EMOTIONS REVEALED
Paul Ekman
I.
Paul Ekman is a world-renowned psychologist, known for his extensive research and groundbreaking work on facial expressions. Ekman is a frequent consult for authorities such as the FBI and CIA. Paul Ekman wrote Emotions Revealed to help people better understand their emotions and how to control their reactions, as well as learning to be sensitive of how others are feeling.
II.
In the very first chapter, Ekman explains his journey and subsequent conclusions on how facial expressions are universal. He studied isolated people and cultures as well as those in developed countries. He found remarkable proof that facial expressions are not learned, but innate. The next couple chapters focus on when we become emotional and how emotions are not a conscious decision. The brain starts the process of reacting often before we even know what is going on. In some instances, that can save your life as with the instantaneous reflexes one possesses during a car accident. Ekman touches briefly on how behaving emotionally can affect the outcome of situations, making them better or worse, and how to control what we react to.…show more content… Ekman talks first about situations that would cause such emotions, often times providing photos of real life events. He follows that up with how to recognize the emotion in oneself. Exercises are given on how to imitate the desired emotion and the facial expression it causes. There is a short lesson on how to recognize the emotion in others as well. Ekman includes pictures and points out specific details and explains why they represent that emotion. In the final chapter, Paul Ekman delves a little deeper and explains that individuals experience emotional situations differently. His final conclusion emphasizes more of the differences in how each of us experiences each emotion and in different