Everyday Canvas

Facial Tip-offs and Telltale Gestures

Prompt: What's more noticeable to you, a person's facial expression or their body language when you are talking?

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Emotions, especially those based on the thoughts of the moment, are an incredibly important aspect of human life, and they exhibit themselves in non-verbal behaviors before they are even put to words, if put to words. I watch people all the time, and something in me rings a warning bell when someone in the same room is watching me, too. I guess, it takes one to know one.

In general, unless a person makes an abrupt motion like suddenly locking his hands in his armpits, changing his stance, or something, I tend to notice the facial expressions more. Combination of eye, eyebrows, lips, cheeks, jaw, and head movements can reveal the different thoughts and true feelings passing through a person's mind.

Reading facial expressions is no great feat, however, as we all have the innate ability to detect them in varying degrees. I guess millenniums of relating to one another has affected the wiring of our brains. On the other hand, we must be careful with such analysis in the company of a foreigner or while in a different country, as all behavior and its interpretations can change from culture to culture.

Often, when words do not match true feelings, facial expressions can be dead giveaways. Especially with those people I know, I believe I am pretty good in catching subtle or micro-expressions on faces. Micro-expressions are mostly signs of concealed emotions. They may also show unconcealed emotional states that are being processed rapidly. They occur so fast that it is easy to miss them.

When the person is nearby and talking to me, it is usually easier to see his face, but in a crowded room, I watch from afar how anyone walks, stands, and moves while interacting with other people. The way each person gestures or moves his body changes according to the man or woman or a group of people he is talking to. The motions of the upper and lower torso and the limbs, consciously or unconsciously, reflect people's mental state and intentions. Especially for us writers, these motions and gestures can be so telling…

A caveat here. Those who write or are in the therapy business need to be discreet and must not show they have read the other person. With interpersonal relationships, as well, being overly sensitive to nonverbal behaviors can be detrimental to our dealings with lovers, friends, or family, so we don't push the other people into being too careful and too cautious while relating to us.