It is said “Face is the index of the mind and Eyes are the mirror of the soul.

Psychologists have identified a gamut of emotions which we portray with our facial expressions: Happy, Sad, Fearful, Angry, Surprised, Disgusted, happily surprised, Happily disgusted, Sadly fearful, Sadly angry, Sadly surprised, Sadly disgusted, Fearfully angry, Fearfully surprised, Fearfully disgusted. Facial expressions are vital in the communication process as they support our positive or negative views which help us to send and receive to understand the message. Our face is the organ of emotion and identity. We constantly read facial expressions to understand what others are feeling. The face also controls other powerful clues. Our identity is captured in our features, and our eyes which disclose important truths about us, even those which we like to hide.

It is difficult to control our emotions; our eyes tell it all. Our eyes express our feelings. They express our state of mind. Our eyes tell our physical and mental health. Eyes soften in love, they tell when we are happy or sad, they harden with anger, widen we are in fear, narrow when we suspect something, roll in frustration, look down or look nowhere when we are bored.

Some people find it very easy to express their emotions, whereas others are hesitant or unable to let anyone know how they feel. Some are reserved or slow to open, they are an introverted personality. Research shows that extroverts are more expressive and ready to talk instantly. Carl Jung the man who coined the concept introvert and extrovert personality said that introverts get habituated to control even their facial expressions.  

There is concept in movie making business which is called ‘Fourth Wall’. It is the space that separates the performer from the audience. Generally, in movies the characters talk to each other, express to each other on screen. This separates them from the audience; there is an invisible wall between the actors and the audience. To maintain the illusion of reality the actors must act as though the audience don’t exist. If an actor looks directly at the camera, it destroys the illusion.

But there is another concept ‘breaking the fourth wall’ I give here an example what it means breaking the fourth wall – in the movie ‘Kal hon a ho’ characters talk to the audience at various points in the film. Naina (Preity Zinta) talks to the audience about her family and her problems. Later, the other characters also get an opportunity to speak to the audience. When Aman (Shahrukh Khan) asks Naina the last time she smiled, all the other people tell us the last time they saw Naina smile. At a later stage, the people in the film told the audience the meaning of love. All these moments were done in a way that felt fresh at that time and stayed in minds of the audience.  This is an interesting way to get audiences to connect with characters. We appreciate expressive actors and actresses in movies and drams. Expressive actors use their eyes to fullest scope. Dev Anand, Nutan and Sanjiv Kumar were known for their acting prowess and expressing their feelings through eyes.  

Face is the primary channel through which emotions are expressed. By decoding facial signals, observers can understand an expresser’s emotion. Psychologists found that many facial expressions are natural and not visually learned. David Matsumoto says that spontaneously produced facial expressions of emotion of blind, deaf, dumb, and sighted and normal individuals are the same.

David Matsumoto is a renowned expert in the field of micro expressions, Director of Humintell LLC, a company that provides training to individuals and organizations in the field of law and order, is a world-renowned expert in the fields of emotion, nonverbal behaviour, deception, and culture. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1981, he majored in psychology and Japanese and received High Honors in both. A micro expression is a facial expression that only lasts for few seconds.

Matsumoto says when a person is angry, vertical lines appear between the eyebrows. Lower lip is strained. Eyes are in hard stare or bulging. Lips can be pressed firmly together, with corners down, or in a square shape as if shouting. Microfacial expressions of emotion have been considered a reliable indicator of dishonesty for decades.  Micro-expressions can reflect an individual’s subjective emotions and true mental state and the study is widely used in the fields of mental health, justice, law enforcement, intelligence, and security. 

Conclusion

Face is an index of our inner world; it conveys countless emotions without saying a word. Some people talk very little and believe in nonverbal communication. And the biggest truth is facial expressions are universal they are the same in all religions; a smile serves to be a universal language that connects people of all cultures and civilizations.

Eye contact means a lot in non-verbal communication. It is very difficult to have a conversation with someone who avoids looking at you. Though we listen with our ears, eye contact does matter. In human being, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and is thought to have a large influence on social behaviour. The term eye contact was coined in the early 1960s; and it has been in practice since then. The act is a significant and an important sign of confidence in social communication. The study of eye contact is sometimes known as Oculesics.

If you have good eye contact with a person, it generally projects your interest in the person while talk to him/her and it shows that you want to listen what the person is saying. If you look down or away from a person rather than meeting his or her gaze, it projects your disinterest in him or her. If you neglect making eye contact with a person, it signifies you lack self-confidence.  People, who are self-assured and are convinced of what they are saying, have a clear eye contact.

Eye contact and facial expressions   are interlinked and they provide important sinals in conversation. I think, subconsciously we probe each other’s eyes and faces for approvals and disapprovals. Eye contacts stimulate strong emotions. It is an important element in showing fondness, flirting, love, romance, which serves to establish and determine interest in establishing relations. Mutual eye contact that signals attraction initially begins as a brief glance and progresses into a repeated volleying of eye contact. We all avoid eye contacts with strangers. Don’t we? If you frequently stare at somebody, it can impede the person’s privacy.

When people struggle to make eye contact with others, it shows that they are not confident. Failing to make eye contact suggests that the person is shy; it can also be taken as disrespect. Making eye contact for a longer than required indicates that a person is outgoing; but to some it might indicate aggression and over-confidence. So beware.

In interviews especially eye contacts are considered very important.  The panelists do observe your eye contact. Switching your eyes from left to right and back all the time will make you appear insecure, careless, and confused. Do you know, that one study says that left side of face is more expressive than right side? Our critical thinking is controlled by left side of brain and right side of brain controls emotions. It is also found that females have better eye contact than male.

How different cultures view eye contacts?

The customs and significance of eye contact vary broadly between different cultures.  Americans appreciate a good eye contact during conversation. In Spain, France and Germany also stable eye contact is appreciated. Maintaining constant eye contact is considered well mannered and polite.  In Western cultures eyes are considered to show the central point of a person’s focus.

In Middle Eastern culture, eye contact is less common, and considered less appropriate than in Western cultures. There are strict gender rules; women should not make too much eye contact with men as it can be misunderstood as romantic interest.

In Asian countries such as China and Japan, eye contact is not considered an essential element in social interaction, instead it is often considered inappropriate. These countries have an authoritarian culture, in which subordinates shouldn’t make steady eye contact with their superiors. For example, students are discouraged from making eye contact with their professors, as it can be interpreted as a sign of disregard.

Many African and Latin American cultures are strong in hierarchical societies. In many circumstances intense eye contact is seen as aggressive, provoking and really disrespectful. Friends, eye contact is subtly ingrained in societies. It is worth to know what it means in each culture before taking a trip to a country.

And, do you know, that although it is common in Western culture for adults to admire babies and young children and commenting upon how cute they are; this is totally avoided in Vietnamese culture for fear that these comments may be overheard by bad spirits and those spirits will try to steal the baby or otherwise cause some harm to it.