EMOTIONS REVEALED
Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life

Paul Ekman

Times Books, Henry Holt and Co., 2003

Combining insights of psychology and anthropology based on 40 years of research, Paul Ekman concurs with Charles Darwin's conclusion that emotions, and their 10,000 facial expressions, are largely universal. While an American smile may look the same as a grin of a Fore tribesman of Papua New Guinea, what actually triggers the smile is culturally, socially and even individually determined. Ekman draws upon the Buddhist concept of mindfulness to explain how, by tuning in to our own emotional triggers, we can develop a heightened attentiveness and sidestep future blowouts. Ekman addresses the 'cascade' of physiological changes we experience in the throes of one of five salient emotional categories: sadness, anger, fear, disgust and enjoyment. He invites us to conjure these emotions by studying photographs, meditating upon our own experiences, or contorting our faces into specific expressions. Ekman has found that physical manifestations actually generate corresponding emotional responses in the brain. Identifying these expressions can give us an increased sensitivity and the skills necessary for approaching others gripped with emotion.