Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions

Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions
by Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen

Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions
List Price: $22.99
Our Price: $14.20
You Save: $8.79 (38%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09
ISBN: 1883536367
Number of pages: 212
Publisher: Malor Books

Book Reviews of Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions

Book Review: A Must-Have Primer for Learning to Recognize Facial Expressions
Summary: 5 Stars

Ekman is a leading authority on the study of the facial expressions and their relation to emotion, and this book is a methodical and thorough (for the layperson, at least) introduction to the field, with special focus on recognizing what he calls the six basic universally expressed emotions: happiness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust/contempt, and sadness.

Ekman provides clear, well-detailed instructions for recognizing each of these emotions, and the book includes plenty of photos to illustrate the different facial contortions of each emotion. The only complaint I would have is that I had to do a lot of page flipping back and forth to read Ekman's remarks and subsequently refer to the relevant picture. Perhaps a future edition could be better formatted to make it easier for the reader to view the expression alongside Ekman's comments.

In addition to writing about specific emotions, Ekman also covers some fascinating related topics such as recognizing facial deceit and discovering the patterns of one's own facial expressions, i.e., what you're telling the world with your own face.

Ekman is an academic and his writing shows it; he's precise, methodical, thorough, and careful in the extent of his claims. Readers who are new to the subject of reading facial expressions but are seriously committed to learning about it will find this an invaluable book.

(Ekman's later work, "Emotions Revealed," is also a great read and contains much of the same information as "Unmasking the Face," although I found the former to be lighter on technical information and practice faces, and more focused on the larger reflections Ekman has made looking back on his work over the last few decades. In other words, both books are great, but "Unmasking the Face" is a bit more technical and thorough, and therefore a better book to pick up for learning how to recognize facial expressions.)

Summary of Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions

This reprint edition of Ekman and Friesen's breakthrough research on the facial expression of emotion uses scores of photographs showing emotions of surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, and sadness. The authors of UNMASKING THE FACE explain how to identify these basic emotions correctly and how to tell when people try to mask, simulate, or neutralize them. It features several practical exercises that help actors, teachers, salesmen, counselors, nurses, law-enforcement personnel and physicians -- and everyone else who deals with people -- to become adept, perceptive readers of the facial expressions of emotions.

Emotions Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Emotions Books
The Nature of Melancholy: From Aristotle to Kristeva ImageThe Nature of Melancholy: From Aristotle to Kristeva
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2002-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.00
Price in other shops: $40.00
The Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress ImageThe Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress
by Robert E. Thayer
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1997-11-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops: $21.95
Cognition and Emotion (Counterpoints) ImageCognition and Emotion (Counterpoints)
by Eric Eich, John F. Kihlstrom, Gordon H. Bower, Joseph P. Forgas, Paula M. Niedenthal
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2000-09-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $70.79
Price in other shops: $90.00
What is an Emotion?: Classic Readings in Philosophical Psychology ImageWhat is an Emotion?: Classic Readings in Philosophical Psychology
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1984-01-12; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $38.00
Music and Emotion: Theory and Research (Series in Affective Science) ImageMusic and Emotion: Theory and Research (Series in Affective Science)
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $405.04
Pleasure: A Creative Approach to Life ImagePleasure: A Creative Approach to Life
by Alexander Lowen
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1994-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $51.54
The Measurement of Emotions (Emotion: Theory, Research, and Experience, 4) ImageThe Measurement of Emotions (Emotion: Theory, Research, and Experience, 4)
by Robert Plutchik
Academic Pr; Published: 1989-11; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $116.00
A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: From the Twelfth Century to the End of the Seventeenth Part 27 (Pt. 27) ImageA Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: From the Twelfth Century to the End of the Seventeenth Part 27 (Pt. 27)
by Sir William Craigie, A. J. Aitken, James A. C. Stevenson, Harry D. Watson
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $70.00
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things ImageEmotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
by Donald A. Norman
Basic Books; Published: 2003-12-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops: $26.00
From Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life ImageFrom Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life
by Lucinda Bassett
Harpercollins; Published: 1995-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.94
Price in other shops: $23.00
Similar Books and other products
Introducing NLP: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) ImageIntroducing NLP: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
by Joseph O'Connor, John Seymour
Conari Press; Published: 2011-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.40
Price in other shops: $16.95
Darwin and Facial Expression: A Century of Research in Review ImageDarwin and Facial Expression: A Century of Research in Review
Malor Books; Published: 2006-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.12
Price in other shops: $22.99
Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion ImageEmotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion
by Dalai Lama, Paul Ekman Ph.D.
Times Books; Published: 2008-09-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.20
Price in other shops: $23.00
Understanding Other People: The Five Secrets to Human Behavior ImageUnderstanding Other People: The Five Secrets to Human Behavior
by Beverly Flaxington
ATA Press; Published: 2010-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.59
Price in other shops: $15.95
Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception ImageLiespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception
by Pamela Meyer
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2011-09-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.86
Price in other shops: $14.99
What the Face Reveals: Basic and Applied Studies of Spontaneous Expression Using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) (Series in Affective Science) ImageWhat the Face Reveals: Basic and Applied Studies of Spontaneous Expression Using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) (Series in Affective Science)
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-04-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $43.25
Price in other shops: $57.95
The Definitive Book of Body Language ImageThe Definitive Book of Body Language
by Barbara Pease, Allan Pease
Bantam; Published: 2006-07-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.82
Price in other shops: $26.00
Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, Third Edition ImageTelling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, Third Edition
by Paul Ekman
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2009-01-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.97
Price in other shops: $16.95
What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People ImageWhat Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People
by Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2008-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops: $19.99
Emotions Revealed, Second Edition: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life ImageEmotions Revealed, Second Edition: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life
by Paul Ekman Ph.D.
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2007-03-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.16
Price in other shops: $16.99
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories