Final assignment. Does not include pictures.

Francesca Furci

Writing with Public Purpose

Faces and their vital role in human connection

“A face is like the outside of a house, and most faces, like most houses, give us an idea of what we can expect to find inside.” While our face makes up only a small percentage of our image, it can easily be understood that it provides the most information in regards to the current situation an individual is in. It can display happiness, despair, interest, insecurity, and many other qualities that are crucial to human interaction. In reading what is said without words through a person’s face, we can become better communicators, friends, and lovers.

 In the given image we see a young woman with a smile on her face. Her eyes are forward, and connected, and she seems confident. With these things in mind we are open to the fact that she is approachable, thus likely a good candidate to socialize and interact with. One study showed that, “genuine smiles, and potentially other social cues, may be useful social reinforcers and therefore important in the control of social behavior on a moment-to-moment basis during interaction” (Bangor, Shore). This truly supports the idea that a smile is the most important social cue, and with it, social interaction has the ability to thrive.

 On the contrary, when someone presents a facial expression as shown here, it can be assumed that they are upset. Behind these simple emotions, one study found that these facial expressions are driven by increased mental usage (Gendolla, APA). This makes sense that the person would then be less prone to socialize. Not only is there something that is bothering them emotionally, but in turn, they are mentally exhausted from the thought processes. It is obvious then, that the social clue would be to refrain from excessive social interaction with individuals under this stress. Of course this is not to ignore those who are close to the person and may relieve some stress, but as a whole, social interaction with those who present these signs is not a favorable condition.

             While the above two faces seem to be common sense, and easily understood. This ideas span beyond the simple ideas of happy and sad. This picture shows the perfect example of curiosity. This may be an individual that would be inclined to interact social with some social prompts. This usually includes something that causes comfort, or intrigues the person at hand. This can be identified as someone with wide eyes, and a slightly open mouth. Their body language may be shifted away, but their eye contact provides proof of interest. This person is someone that you can engage with, but must proceed with the proper content.  While this next example is humorous and comical in the sense that it is exaggerated and in the form of a child, it accurately depicts the features of someone who is enraged, the perfect candidate for someone that would be least likely to interact socially. Their mouth would be closed, and often contorted, their eyes small, and their eyebrows arched in. As stated with the sad individual up top, the mental processes are high here. This, along with the enraged emotion, makes this person someone that is not good to continue interacting with. The facial expression, as the social cue, alerts us that this person should probably be left alone.

            While these expressions and social cues seem to come natural for most of us, they are not part of many peoples’ common sense. Approximately fifteen million people over the age of thirteen live with social disorders in America, with one of the main struggles being the inability to recognize and act on social cues like facial expressions (ADAA). This leaves out the countless school age children that are not diagnosed until they reach an appropriate age. For us, these ideas seem simple, with no reason to be defined, but in my future profession as a school psychologist, I will spend every day helping students who simply cannot grasp these concepts. As a social individual in today’s society, it is our job to not only read these cues, and present them as accurately as possible, but to also understand that many individuals we encounter are unable to do so, and an understanding of this can make a significant impact on their lives.

A wild statistic that I found while researching for my paper was that 15 million people are diagnosed with social disorders in our country. This includes the inability to do something as simple as recognize the difference between a smile and a frown. In addition to these 15 million people, so many school age children struggle with this during the crucial times of lunch and recess, but they cannot be clinically diagnosed until age 13. I found this so crazy because at that age, socializing is so important. It comes so natural to most of us, but to struggle with that must seem so impossible.

When searching for a quotation to open my paper I found one that truly encompassed exactly what I was trying to say.
“A face is like the outside of a house, and most faces, like most houses, give us an idea of what we can expect to find inside.”
This shows that a face can really tell you so much about a person's thoughts, feelings, and situation at the time. It was a great jump off point for my paper.