Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Negotiation Secret # 102:
The Often Overlooked Midface















The girl is angry. Her anger level is mild to moderate. She demonstrates this emotion by displaying an excellent example of mid-face tightening. Her upper lip is narrowed and tightened (but not rolled in)- a reliable sign of anger. The entire "mustache area" (I refer to this region the same for both sexes - a simple and orienting descriptive term) is tightened as well. This tightening is most easily seen by observing the two tissue ridges of the philtrum becoming flattened (The philtrum is the central concave depression with two lateral raised lines of skin that extends from the inner edges of each nostril to the central upper lip - this conjunction makes the two slightly pointed prominences on the upper lip "peak", giving the "cupids bow" appearance to the upper lip). Look for this dynamic flattening. It is a clue to anger. It often is accompanied by at least some degree of nostril dilation (which is also seen with other emotional states such as disgust - bilaterally, and unilaterally with contempt, etc.). The skin of the lower lids are also tightened (along with being partially closed). So start tuning into this mid-face tension, lest you miss early signs of anger. 


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