Customer Reviews

The Psychology of Facial Expression (Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the interesting things about science is how often its finding are counter-intuitive and are surprizes. You would think that most people are pretty good at reading facial expressions, and that some people like professional poker players are more than pretty good. In fact I once saw a book published for the benefit of the silent movie actors which had examples of facial expressions to be used to convey certain emotions on the screen: like a wide open mouth to signify surprize or amazement. It turns out that in real life as we know it such is not the case and that we are not so accurate as to our assessments of others. Sometimes a person with a wry smile is just a person with a wry smile. That what this book is about. It will help you learn that you still have something to learn. This is however a book for professionals in the psychology biz, since it recounts a lot of data. But it would be a useful tool for anyone interested in science as a whole, and anyone who like me is always interested in finding out that his entrenched preconceptions are not so well trenched as he thinks. That the footings are weak.

This is a great book on facial expression - and an excellent model of how an edited collection should be done. The authors have brought together a set of papers on facial expression that both give a good overview of varied approaches, and which are at times directly contradictory. The editors' essays help bridge these differing viewpoints and give the reader a good sense of the big questions in the field.

I was hoping for many more pictures to illustrate body language. This would be a good book if I was writing a Thesis on the subject and needed references.