I’m not good at reading other people’s minds, even when they think that I should have seen the emotions on their faces. Now there is science substantiating that I am not unusual in this regard.
Most of the time, other people can’t correctly guess what we’re thinking or feeling. Our emotions are not written all over our face all the time. The gap between our subjective experience and what other people pick up on is known as the illusion of transparency. It’s a fallacy that leads us to overestimate how easily we convey our emotions and thoughts.
The above excerpt is from an excellent blog, Farham Street.
Therefore, if we happen to be together, if you want to make sure that I understand what you are thinking, please use your words!
Unless you are a gifted empath, in which you can usually feel the other person’s emotions.
Good read.
“If you’re trying to hide your mental state, you’re probably doing better than you think. Unless you’re talking to, say, a trained police interrogator or professional poker player, other people are easy to fool.”
EXCEPT MOTHERS! They always suspect and know something is going on or something is wrong. ;-D
Lindy: I was convinced I had wonderful daughters. What you have written is making me concerned that I missed a lot of clues!
Nah…. it’s just I could not get away with anything with my Mom…
Speaking of reading emotions on other peoples’ faces, the use of botox to reduce wrinkles (by paralyzing small muscles in the face) not only reduces the appearance of emotions on the botox patient’s face, it also reduces the ability of the botox patient to read emotions on the faces of other people. See, for example, http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/25/study-botox-users-have-trouble-reading-emotions-in-others/. It suggests that perhaps the pathway to reading the faces of other people is that we unconsciously mimic on our own face the emotions we see on theirs, and then sense and decode our own facial muscles to determine the emotions of others.
Interesting . . . Sounds like mirror neurons at work.