Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions [Paperback]

Paul Ekman (Author), Wallace V. Friesen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

This reprint edition of Ekman and Friesen's breakthrough research on the facial expression of emotion uses scores of photographs showing emotions of surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, and sadness. The authors of UNMASKING THE FACE explain how to identify these basic emotions correctly and how to tell when people try to mask, simulate, or neutralize them. It features several practical exercises that help actors, teachers, salesmen, counselors, nurses, law-enforcement personnel and physicians -- and everyone else who deals with people -- to become adept, perceptive readers of the facial expressions of emotions.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Malor Books (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883536367
• ISBN-13: 978-1883536367
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Emotions

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

289 of 290 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have Primer for Learning to Recognize Facial Expressions, July 13, 2006

By 

D - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions (Paperback)

Ekman is a leading authority on the study of the facial expressions and their relation to emotion, and this book is a methodical and thorough (for the layperson, at least) introduction to the field, with special focus on recognizing what he calls the six basic universally expressed emotions: happiness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust/contempt, and sadness.

Ekman provides clear, well-detailed instructions for recognizing each of these emotions, and the book includes plenty of photos to illustrate the different facial contortions of each emotion. The only complaint I would have is that I had to do a lot of page flipping back and forth to read Ekman's remarks and subsequently refer to the relevant picture. Perhaps a future edition could be better formatted to make it easier for the reader to view the expression alongside Ekman's comments.

In addition to writing about specific emotions, Ekman also covers some fascinating related topics such as recognizing facial deceit and discovering the patterns of one's own facial expressions, i.e., what you're telling the world with your own face.

Ekman is an academic and his writing shows it; he's precise, methodical, thorough, and careful in the extent of his claims. Readers who are new to the subject of reading facial expressions but are seriously committed to learning about it will find this an invaluable book.

(Ekman's later work, "Emotions Revealed," is also a great read and contains much of the same information as "Unmasking the Face," although I found the former to be lighter on technical information and practice faces, and more focused on the larger reflections Ekman has made looking back on his work over the last few decades. In other words, both books are great, but "Unmasking the Face" is a bit more technical and thorough, and therefore a better book to pick up for learning how to recognize facial expressions.)

93 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About "Unmasking the face", September 9, 2005

By 

Serge A. Winitzki - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions (Paperback)

This seems to be an excellent resource for someone who would like to study facial expressions or improve one's ability to recognize emotions by looking at faces. The text is not just a popular blurb but a fully scientifically backed and high-level textbook designed for a serious student. There are exercises, suggestions on how to overcome one's difficulties or shortcomings, lots of photographs of faces, detailed comments on how certain facial features reflect certain emotions, and so on. I am looking forward to studying everything this book has to offer. Worth every penny!

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Guide for Reading Others, April 1, 2009

By 

Vincent Harris "Author of The Productivity Ep... (Trenton, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions (Paperback)

I've been familiar with Ekmans work for several years now; I have found nothing else that even comes close to providing the reader with the knowledge they need to master the science of reading the emotions of others by decoding their facial expressions. Ekman is the king!