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Library | Material Type | Call Number | Child Count | Shelf Location | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Science | Book | 152.4 EK61E 2003 | 1 | Stacks | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
A fascinating exploration of how we interpret and experience emotions-and how we can improve our emotional skills-by a pioneering psychologist A renowned expert in nonverbal communication, Paul Ekman has led a revolution in our scientific understanding of emotions. Now he assembles his pathbreaking research and theories in a comprehensive look at human emotional life. Emotions Revealed explores the evolutionary essence of anger, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, and happiness. Drawing on his fieldwork investigating universal facial expressions in Papua New Guinea and his analysis of the prognosis of hospital patients based on their emotional profile, Ekman shows that emotions are deeply imbedded in the human species. In the process, he answers such questions as: What triggers emotions and can we stop them? How does our body signal to others whether we are slightly sad or anguished, peeved or enraged? Can we learn to distinguish between a polite smile and the genuine thing?Unique exercises and photographs help readers identify emotions in themselves and others. Emotions Revealed is a practical, mind-opening, and potentially life-changing exploration of science and self.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Emotions are what "make life livable," writes psychologist Ekman in this unique hands-on volume that flirts shrewdly with psychology and anthropology. His 40-odd years of research have led him to the conclusion (originally presented by Charles Darwin) that emotions, and their 10,000 facial expressions, are largely universal. While an American smile may look much like a grin expressed by a Fore tribesman of Papua New Guinea, what actually triggers the toothy twinkle is culturally, socially and even individually determined. Emotions theselves can't be turned off, but they can be controlled, and Ekman draws upon the Buddhist concept of mindfulness to explain how, by tuning in to one's own emotional triggers, one can develop a heightened "attentiveness," thereby side-stepping future blowouts. Ekman addresses in detail the "cascade of changes" that occur physiologically in an individual in the throes of one of five salient emotional categories (sadness, anger, fear, disgust and enjoyment). In his engaging style, he asks his readers to conjure these emotions by studying photographs, meditating upon their own experiences and, if that fails, to contort their faces into specific expressions, for Ekman has found that physical manifestations actually generate corresponding emotional responses in the brain. It is Ekman's hope that once these expressions have been identified, his readers will benefit from an increased sensitivity, and will possess the skills necessary for approaching others gripped with apparent emotion. 100 b&w photos (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Studies have shown that most people are not very good at detecting deception, and a mini-industry devoted to teaching people to "read" body language has developed. Very much in this tradition, Ekman's book is less inflated in its claims and makes two points. First, it posits that feelings of sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, and happiness lead to the production of the same looks across cultures, although these expressions may be minimized or exaggerated to accord with cultural norms. While this was controversial when Ekman (psychology, Univ. of California Medical Sch., San Francisco; Telling Lies) first studied the emotional displays of New Guinea natives in the 1960s, it has been a standard part of social science and popular understanding for several decades. The second point is that we can better "read" others if we analyze the minimal versions of these universal expressions. Most of the book is devoted to analyzing a series of photos of such facial displays. However, the crucial link that is missing is data on the efficacy of such a program-that is, after studying the photos, are people really any better at knowing what others are thinking and feeling? Informed readers won't find much new here, and this is disappointing given Ekman's impressive credentials. All in all, this is a dressed-up self-help book that belongs only in larger subject collections.-Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | p. xiii |
| Preface to the Second Edition | p. xv |
| Introduction | p. xvii |
| 1 Emotions Across Cultures | p. 1 |
| 2 When Do We Become Emotional? | p. 17 |
| 3 Changing What We Become Emotional About | p. 38 |
| 4 Behaving Emotionally | p. 52 |
| 5 Sadness and Agony | p. 82 |
| 6 Anger | p. 110 |
| 7 Surprise and Fear | p. 148 |
| 8 Disgust and Contempt | p. 172 |
| 9 Enjoyable Emotions | p. 190 |
| 10 Lies and Emotions | p. 213 |
| Conclusion: Living with Emotion | p. 231 |
| Afterword | p. 237 |
| Appendix Reading Faces-The Test | p. 241 |
| Notes | p. 263 |
| Illustration Credits | p. 279 |
| Index | p. 281 |