Facial Expression

5.4 Facial Expressions

Hello, everyone. In this class, we would study the last important form of nonverbal communication. What is it? Look at these pictures.

Are you familiar with them? I guess every day you use them to convey your emotions and words. Nowadays, we could even find them on QQ and WeChat. They are facial expressions.

Facial expressions are the speaker’s nonverbal expressions of emotion and attitude. The human face is extremely expressive. It is able to express countless emotions without saying a word. Happy, sad, exciting, frustrated, disappointed, arrogant, and so many others.

One study done in the United States showed that in the communication of attitudes, 55% of the message is transmitted through the face expressions, whereas only 7% is transmitted by words. (Levine, 1981).

Unlike some forms of nonverbal communication, facial expressions are universal. In “Lie to me”, Dr. Lightman intends to prove this.

According to the research, there are six universal facial expressions around the world : happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear and disgust. They carry the same basic meaning throughout the world.

Look at these pictures. They help you to have a clear image of the six facial expressions.

Although the recognition of some facial expressions seems to be universal, variations still exist. Their interpretations vary from one culture to another. Here are some examples:

1. Grief or sadness

In many Mediterranean cultures, people exaggerate signs of grief or sadness. It is quite common in this region of the world to see men crying in public.

Yet in Japan and China, men hide public expressions of anger, sorrow, sadness, or disgust. The restraint of strong feelings is considered to be a sign of maturity and wisdom. Besides, the Chinese concept of “saving face” is also one of the important reasons for people not to show emotion readily.

2. Smile and laugh   

Although everyone smiles, the amount of the smiling, the stimulus that produces the smile, and even what the smile is communicating often differ from culture to culture.

In America, people tend to smile a lot. This is a sign to show their happiness and friendliness. And they often smile freely at strangers in public places. So, when you get in an elevator, the Americans already in it are likely to smile to you.

People from Thailand also like smiling and they smile much of time, so the country has been called “the Lands of Smiles”.

However, in Korea, too much smiling is often perceived as the sign of a shallow person.

In many eastern Asian countries, a smile can also be used to mask an emotion，to avoid answering a question, or even to hide embarrassment and to “save face”.

Let’s watch one video.

In the video, misunderstanding or conflict occurs between Peter and Jun Chen, because two persons from different cultural backgrounds treat a smile in different ways.

In China, smiling not only expresses feelings of happiness, but also of sorrow when one has offended another person. It is desirable for a Chinese to apologize with a smile, as this is a sign of humility and is a cover for his embarrassment. However, for Americans, smiling when apologizing is seen as a sign of disrespect. In such a situation, Jun Chen is expected to keep his eyes lowered and adopt a serious and regretful air.

In addition, there is another situation when laugh will cause negative reactions.

In this case, Chinese onlookers’ laugh is not totally aimed at the person or his misfortune. It may convey a number of feelings: don’t take it seriously, laugh it off, it’s nothing or something else. However, for the people experiencing the trouble or embarrassment, such laughter makes the situation worse.

From the above, we know smile or laugh is not suitable for all occasions.

One proverb states “The face tells the secret.” The facial expressions offer you the clues to understand people better and reveal some hidden meanings in communication. However, you should be careful about their differences of meanings in intercultural communication. So, try to observe more carefully, cultivate your cross-culture awareness, I believe you would communicate more effectively.

Practice