The Seven Universal Emotions

This is useful to everyone, especially in a career world that is so overwhelmingly global.

You'll find "experts" on body language and rants about the meaning of this gesture or that one. Much of this is true, with one huge caveat: you have to be patient and carefully synthesize the totality of the gestures and mannerisms in order to develop some degree of accuracy.

If you are making a presentation, running a meeting, or in a management discussion, it may be more helpful to know what emotions are universal. This gives you a better chance at narrowing the possibilities of what kinds of responses you are really seeing. So, here goes.

The Seven "Universal" Emotions

These are common throughout all people and cultures:

• anger     

• contempt

• disgust

• fear

• happiness

• sadness

• surprise

Here's where it gets tricky:

There are 10,000 different facial expressions. About 3000 of these facial expressions are relevant to emotion and most people use only 50-60 in normal conversation. Those 50-60 do relate to the seven universal emotions.

These expressions can be "macro" expressions which last 1-3 seconds or even longer. An example would be a smile. The question: "Is the smile real or fake?" If fake, what does that mean? (Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar; people simply want to be polite).

We also make micro expressions that give up our more hidden feelings. These are like reflexes, because it's very difficult to stop them from happening since they are part of our brain's hard-wiring. That's why we get a "feeling" when we watch small discrepancies between someone's words and their expression.

These expressions last only 1/25th of a second. (That is faster than an eye-blink). Most people can't pick up micro expressions consciously. When viewed on film and played as slower speeds, these expressions look just like macro expressions. Many homicide detectives do this. If you don't happen to be looking for a serial killer, it's still a great way to watch what signals you give off when you are speaking or running a meeting.

How to Use This

The seven universal emotions are the ones that are most important to you. You want to know whether someone is angry, happy, etc., with your interaction. Memorize the list (or carry a cheat sheet) and increase your awareness of these.

Do: When you think you have enough visual information to believe that the person--or people--are, say, "surprised", don't make the assumption that you are correct. Instead, matter-of-factly state your observation: "You know, I'm watching the response to this slide and am getting the sense that maybe you are a bit surprised. Is that so?" This will lead to affirmation or will yield other responses that will help you--and them--stay or get on track. 

Don't: Try to be magically clever and tell them  you know how they feel. The last time you did that with your spouse or significant other, how'd that work for you?

Comments

[Wally Bock]

Steve, this is a wonderfully helpful post. Those universals provide one anchor for understanding a person's non-verbal communication. Another anchor is there baseline. Effective interrogators observe a subject to establish their baseline behavior. That's how you act in common situations like telling the truth, or when you're comfortable. Once you know that, you can probe more deeply for meaning when you observe a variation from the baseline.

[Mary Jo Asmus]

Steve, thanks for this post! I would think that many in the business/corporate world (and a few executive coaches) would find this information most helpful as our businesses become increasing diverse and global.

[Kevin W. Grossman]

Well, I just passed out, but my Dad was a detective for many years before retiring and understood how to use this in his work. I'll keep the cheat sheet handy.

[Frode H]

Hi Steve.
I have been reading this blog post over and over again. I have been returning whenever I "read" a feeling in someone.
"Don't: Try to be magically clever and tell them you know how they feel. The last time you did that with your spouse or significant other, how'd that work for you?" - When it comes to dealing with feeling with my wife, I learned the magic trick from the TV-series: two and a half men; Whenever there is someone talking about their trouble, just nod and say: "I understand" - It do wonders :) (But be careful, after to many repetitions without paying attention, you will be busted..)

Have a great weekend.

[Steve Roesler]

Wally

I suppose that life--and managerial life--involves a lot of effective detective work. There is enough solid info out there to help anyone and everyone who wants to become more effective at picking up accurate cues during conversations.

Readers: Note Wally's mention of finding a "baseline." When you establish that, it's a lot easier to recognize when something is different.

[Steve Roesler]

Mary Jo

You raise another point worth addressing in the future: the global issue. It's easy to dismiss a gesture as being "cultural" and then discount it. Not so. These cross borders and those doing business globally and/or with folks of various nationalities would be wise to create a cheat sheet and start using it.

[Steve Roesler]

Kevin

No doubt your dad could have written the post and added some fascinating real-life stories!

[Steve Roesler]

Frode

I understand:-)