Customer Reviews

Reading Faces: Window To The Soul? (New Directions in Social Psychology)

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

 

 

Very poorly and inconsitently written book. It seems that the author just couldn't make up her mind on whether she wants it to write it as an academic paper, a "how to" book you might see on a shelf at Kinko's, or a coffee-table book.
It does offer some very insightful ideas, but they are so broken up in chapters that don't flow with each other, that can't keep up the interest of the reader.
Also, I would have changed the title to "observations on the effects of facial configurations in the everyday society"

This was one of the books that changed the way I see people around me.
In a strictly scientific analysis, Zebrowitz explores the tendency to judge people by the way they look. Why? Can we trust it?
Almost all book is devoted to this first question - why we do it? And explains why we find some faces more atractive than others, the sex-appealing face cues, the main parts of the face that we look at and if they have some link to the way people are (their behaviour and personality).
The final chapter concludes that there is no scientific evidence that we can link the facial cues to one's personality. However the interesting thing of the book is the scientific facts and studies that you get to know before you come to the conclusion.

A massive study on all aspects of face attraction and perception.

This book title is a little misleading and it will initially disappoint those who are looking for a book on how to read faces. However, it should be the first book that anyone interested in the subject should read.

In Reading Faces, the author spends a great deal of pages (and well researched material) to dispel the myth that there is a direct and systematic link between our facial appearance and psychological traits. But, unlike what another reviewer said, Leslie Zebrowitz does not say that there is absolutely no link between them. Through her model of appearance-traits relations in chapter 3 and 8 she explains how biology and environment can influence directly or indirectly that relation and how an individual may react to it (surfing along ones appearance => self-fulfilling prophecy; fighting it => self-defeating prophecy...).

The point is that there is no simple (simplistic, rather I should say) or systematic (if you wide a wide chin, broad jaw then it automatically means that you are strong willed, authoritarian...) appearance-traits link as some books or people pretend there is. As a matter of fact, I have yet to find a book/article/speaker on face reading that backup their system or claims with scientifically validated studies (as opposed to Leslie Zerbrowitz who thoroughly references every point she makes).

Does that mean that the other books on face reading are a waste of time or trees? No, rather they should be used with a different optic. These books could help us understand better what our face tells other and how instrumental it is in forming a first impression. According to researcher Albert Meharabian ("Non Verbal communication", Chicago, Adline-Athernon, 1972) when we first meet someone, the words we say only represent 7% of our total messages. For the rest, 38% of what is perceived is through our voice (tone, speed, intonation...) and the remaining 55% through our appearance and body language. So, do read these other books on face reading, but not before having read Leslie Zerbrowitz one (herself a baby face in a self-defeating prophecy mode from what we can read between the lines). Also, keep in mine that facial clues are significant signals that will be perceived consciously and subconsciously by other and although they do play an important role in one's life they do not represent simplistic/systematic personality traits indicators.

I don't give this book 5 star rating because of the form. The content could have been a little better organized and reader friendly. Still it remains highly readable.

I borrowed this book from a friend who is a psychology major and couldn't put it down. I am now getting a copy for myself to add to my library for personal reference. I find this text interesting and valuable because it is a survey of how we as human beings tend to make assumptions about people based on their facial features that are often very prejudicial and most often totally inaccurate at that. This is a scientific study of what prejudices we carry, and assumptions we make about others, based on such unreasonable criteria of facial features. Also, facial reading is scientifically proven to be a totally inaccurate basis for making any valid assumptions about a person's character. If you want a book on how to "read" people by their faces this is not the book for you. In fact, this book is the very opposite in that it clearly shows that there is absolutely nothing significant, other than perhaps just a person's basic current emotional states (happy, sad, angry, etc...) that can be gleaned from a person's facial features. We need more books like this that study our irrational behavior, that we all seem to engage in to some extent, so that maybe we can learn to judge people by who they really are rather than what they look like. The entire concept of being able to know much of anything about anyone from their facial features is tantamount to being able to know who someone is from their skin color. It just does not work and is not scientifically sound to judge others on such an arbitrary basis and this book examines that very well.

This book has had such an impact on me. I have been judged by people my whole life based on the fact that I never had a "baby-face." I have recommended this book to everyone I know!!!!