state: they can be either intentional, or unintentional.

The non-verbal behavior is based on the mimics, gestures and all the body movements. Face mimics plays an important role in the inter-human relationships, either consciously or unconsciously.

The position of the head is very suggestive. It can be raised, bent down, bowed to the left or to the right, in oblique position to the left or to the right. When the head is pushed forwards, it reminds us of a threatening attitude. A forwardly-bowed head signifies submission, and the head bowed in an oblique position means false pretense. The one who raises his head, he unveils his neck, thus showing that he is not afraid, that he has the sense of his own value. When the head is raised in a stiff position, that indicates arrogance, the head which is bent backwards is a sign of surrender, or a sensation awakened by memories or by listening to one’s favorite music. It shows de-connection from anything that surrounds him/her.

The head’s position betrays interest, tolerance, indifference, disgust etc, towards the other person. When the head is bowed slightly sidewards, this expresses interest. And when the head is moved up and down, it expresses agreement, approval, and consent. All these are very important in the case of business negotiations, when the persons have to pay extra attention to each other’s facial expressions.

The movements can be multiple and complex; they are realized by a combination of movements, are associated with the head’s movement and with the movements of other body segments, the integrated movement being typical to each situation or psychological state.

Communication through facial expressions includes mimics (frowning, raising the eyebrows, nose and lip movements). Mimics is that part of our body which communicates: a frowned forehead signifies preoccupation, anger, frustration; raised eyebrows with open eyes shows a state of bewilderment or surprise; the head movements may express dislike and tight lips suggest insecurity, hesitation, hiding some information.

Mimics are the non-verbal signals that are easiest to decipher. It can be agitated and is determined by a succession of spiritual states, of strong sensations and can signify a great sensitivity towards external stimuli.

Darwin R. Charles has noticed that the mimic that is associated to certain sensations is common to all people. This phenomenon has been studied and the conclusion was that there are inborn programs that are universal mimics.

The forehead is part of the upper zone of the face. It represents the spiritual powers and their associated character traits.

The shapes of the forehead are very different from one person to another but they are always determined by the line of the hair and their height starts from the point that is to be found between the eyebrows to the line of the hair.

The vertical wrinkles are due to focusing on a point in space or due to the strong lights. Thus, vertical wrinkles are the expression of spiritual or physical effort.

The horizontal wrinkles appear when the eyes are wide open, when the person tries to process the information he has, but when he cannot understand that information; the mimic expresses fear, surprise, the sudden understanding of a thing, but it can also indicate that the person is very tired.

How sparkly intelligent and meticulous we were created; even our mimic "betrays" our origins; we are indeed sitting on the lap of intelligence, the infinite wisdom of God!