The 8 facial expression styles

Paul Ekman talks about theeight styles of facial expression in his book ‘Down with the Mask’.

What is your style?

(1) Dull: the face of these people is expressionless. Facial expressions rarely reveal feelings, but they do not do so deliberately.

(2) Transparent: these are the people whose feelings you always know, they have it written all over their face. They are like children, in that they even seem to know how to modulate their facial expressions, so much so that they sometimes embarrass themselves and others, contravening the cultural rules governing emotional displays. They are usually aware: they realise that they sometimes get into trouble because they cannot hide what they feel.

(3) Unaware: this is the style of those who do not realise that they are manifesting their feelings. If you are among them, you will have sometimes been surprised that others realised you were angry or sad or afraid. Usually, unconscious expression specialises: there are only a couple of emotions that you do not realise you are manifesting.

(4) Blank expression: These people are convinced that they have an expression on their face, when in fact their face appears neutral or, at best, ambiguous. As in the case of unconscious expression, this style is also specialised: it is only a particular emotion that is believed to be communicated while the face remains expressionless.

(5) Vicarious expression: do you look disgusted when you are actually angry? Or do you look sad when you are angry or angry when you are sad? This style apparently substitutes one emotion for another, without the person realising it. These people think they are expressing the emotion they feel and it is difficult to convince them otherwise.

(6) Frozen expression: this style shows a trace of an emotion somewhere on the face, even when they feel no emotion at all. Instead of having a neutral expression, someone might appear sad because the corners of their lips are slightly downturned or the inner corners of their eyebrows are slightly raised, they might appear slightly disgusted in a neutral expression, angry or worried. Why? It may stem from a long-standing habit of maintaining a slight muscle contraction even in the absence of any particular emotion. People who express a frozen affect usually do not know this.

(7) Ready-made expression: a person’s initial reaction to anything is to appear surprised, worried, disgusted…? This ready response takes the place of whatever emotion they are feeling, which will only manifest itself in the second instance. It need not be a complete expression, e.g. it may be a raise of the eyebrow for surprise, a simple wrinkle of the nose for disgust, etc. This style is probably not aware of this feature.

(8) Pervasive expression: these people show one or two emotions, almost always and quite markedly. There are no times when they feel nothing: pervasive emotion is the fixed element of their emotional state. When any other feeling is activated, the pervasive emotion colours it. For example, if a person is pervaded by fear, they will always seem a little afraid; if they get angry, they will seem angry and afraid together or, more likely, fear will overpower anger (at least in appearance). Usually these people have suffered a severe life crisis, and both they and everyone around them are aware of the pervasive emotions they express.

FREELY TRANSLATED FROM “DOWN WITH THE MASK, HOW TO RECOGNISE THE EMOTIONS OF FACIAL EXPRESSION” BY PAUL EKMAN AND WALLACE V. FRIESEN