Advice on Understanding facial expressions

2 comments

1. Listen to the context of the words and use them as a starting point. What would you expect from most people given what they are saying now? Build a catalog of expectations to pair with facial expressions in your mind that you can reference.

   Use echoing or looping (there are a few names for it) during conversation to align yourself with the other person and then use that to add to your bank of known facial expressions for future interactions. For example responding with comments like this during conversation:
   It seems like that’s really [insert emotion]…
   Wow that must have been [insert emotion]…
   Notice the lack of question marks it’s not a question so much as a comment during conversation. Watch how others do it when you see it. Not everyone does it though but it’s good practice for anyone to be doing to help connect with the person they are talking to and when does with good intent most people never take it as a bad thing to clarify what they are saying/feeling

   Take special note of people who really confuse you, maybe they use sarcasm for humour and they deliberately mismatch the facial expression with what they are saying. Give yourself a list of those people in your head too and then remember they are potentially just a bit harder to read.

   Think of (or get sone people to suggest to you) ways you can insert humour into a conversation when you make an incorrect analysis. Unless the topic is very serious (death, disability, work poor performance, extreme negative emotion from the other person – don’t use humour in those instances) most people will find a little bit of humour removed any awkwardness from your misread, and will often like you more because of the humour

2. Try watching movies, they usually use facial and body emotions to express