Microexpressions and Funny Faces
It was ever important to understand faces and body signs mainly when life and welfare were at risk and there was a short time to estimate the situation.
Today we are less into life risk situations but we have to deal with all kinds of people at home, work or out. It's essential to understand others quickly to sustain good relationships and peaceful behaviors.
If 93% of human communication occurs at a nonverbal level, through body and face expressions it's wise to pay attention to any part of body changes. Also, there are over 215 behaviors associated with psychological discomfort and most of those are not in the face, so it's really important not to concentrate only in the faces.
Knowledge of facial expressions and other body language have lots of practical applications in daily life like psychological evaluation required in all kind of situations from media and politics to marketing and sales, research and even art.
Some expressions are difficult to differentiate because the facial movements are very alike, but others are easily recognized like anger and happiness. Also, the same emotion can produce different expressions in different people, we don't smile all in the same way, so we have to try to understand all.
Studying expressions
Facial expressions were investigated since early and in 1862 Guillaume Duchenne published a study about electric stimulation of the facial muscles trying to identify which ones were responsible for different facial expressions.
Those studies were continued by Charles Darwin that compared humans and animals and argued that the expression of emotions has evolved in humans from animals,
Smiles
We all know that smiles are contagious. If we see other people smiling we copy them and it makes us feel better.
Even a forced smile can change our mood and this is used in some depressive treatments where people occasionally follow smiling sessions.
Grimaces and very good french music!
Grimacing at the Photo Festival Les Azimutés à Uzès (Gard, France). Music by Jacques Dutronc.
To transform a grimace into a sound sounds impossible, yet it is possible to transform a vision
— Dejan StojanovicFunny faces in art
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Since ancient civilizations people used gargoyles to throw rainwater off the roof but the most well-known are the medieval ones because of their odd shapes.
Very often these waterspouts represent grotesque figures used to frighten off and protect buildings, such as churches, from any evil or harmful spirits. When not constructed as a waterspout and only serving an ornamental or artistic function, the name for such a sculpture is a chimera but they are commonly denominated also gargoyles.
Just for fun: funny faces in everyday objects
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It happened to all of us to discover a human face shape in an ordinary object, a phenomenon called pareidolia. We can find lots of examples around the net of perceived faces where they don't exist.
Why not think about shooting similar photos at your place?
Interesting links
- 10 Common Facial Expressions Explained - Listverse
The alleged universality of facial expressions has been debated since Darwin. Some seem more universal, while the more nuanced emotions can get lost in translation - In pictures: Scientists map 21 facial expressions and emotions - Telegraph
Researchers Ohio State University have discovered how we can convey a much wider range of emotions through facial expressions than previously thought
