--Original published at David's Blog

For this first impression prompt I decided to choose the second option which talked about the ability to read peoples emotions based on there facial expressions. Before I took the test I believed that I could read facial expressions fairly well. After taking the test I found out that I got a twelve out of twenty. The website that the test was on also let me know that was an average score and that if I wanted to I could improve my facial reading skills. I’m not to sure how credible the sites test was, some of the facial expressions were quite odd and didn’t seem right. I also showed the quiz to some friends and they also found it odd and not quite right. The most easiest emotions to tell apart would be sadness and happiness. Some of the hardest to tell apart would have been surprise and pain. I wasn’t to sure why some of them were to easy or hard but I do believe some of the easier ones were just natural instinct. This information could be used every day to help others find out what could be wrong with there friends or loved ones. I do find it interesting how well certain people can read others emotions and feelings just by looking at their face expressions. It also intrigues me how some people are not good at reading emotions at all to the point to where there almost mute to emotions. I look forward to learning how to read emotions in our later classes.

--Original published at HuntersCollegeBlog

People communicate not only verbally, but with their facial expressions as well. I thought I was really good at reading facial expressions, but apparently I need some work.

The test that I took online showed you a picture of someone’s face, and you had to pick what emotion their face was showing. In total, I got a score of 11/20. I thought I would’ve gotten at least a 15/20, because I read people’s faces every day. A lot of the questions had the choice of 4 emotions that were very similar to each other, which also made it hard to pick which emotion it could be since they were all very similar. The distinguishing factor between the similar emotions was a slight difference in eye placement, or what the eye muscles were doing, or the positing of the lip muscles or lips themselves. Emotions like sadness, fear, and disappointment were extremely similar, so they were really hard to tell apart. Emotions like anger and frustration were sometimes hard to tell apart as well, since their facial expressions were so similar. Embarrassment, surprise, and happiness seemed to be the easiest ones to distinguish.

I find this test pretty credible, because it explained why a certain emotion was the correct answer, and it showed which parts of the face contributed to that emotion. It would label the slight tilt down of the lip, or the slight raise of the eyebrow in order to explain what emotion it was. It’s also hard if you’re not aware that the slightest lift of the lip muscles can distinguish a completely different emotion than what you may have thought it was. You could use this information in every day life in order to tell how your friends may be feeling based on their facial expression. They may not want to directly tell you how they’re feeling, but a lot of the time their face says it all. You could also use this information to be able to correctly express how you yourself are feeling if words can’t seem to express it.

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

After going through this test and getting my score, I’m at a middle ground. I got 15 out of 20, which according to the website means “Your score means you’re better than the average at reading expressions. And research suggests that people can improve their emotion recognition skills with practice. So keep an eye out for our forthcoming empathy training tool, designed to boost your emotional intelligence”. I honestly thought I did better than that. Some of the expressions didn’t make sense due to the people they got to do the faces. This test is credible to a point, but other people see these expressions different than myself. I don’t remember which faces were harder or easier to tell apart, but I do know a least three of the ones I got wrong were hard to understand. This information is useful to a certain degree. I can tell some emotions from people because of being around these people I can understand their emotions. If I met a stranger on the street I wouldn’t know how to read them unless I talked with them for awhile. I can hopefully keep working on this and keep my skills up and running on this.

Results link: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes/ei_quiz/results/

--Original published at Isabella's Psychology Blog

On the surface, The One I love is a love by REM is a song about a person you love and it should be a very romantic song. The first line of the song is literally “This one goes out to the one I love.” Unfortunately, the second and third lines of the song are “This one goes out to the one I’ve left behind” and “A simple prop to occupy my time.” (REM). Which most people in a relationship would be angered to be called a prop used to occupy someone’s time by their significant other. Since this means that the person saying this is using their partner and are not returning the others feelings despite being in a relationship.

Then when you look in the later verses the line “A simple prop to occupy my time is replaced by “ Another prop to occupy my time.”  Which is even worse, since this implies that the person saying this treats everyone they love as a prop. This indicates that the person does not see other people as deserving respect or affection. So the person saying this is just using people without thinking of the other person’s feelings. Then they continue to do this over and over again in their relationships without remorse. Which is scary since this means that they truly do not care about the people they were in a relationship with.

The chorus of the song is not better since the chorus is the word “Fire” as another band member sings “she’s comin’ down on her own, now” in the background. I am interpreting this as the breakups are bad and end in anger from the other person since they realize that they are being used.

The song does not have a lot of lyrics since it just repeats itself over and over again so there are not a lot of lyrics to analyze. Though the song repeating itself probably means that the person the song is in the point of view is never going to change but instead continue to use their romantic partners as props. Which is sad that the person is unwilling to change their actions. Though it is also disturbing since they know that they are using their romantic partners but don’t find anything wrong with it.

Link to Lyrics: https://genius.com/Rem-the-one-i-love-lyrics

Link to the Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7oQEPfe-O8

--Original published at Manami PSY105blog

I heard that the communication consists of 80 percent non-verbal communication such as facial expression and gesture before. It is said that Japanese is one of the most difficult language. Our communications and the way to express feeling is difficult to understand. Because Japan has high-context culture which people communicate in ways that are implicit and used a lot of non-verbal communication. I thought I am good at recognizing facial expressions because I grew up in such high-context culture. In fact, I tend to catch the hidden message from people’s non-verbal communication and I often try to understand what people around me think in each situation without words. I think this is typical communication style and a kind of manner in Japan. However, I was disappointed about the result of the test, “Test Your Emotional Intelligence.” I got 13 out of 20 points although I expected 100 percent correct. I am also realized that I might misunderstand the actual feeling of friends and family due to my individual perspective. To be honest, this test is a half-credible and a half incredible. Because, I could not be satisfied with some answers of incorrect. For example, the facial expressions that woman looks down and points under her eye should mean sadness. However, the correct answer is embarrassment because she is touching her face. For me, pointing under the eyes describes tears and I do the same thing when I feel sad. Therefore, it may have a cultural difference between America and Japan regarding the facial expression. It was hardest for me to tell the differences between sadness, disgust and embarrassment. They all look sad for me sometimes. The easiest facial expression was happiness and surprise. They are simple and I see these facial expressions always in daily life. I will trust my experiences in Japan to read facial expressions as well as before I took the test. However, asking with the words is also important.

#emotion

--Original published at Cecilia's Thoughts

Communication is very non-verbal, more than people realize. You may have heard the saying “you wear your emotions on your sleeve”, but people should say that you wear your emotions on your face. Your facial expressions can tell a lot about what you are feeling, even when you do not realize that you are showing so much. Some people are better at detecting what people are feeling by looking at their facial expressions than others. I feel as though I am very good at reading people’s emotions without them saying it directly.

I took a quiz with people making different faces, with different emotions that you have to pick which one they are feeling. I scored 12 out of 20 correct, which means I got 8 wrong. The results summary said that I am not bad at reading emotions and my score reflects an average ability to read emotions. I thought that I would score closer to perfect, sp the results are slightly surprising to me, though I did not realize how many emotions their were. When I was evaluating myself on how well I can read emotions, I only thought about being able to identify happiness, sadness, and anger. I did not take in to consideration emotions such as politeness and shame that were asked to be identified on the quiz. The easiest emotions on the quiz were happiness, anger, and pain. The hardest ones to identify were embarrassment and compassion in my opinion. I think that this test is credible for the most part, but I also believe that emotions are shown differently from person to person so it is hard to generalize facial expressions with their meanings.

--Original published at AlyssaM

The song I chose is “At The Ceili” by Celtic Woman and can be found with lyrics here. To begin with the upbeat song is considered more of a festival tune rather than a love song, but the words say otherwise. If you listen to the last verse first it seems like a sweet love song where the three ladies find the man of their dreams, but the rest of the song tells a slightly more disturbing story, if thought about.

The first of the three, comes front and declares, “My true love has sailed away to be an endless rover . . . he writes me letters every week to say how much he’s slavin’ and he promises me he’ll be back before the hay needs savin'” You would think it is sweet her true love cares so much and makes sure to send her a letter every week, but then she goes on to say, “But it’s hard to love someone you’re not in touch with daily, so I’m looking for somebody new tonight down at the Ceili.” If she cannot get word to her true love fast enough, she technically would be cheating on him. Plus how much does she really care about her “true” love if she is willing to throw him away that easily? That does not sound that true to me, especially because once a week is a lot to receive a letter, so clearly the man cares for her, but she does not return the feelings.

The second lady goes on to say she, “only needs somebody tonight to make [her] heart beat fast.” She goes into daydreaming about his kind eyes and smile. Then she claims, “he’ll promise me that I will be his girl forevermore.” She doesn’t know what she wants a minute or an eternity. It can be problematic because she may put a “spell” on him that forces him to want to be with her forever and that she is controlling and will pull him in as if he is attached to a string that she alone controls.

The third, has two boys that are after her. She weighs the good and bad of each, one is poor, the other rich. She debates which life she would rather be stuck in, but also considering their personalities. She feels trapped and cannot make up her mind, but concludes at the Ceili she will be able to decide.

By the end of the evening at the festival, the three have decided upon who they want to stay with. If you think about it, not a lot of time passed and they were so indecisive the entire rest of the song. They claim they are happy and content with whom they chosen, but how can they be so sure? The first ditched her “true love” when he did not show her enough devotion, so whose to say this new one wouldn’t fail her too? The second wanted one to last a day, that would turn into an eternity, so how can she be sure she chose the right one? The third chose the man for love and not wealth, so she probably will be fine in the long wrong, but the other two . . .

--Original published at Rachel Bickelman's PSY 105 Blog

I scored a 14/20 on the emotional intelligence quiz which reported, “your score means you’re slightly better than the average at reading expressions.” I am unsurprised at these results as I have always felt, and at times been told, I have an established sense of emotional intelligence. At times I feel I am very adept at reading other peoples emotions and how they are feeling, but in other situations I feel completely clueless.

At first the quiz was very difficult since I wasn’t paying enough attention to the facial features and position of the head but at the end of the quiz I felt I could get the answers with gut instinct. I found contempt, anger, disgust, and embarrassment to be the harder ones to distinguish. The emotions love, pride, happiness, flirtatious, sadness, and pain were easy to distinguish though.

I think the test is a surface level way to get a general idea of one’s level of emotional intelligence but I do not think it is the best method. Since everybody is different and expresses emotions uniquely, giving it their own personal twist, it may be easier to recognize emotions of the people you know rather than on strangers like in this quiz. Someone might not have scored very well on this test but maybe they are really good at telling apart the emotions of their loved ones and friends. The test though it a good baseline though since it incorporates the basic features of each emotion.

I could use this in my daily life to better understand my family, friends, even strangers. By being able to tell how someone is feeling, I could offer them help or allow them to self-disclose to alleviate their stress. Having emotional intelligence could also make me better at talking and understanding how a person is feeling especially during conflict or rough times.

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

“Can’t feel my face” by The Weeknd may at first glance seem like a love song but it is actually about his bad habit or addiction to drugs. He personifies the drug as a she, making it seem as though he is in a relationship with a woman when in reality he is talking about the effects the drugs have on him. These effects include him dying of overdose, the pain he goes through when he is not using the drug, and his knowledge of the damage that has yet to come to him due to his drug use.

He says, “we both know we can’t go without it,” which is inferring his addiction to the drug that he is currently using and him not being able to function when he is not using. He also says, “And I know she’ll be the death of me,” expressing his knowledge that his usage could end up with him dead, from an overdose. Yet even, though he knows the side effects he repeatedly says, “but I love it.” He also knows the side effects after the high that he gets as he says, “all the misery was necessary when we’re deep in love.” The Weeknd realizes the side effects to his drug addiction and all of the negatives to the usage yet still talks about how much he loves the high.

The song may at first come off as a love song, that he is unable to express how much he loves this girl. When in reality the true meaning behind the song is his drug usage.

--Original published at Zachs College Blog

Often times people communicate their emotions through facial expressions and actions without actually physically speaking. Effective communication is being capable of reading people’s emotions and being able to take them into consideration before interacting. Before taking the emotional intelligence test, I believed that I would’ve done much better than I did. I personally believed that I was pretty skilled at telling a persons certain emotions during certain situations. I scored a 10/20 on the test and skilled much worse than I thought I would. I fill that this test is somewhat credible as some of the faces being made were easy to tell apart but some of them I personally thought could fall under multiple categories of emotions. Most of questions asked on the faces provided answers that I felt could all go with the face being made. The hardest faces to tell apart were embarrassment, love, and disgust while the easiest faces to decipher between were happiness, anger, and pain. I believe this test could be very beneficial to put towards your everyday life as you could learn more faces that compliment certain feelings and emotions. Emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to be aware of someone else’s emotions and to be able to handle conversation and relationships with compassion regarding someones emotions. It is also very important with helping start and maintain personal and professional relationships throughout your life. Overall, I feel that the test helped me gain more knowledge on facial expressions and showed me that I do not know as much as I thought.