For centuries, we have been trying to understand people and see what lies behind their real goals. Imagine knowing what someone you just met thinks or feels about you, or guessing what your competitors, superiors, and subordinates are going through their minds at the meeting. You may think that having such a talent can, first of all, positively affect your self-confidence. I am here with my article about creating your own hypotheses about people's goals, thoughts, feelings, and what behavior they prepare themselves for in every environment you enter, and being able to read people, in other words, being able to hear people. First of all, I want to start with emotions. According to one definition, emotion is expressed as "short-term biopsychosocial reactions to events that are important for our well-being and require rapid action" (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2013). To expand this definition, we see that emotions are biological, psychological and social reactions. It is stated that it is important for our peace and has a short-term nature. Since we know this definition, then let's get back to our daily lives: What do you call emotions? Let the thoughts that come to your mind come out. For example, if you can think of short-term events such as when you were surprised, when you saw a car approaching you quickly while you were crossing the street, or when you encountered someone with widened eyes, flared nostrils, and frowning eyebrows, you answered this question correctly. Or were thoughts like these coming to your mind: describing yourself as angry or happy for as long as you can remember, being deeply saddened by a loss for a few years, etc. The examples here are not emotions; They are different concepts such as personality structure and mood. When we return to emotions, we better understand that emotion is a different structure. So where is this emotion located in our body? Research shows that emotion is present in the brain, but is not located in a specific region of the brain (Ledoux, 1994). For example, it is stated that the area of the brain that is activated when the emotion of fear is triggered in humans is not the same as the area that is activated when we feel disgust (Adolphs, Damasio, Tranel). & Damasio, 1996). Therefore, emotion is a term that has not been fully explored scientifically. When we talk about the discovered aspects, it is the fact that emotion does not change according to cultures. When Darwin stated in 1872 that humans and animals express emotions in similar ways, he was subjected to intense criticism from critics of the time. For about 100 years, the idea that emotion could be a primitive structure was not focused on. In 1962, Tomkins revisited the idea that emotions are universal, and this idea was proven by scientists such as Paul Ekman, Wallace Friesen, and Caroll Izard. The first study supporting the view that facial expressions of emotion are universal was the study he conducted with two friends in 1969 (Ekman, Sorenson, & Friesen, 1969). These researchers showed photos of facial expressions to participants from different cultures in order to prove that the emotions in facial expressions are seen in all people. Participants were also asked to evaluate what emotions they saw in these photographs. Researchers said that if the emotions displayed in facial expressions are universal, these evaluations made by the participants will be largely similar. If there was no similarity, they would say that these emotional expressions are culture-specific and not universal. Let's get to the results. The research results were largely similar across six different expressions: “happiness,” “anger,” “disgust,” “fear,” “surprise,” and “sadness.” Were these results the seedlings of the burgeoning view that “emotions are universal”? Do emotions really occur in a similar way in everyone, even in animals?
Although this research aroused curiosity at first, it could not fully prove that the emotions in facial expressions were universal. As a matter of fact, even though these participants were from different cultures, they might have somehow become familiar with the faces of people from various parts of the world through the media. Perhaps they had learned through their culture to recognize facial expressions. Additionally, recognizing facial expressions in a photograph shown on another person did not provide much support for the universality of emotions. As a result, if the expression of emotion is universal, this expression should also occur in the facial expressions of the participants. � should have. Such criticisms led to the failure to maintain that emotions are universal. Ekman believed that Tomkins' and therefore Darwin's view was correct. So emotions were universal and were expressed similarly in every person through facial expressions. Thereupon, Ekman decided to go to Papua New Guinea two years later. He set out with his friend Wallace Friesen in 1971. Once they made up their mind, they were going to prove this idea. Why did they choose to go to Papua New Guinea rather than Türkiye, India or Kazakhstan? The reason for this was that people in Papua New Guinea lived in an environment far from visual aids and were less affected by external factors that could affect the recognition of emotional expressions. Additionally, when reading the research, it becomes clear that another criticism would be answered by focusing on the facial expressions of the participants. Without further ado, let me explain the research. After meeting the tribe members in Papua New Guinea, the members were first told stories about the six emotions. After all, you are in front of a group of people who do not have a specific language and you are trying to explain a feeling to them. Therefore, participants were asked to describe emotions as much as possible, and then they were asked to match these descriptions with photographs of facial expressions. Then, the participants were asked to express what they would look like if they were the person in the emotional expressions depicted or attempted to be described. While these were being done, the researchers filmed the participants' statements. After the records were collected, the researchers returned to America with the films. After returning, the American participants were shown these films and were asked what their emotional expressions were in the film. American participants correctly identified these emotional expressions (Ekman & Friesen, 1971). Later, the feeling of contempt was added to these six emotions as the seventh emotion (Matsumoto & Ekman, 2004).
Some of our readers asked, "Why only focus on the face area?" to detect emotions. The thought may come. Ekman explains the reason for this (2 003) explains by stating that the facial area is where emotions are directly seen. He suggests that other bodily reactions show how a person copes with emotions. For example, if you shake your hand when you are angry, this is interpreted as your attempt to control your anger. Therefore, the real emotional expression is in the face area: “The truth is on the face.”
This information is significant in terms of being able to read people. Addressing these emotional expressions in practice can provide incredible information to the practitioner. Think about it, no matter what culture a person you meet is from, you now know that you have things in common with that person. Thanks to this information, Times Magazine stated in 2009 that Paul Ekman was one of the 100 people who influenced the world.
So how do we use the emotions seen in facial expressions to read people? I feel like you're getting impatient, but I'll have to give you one more piece of information before answering this question. The emotions seen in facial expressions can sometimes appear in less than a second. Yes, you heard right! An emotional expression can happen in a split second. These expressions; It is explained with different terms such as micro expressions, secret expressions, partial expressions. Micro expressions are all signs of an emotional expression occurring on the face; Latent expressions are the formation of some signs of emotional expression on the face in lower intensity and partial expressions compared to micro expressions. For example, all facial signs of an expression of sadness; It is the inner parts of the eyebrows getting closer together, the eyes becoming dull and the corners of the lips collapsing. If this expression occurs intensely and in less than a second, it is called a micro expression. If it occurs with low intensity, it is called latent expression, and the expression that occurs in a situation where only the inner parts of the eyebrows come close to each other but the other two symptoms do not occur is called partial expressions. The origins of research on these expressions go back to Darwin's work. No matter how hard a person tries to suppress an emotion, this expression somehow appears on the face. Darwin calls this explanation the inhibition hypothesis.
You have read valuable information in order to be able to read people. Now I would like to explain how to combine this information in practice, based on my own experiences. I was with my client in the first session of one of the therapies I performed. My client was sent to me through the institution and was asked to get support on some issues he could not cope with. My client was also aware of the issues he could not cope with and agreed with the institution's opinion on this issue. In the first session, I was trying to find out the reason for my client's arrival and I was trying to get to know him better. At the 15th minute of the session, an expression of contempt appeared on my client's facial expression within a split second. This observation made me curious, and after this statement, I returned to the topic I was talking about. Because I thought I needed to make sense of this situation. I had two hypotheses in mind and I wanted to test them. First, based on my conversation and observations for 15 minutes, my client might not have believed that he could be treated by talking, or he might have thought that I could not help him because I was 25 years younger than my client. To test this, when I asked my client whether he might have doubts about the treatment process, what I saw in my client's facial expression was the feeling of surprise. This statement occurred within a split second and my client said, "I felt like you were listening to me carefully, how did you understand that?" he replied. After I shared with him the emotional expressions I saw on his facial expression, my client said, “Sir, I don't think my problems will be solved by talking to each other like we did. "I go to a psychiatrist, take medication for my problem and get better." he replied. Then, I gave a speech to engage my client in the treatment process. As a result, I worked with my client for 14 sessions and during the termination, I said, "Sir, when we started this process 4 months ago, I did not believe in the talking treatment process, but after that moment when you made me feel that you were listening to me, I wanted to continue these sessions and I am leaving here having really benefited from it." I once again understood the importance of the emotion I caught in my client's facial expression when he shared his post.
Being able to read people and hear them is an important skill. Focusing on the emotions in facial expressions is one of the sub-dimensions of this skill.
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