Emotions revealed

Emotions Revealed Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life Paul Ekman Author of TELLING LIES A D V A N C E P R A I S E FOR Emotions Revealed "No one in the world has studied facial expressions as deeply as Paul Ekman In Emotions Revealed he presents—clearly, vividly, and in the most accessible way—his fascinating observations about the overt or covert expressions of emotions we all encounter hundreds of times daily, but so often misunderstand or fail to sec There has not been a book on this subject of such range and insight since Darwin's famous Expression of the Emotions more than a century ago." — Oliver Sacks, author of Uncle Tungsten "Paul Ekman is one of those rare thinkers who can connect what scientists have learned with what the rest of us wonder about in our everyday lives If you read this book, you'll never look at other people in quite the same way again Emotions Revealed is a tour de force." —Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point "Ever since Darwin, no one has contributed more to our understanding of how humans go about communicating emotions than Paul Ekman In this masterful overview, he reviews how emotions are communicated, and the implications for topics ranging from mental health and interpersonal relationships to law enforcement and violence A fascinating and important book." — Robert M Sapolsky, professor of biology; Stanford University, and author of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers "'Paul Ekman is the master of emotional expression, and this is a masterful account of his field He even suggests how we can use findings about emotional expressions to guide and improve our lives." —Joseph I.eDoux, professor of neural science, New York University, and author of Synoptic Self and 'The Emotional Brain "What a pleasure to have Paul Ekman, a pioneer of detailed facial analysis, help us to see what others feel." — Frans de Waal, professor of psychology, Emory University, and author of The Ape and the Sushi Master "Emotions Revealed showcases Paul Ekman's forty years of academic research and great, common sense, providing a fascinating and enormously helpful picture of our emotional lives." —John Cleese "Emotions Revealed' will leave everyone who reads it more intelligent about their emotional life A charming, sound, sane map to the world of emotions, the perfect guide." — Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence PSYCHOLOGY ISBN 0-8050-7275-6 52500 780805 072754 CONTINUED FROM FRONT FLAP Filled with groundbreaking research, illuminating anecdotes, and exercises, Emotions Revealed is a practical, mind-opening, and potentially life-changing exploration of science and self PAUL EKMAN is a professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry at the University of California Medical School, San Francisco An expert on expression, the physiology of emotion, and interpersonal deception, he has received many honors, most notably the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association, and is the author or editor of thirteen previous books, including Telling Lies He is a frequent consultant on emotional expression to government agencies such as the FBI, the CIA, and the ATF, to lawyers, judges, and police, and to corporations, including the animation studios Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic He lives in northern California Jacket photographs © 2003 Paul Ekman Jacket design by Lisa Fyfe www.emotionsrevealed.com www.henryholt.com TIMES BOOKS Henry Holt and Company 115 West 18th Street New York, New York 10011 S25.00 $36.95/Canada A fascinating exploration of how we interpret and experience emotions—and how we can improve our emotional skills—by a pioneering psychologist What triggers emotions? How docs our body signal to others whether we are a bit down or deeply anguished, peeved or enraged? Can we learn to distinguish between a polite smile and the genuine thing? Can we really ever control our emotions? Renowned expert in nonverbal communication Paul Ekman has led a renaissance in our scientific understanding of emotions, addressing just these questions Now he assembles bis research and theories in Emotions Revealed, a comprehensive look at human emotional life Drawing on Ekman's fieldwork investigating universal facial expressions in the United States, Japan, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea; his analysis of the prognosis of hospital patients based on their emotional attitude; and dozens of other studies, Emotions Revealed explores the evolutionary and behavioral essences of anger, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, and happiness For each emotion, Ekman describes the universal themes that undergird our feelings, the automatic reactions that unfold within microseconds, and the actions that are actually under our control Ekman then takes us on a visual tour of each emotion's unique signals, exploring some of the most subtle and easy-to-miss expressions that can signal when a person is just beginning to feel an emotion or may be trying to suppress it Learning to identify emotions in their early stages or when they are masked can improve our communication with people in a variety of situations both at home and at work- and help us to manage our own emotional responses CONTINUED ON BACK FLAP 0403 ALSO BY PAUL E K M A N Telling Lies Face of Man Why Kids Lie Emotions Revealed Emotions Revealed RECOGNIZING FACES AND C O M M U N I C A T I O N FEELINGS A N D TO IMPROVE E M O T I O N A L L I F E Paul Ekman TIMES H E N R Y H O L T A N D BOOKS C O M P A N Y N E W Y O R K Times Books Henry Holt and Company) LLC Publishers since 1866 115 West 18th Street New York, New York 10011 Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, LLC Copyright © 2003 by Paul Ekman All rights reserved Distributed in Canada by H B Fenn and Company Ltd Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ekman, Paul Emotions revealed : recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life / Paul Ekman.-—1st ed, p cm Includes index ISBN 0-8050-7275-6 Expression, Emotions Interpersonal communication I, Title BF591 E35 2003 152.4—dc21 2002029036 Henry Holt books are available for special promotions and premiums For details contact: Director, Special Markets First Edition 2003 Designed by Debbie Glasserman Printed in the United States of America 10 To Bert Boothe, Steve Foote, Lynne Huffman, Steve Hyman, Marty Katz, Steve Koslow, Jack Maser, Molly Oliveri, Betty Pickett, Eli Rubinstein, Stan Schneider, Joy Schulterbrandt, Hussain Tuma, and Lou Wienckowski from the National Institute of Mental Health and Robert Semer and Leo Siegel Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii Emotions Across Cultures When Do We Become Emotional? 17 Changing What We Become Emotional About 38 Behaving Emotionally 52 Sadness and Agony 82 Anger 110 Surprise and Fear 148 Disgust and Contempt 172 Enjoyable Emotions 190 CONCLUSION: APPENDIX: NOTES Living with Emotion 213 Reading Faces—The Test 219 241 ILLUSTRATION CREDITS INDEX 258 ...A D V A N C E P R A I S E FOR Emotions Revealed "No one in the world has studied facial expressions as deeply as Paul Ekman In Emotions Revealed he presents—clearly, vividly, and... CONTINUED ON BACK FLAP 0403 ALSO BY PAUL E K M A N Telling Lies Face of Man Why Kids Lie Emotions Revealed Emotions Revealed RECOGNIZING FACES AND C O M M U N I C A T I O N FEELINGS A N D TO IMPROVE... emotional lives." —John Cleese "Emotions Revealed' will leave everyone who reads it more intelligent about their emotional life A charming, sound, sane map to the world of emotions, the perfect guide."