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Facial gestures

B

by_design

Well-Known Member
I am looking back on a recorded presentation that I did, and realized my facial expression was almost blank throughout the talk. Not once during the whole presentation did I smile. My voice sounded full of enthusiasm despite this. It next dawned on me that not only do I not have any expressive facial gestures during social interactions, but I can't even copy facial gestures when I see someone else do them. It might sound silly, but I really want to spend some serious time in the mirror and practice performing spontaneous facial gestures and strengthen the facial muscles necessary to do this. Does anyone else here have this problem? Are there any techniques for resolving this problem?
 
I not only have the same problem of blank facial expressions but whenever I hear my voice (on a tape recording or a phone answering function) I sound flat and weak. I don't know of any techniques to help with this problem but they probably do exist.
 
I will constantly get people asking me "What's wrong?" or saying "Cheer up" or "You look depressed" because I don't spend the entire day grinning for no reason. I speak with a monotone when dealing with general communication, so that doesn't help, either. Just because I don't look "happy" doesn't mean I feel bad.

When engaged in a conversation among friends, I have a tendency to do exactly the opposite, because I am no longer dealing so much with the conveyance of information as with actually having a good time. Several people have told me I make a lot of strange facial expressions and I'm quite animated, which I am, around people I know I can be.

Many of the mannerisms I adopt in casual conversation are revisions of things I have seen in movies; Jim Carrey, Cary Grant, Harold Lloyd, and Johnny Depp movies, generally. They all obviously made studies of human interactions and body language, and were widely successful at exaggerating it successfully in a more of less believable way. By recognizing their exaggerated reactions, it helped me to be able to recognize the more subtle reactions of everyday people, and be able to know when I should employ them myself. Of course, mine are slightly "over" usual body language / facial expressions, but that's just to amuse myself.

Humor is a largely motivating factor for me; if I didn't employ body language that amused me, I wouldn't bother at all because it would just be a waste of time.

What is your motivating factor? Just wanting to do it isn't really enough if there's no specific reward. You need to find gestures / expressions that actually interest and appeal to you, or you won't be able to copy them.
 
Yes, it is possible to learn facial expressions----recognizing them is easier than producing them. Watching movies helps with both.
 
I've been told that I look like something is wrong when it isn't. My face looks serious a lot of the time when its not making any other expression I guess. I find though if I am in a conversation with someone my expressions seem to fit right in with my emotions.
 
Recently this "***** face" has become a thing and I hear a lot that I've a resting ***** face. Well, anything that keeps people from coming to talk to me is great, but that name irritates me whole a lot. And maybe it's even better than looking like staring to oblivion under some spell, as I think that human face does look a bit odd if there's no muscular work done.
That is why I some time ago learned to do extra frown every time I started to think something - hoping that I'd rather hold that face and even look concentrated rather than just aspie-stare blindly.
 
I find it difficult to remember to change my facial expression so that I don't appear so unhappy. If I'm focused on that then I often don't hear what people are saying. I do have one person at work repeatedly asking if everything is ok but most people just seem to accept that it is me. I have a warped sense of humour, joke a lot and try to be positive as much as possible so hopefully that leads most people to disregard my facial expression a lot of the time.
 
I just went through a "what's wrong?" episode today. I was exceptionally quiet, and I guess I must have had the blank expression that leads others to think that I am somehow sad, upset, or angry, although I was in a perfectly fine mood.

The initial "what's wrong?" doesn't bother me. It's when they repeat the question more than twice. Repeatedly being asked, "What's wrong?" is irritating and then I do end up being in a bad mood. (and then sometimes, they seem to think that they finally got me to admit I was in a bad mood to begin with) Arrggghh! It's so frustrating!

It also bothers me that I can't explain this phenomenon to those who are close to me, so they can learn to accept my response of "I'm okay," or "I'm fine," and stop repeating the question.
 
Imagine getting a nickname like "Judge" at only five years old for appearing too serious all the time. Weird to look so far back and yet see my A/S as plain as the end of my nose. At that age I had nothing to be serious about!
 
Sign me up: blank expression, monotone voice. People assume I'm: angry, bored, shy, sad, snobby, or that I hate them for some unfathomable reason. They 'read' everything into my face except what is actually there 99% of the time: INDIFFERENCE! I guess they're not that great at face reading after all. I think it may be that we Aspies are willing to admit that it is a pursuit in illogical guessing so since it is a doomed strategy most of the time, we simply do not do it.

Body language, not facial expressions, broadcasts what's happening to us

 
I've often thought about what I would look like if I won a million dollars. The scenario could be anything like a game show or the lottery, perhaps at a casino. I'm 100% positive I would just have a sly smile and wouldn't be celebrating in any way. The people around me would probably be wondering what is wrong with me.

Put me on the list for no facial expressions and monotone voice!
 
Soup explained it perfectly. People think I am depressed or pissed all the time, and I'm usually just dandy. My body language, on the other hand, will always either suggest that I want to be left alone, or that I feel aggressive. My flat voice and flat face are what people read too far into, when in reality, I just don't CARE.

 
I have learned to put on a smiling nearly happy all the time expression but in truth even when I'm miserable so people
often don't pick up on it. It takes another aspie to see your real feelings thru that blank expression.
I feel blessed that my bipolar sometimes cuts thru it and the so called normal expression comes out.
 
*sigh* Yes, this tends to be an issue for me, as well.

Other students are usually afraid of my neutral or "blank" face. They always believe I am glaring at them. It does not help that I like metal, ("normal" people tend to think metal makes a person bad, evil, or Satanic, but it does not) wear black, paint my nails, wear dark makeup, and am exceptionally quiet.

Even when I did not wear makeup, people were still afraid of me, because of the neutral look on my face that I tend to wear when I am not laughing at something. What, do they expect me to saunter around like a googley-eyed jabberwocky?
 
People who I don't really know have often asked me "Are you all right?"
Sometimes I have purposely tried to smile, but I sensed that my facial muscles were getting it all wrong. Other people's lack of appropriate response backs up that feeling.
 
I find it very hard to use all the muscles in my face to try to express myself
I get very tired after trying to use facial expression

I've also heard from people that I sound weak when I speak and people sometimes dont hear what I'm saying and I have to repeat myself

Sometimes I just find it very hard to talk at all....... (except when someone is talking about things related to my fields of interest)
 
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