Paul Ekman b. 1934
Paul Ekman is a renowned expert in nonverbal communication, specialising in emotions, facial expressions and
deception. In the 1960s he travelled to Papua New Guinea to study the nonverbal
behaviour of the Fore people, an isolated group, and provided strong research
that Darwin was correct in his writing that there are universal facial expressions
for the six basic emotions. Much of Ekman’s focus has been on why and when we
become emotional, and what happens when we do. His ground-breaking inquiry into
lying and the methods for uncovering lies has helped people understand why it’s
so difficult to spot a lie. In 1978, along with Wallace V Friesen, Ekman
developed the Facial Action Coding System, a tool for objectively measuring
facial movement. He also made an important contribution in the area of hand
gestures, helping to define the terms illustrators (hand movement emphasizing speech
rhythm), affective displays (movements with facial gestures that displaying
specific emotions), regulators (that control, adjust, and sustain the flow of a
conversation), adapters (adjustments that make the person more comfortable) and
emblems (a symbolic hand movement with a verbal meaning known to a particular
group). There are many excellent training courses on his website www.paulekman.com In recent years, together with his daughter Eve, he's worked on an Atlas of Emotions.
Read Emotions Revealed (2003) Henry Holt and Co.
Also by Paul Ekman, I recommend:
Telling Lies (1991)
What the Face Reveals (1987)
Unmasking the Face (2003)
Telling Lies (1991)
What the Face Reveals (1987)
Unmasking the Face (2003)
Watch Paul Ekman on YouTube: