Welcome to My Favorite Human Behavior HackAre you ready to watch the world in HD?

Reading someone’s 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 they’re secretly thinking, I’m happy to tell you that you’re in the right place.

Let’s Get Started!

Vanessa | Science of People

A Secret SuperpowerThe 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 the i r f ace , but the ab i l i t y to read 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. E k m a n d i s c o v e r e d t h a t 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 ExpressionThere 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:

Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People

Do you wish you could decode people? Do you want a formula for charisma? Do you want to know exactly what to say to your boss, your date or your networking partner? You need to know how people work.

In Captivate you’ll learn a wealth of valuable shortcuts, systems and behavior hacks for taking charge of your interactions at work, at home, and in any social situation.

These aren’t 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 HAPPYAnyone can fake a smile, but it’s 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

someone’s smile isn’t reaching their eyes, it’s 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!

ContemptContempt is the simplest microexpression:

•One side of the mouth raises

Known also as a smirk, contempt is the ultimate negative facial expression--it’s 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 you’re 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, you’ll also begin to feel the emotion yourself.

• 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 - you’d

be surprised to see the true emotions behind what someone is telling you.

*Sometimes knowing what expression you’re seeing is just as important as an emotion that you’re NOT seeing!

Try it:

Lie Detection in 100 Minutes

Do you know when someone is lying to you?

We like to think we are great at spotting lies—but on average we can only detect deception with about 54% accuracy. That’s 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.

Want to Dig a Little Deeper?

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, here’s 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, it’s addicting.

Happy decoding!

xoxo, Vanessa