FACIAL COMMUNICATION & EYE COMMUNICATION

BODY  LANGUAGE ;

FACIAL COMMUNICATION & EYE COMMUNICATION

Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals subconsciously.                                                                                                       

John Borg attests that human communication consists of 93 percent body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves^]; however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings (see Misinterpretation of Mehrabian's rule). Others assert that "Research has suggested that between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior."                                                                                                                           

  Body language may provide clues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For example, it may indicate aggression, attentiveness, boredom, relaxed state, pleasure, amusement, and intoxication, among many other cues.Facial communication and eye communication are part of the body language.

1.      Facial Communication

Throught our interpersonal interactions, our face communicate, especially our emotions. Paul Ekman, Wallace V.Friesen, and Phoebe Ellsworth (1972) claim that facial messages may communicate at least the following eisght emotions :

-          Happiness

-          Surprise

-          Fear

-          Anger

-          Sadness

-          Disgust

-          Contempt and Interest

A facial expression results from one or more motions or positions of the muscles of the face. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among humans, but also occur in most other mammals and some other animal species. Facial expressions and their significance in the perceiver can, to some extent, vary between cultures.                                                                                         

 Humans can adopt a facial expression to read as a voluntary action. However, because expressions are closely tied to emotion, they are more often involuntary. It can be nearly impossible to avoid expressions for certain emotions, even when it would be strongly desirable to do so; a person who is trying to avoid insult to an individual he or she finds highly unattractive might nevertheless show a brief expression of disgust before being able to reassume a neutral expression. The close link between emotion and expression can also work in the other direction; it has been observed that voluntarily assuming an expression can actually cause the associated emotion.                                                  

 Some expressions can be accurately interpreted even between members of different species- anger and extreme contentment being the primary examples. Others, however, are difficult to interpret even in familiar individuals. For instance, disgust and fear can be tough to tell apart                                                                                                                     

Face have only a limited range of movement, expressions rely upon fairly minuscule differences in the proportion and relative position of facial features, and reading them requires considerable sensitivity to same. Some faces are often falsely read as expressing some emotion, even when they are neutral, because their proportions naturally resemble those another face would temporarily assume when emoting.

Facial expressions                                                           

From wikipedia, Some examples of feelings that can be expressed are :

• Anger
• Concentration
• Confusion
• Contempt
• Desire
• Disgust
• Excitement
• Empathy
• Fear
• Flirt
• Frustration
• Glare
• Gross
• Happiness
• Sadness
• Snarl, mainly involving the levator labii superioris alaeque nasi muscle
• Surprise

The muscles of facial expression

See also: facial muscles.

• Auricularis anterior muscle
• Buccinator muscle
• Corrugator supercilii muscle
• Depressor anguli oris muscle
• Depressor labii inferioris muscle
• Depressor septi nasi muscle
• Frontalis muscle
• Levator anguli oris muscle
• Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi muscle
• Levator labii superioris muscle
• Mentalis muscle
• Modiolus muscle
• Nasalis muscle
• Orbicularis oculi muscle
• Orbicularis oris muscle
• Platysma muscle
• Procerus muscle
• Risorius muscle
• Zygomaticus major muscle
• Zygomaticus minor muscle

2.      Eye Communication ( Eye Contact )

A person's face, especially their eyes, creates the most obvious and immediate cues that lead to the formation of impressions. This article discusses eyes and facial expressions and the effect they have on interpersonal communication.                                                                                               

 A person's eyes reveal much about how they are feeling, or what they are thinking. Blink rate can reveal how nervous or at ease a person may be. Research by Boston College professor Joe Tecce suggests that stress levels are revealed by blink rates. He supports his data with statistics on the relation between the blink rates of presidential candidates and their success in their races. Tecce claims that the faster blinker in the presidential debates has lost every election since 1980. Though Tecce's data is interesting, it is important to recognize that non-verbal communication is multi-channeled, and focusing on only one aspect is reckless. Nervousness can also be measured by examining each candidates' perspiration, eye contact and stiffness.                         

  Eye contact is another major aspect of facial communication. Some have hypothesized that this is due to infancy, as humans are one of the few mammals who maintain regular eye contact with their mother while nursing. Eye contact serves a variety of purposes. It regulates conversations, shows interest or involvement, and establishes a connection with others.                                       

 Eye contact regulates conversational turn taking, communicates involvement and interest, manifests warmth, and establishes connections with others…[and] it can command attention, be flirtatious, or seem cold and intimidating… [it] invites conversation. Lack of eye contact is usually perceived to be rude or inattentive.                                                                                          

 But different cultures have different rules for eye contact. Certain Asian cultures can perceive direct eye contact as a way to signal competitiveness, which in many situations may prove to be inappropriate. Others lower their eyes to signal respect, and similarly eye contact is avoided in Nigeria, and between men and women in Islam; however, in western cultures this could be misinterpreted as lacking self-confidence.                                                                              

  Even beyond the idea of eye contact, eyes communicate more data than a person even consciously expresses. Pupil dilation is a significant cue to a level of excitement, pleasure, or attraction. Dilated pupils indicate greater affection or attraction, while constricted pupils send a colder signal.

References

-          Borg, John. 2008. Body Language: 7 Easy Lessons to Master the Silent Language. Prentice Hall life.

-          Freitas, Magalhães, A. 2007. The Psychology of Emotions: The Allure of Human Face. Oporto: University Fernando Pessoa Press

-          Isa, N. 2006. Working in Groups: Communication Principles and Strategies. Engleberg : MyKit.

-          More or Less. BBC Radio 4. 13:30–14:00.

-          Rothwell, J. Dan. 2004. In the Company of Others: An Introduction to Communication. United States: McGraw-Hill,