Speed READING People® Course

Program Six

JOE NAVARRO ACADEMY

Nonverbal Communications
Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.
 PROGRAM SIX
Nonverbals of the Face

The face contains a lot of information for us to interpret. It can

be extremely telling, but also misleading. I want to focus on
those things that are truly accurate so that you will be better
prepared to decipher the face.

As before, please type your answers within this document –

click on the grey entry fields after each question and answer
fully. The fields can take an unlimited amount of characters
so don’t feel restricted by space in providing your answers to
each question.

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

1. Why is the face the mind’s canvas?

Answer:      

2. What emotions can be read on someone’s face? Are emotions universal? Why would that be,
what is behind that?

Answer:      

3. When we squint as we look at someone what does it generally mean? What is the evolutionary
benefit of squinting?

Answer:      

4. Why do people hide their facial emotions? Give me some good reasons why you might.

Answer:      

5. What is head tilting is indicative of? Where is it rarely seen? How does the brain communicate
with a head tilt?

Answer:      

6. Why do we block things with our eyes? How can that possibly assist the brain?

Answer:      

7. What does it mean when we have increased blinking? Is it indicative of deception? What might
be the reason for this behavior when we are repeatedly asked questions?

Answer:      

8. What does pupilary constriction allow us to do? When does it take place?

Answer:      

9. When we see something we really like, what do our pupils do instantly? What might be the
reasons why the brain emphasizes this behavior? What does it have to do with comfort and
discomfort?

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

10. What do lowered eyebrows mean? If you proposed something to your boss and she lowered
her eyebrows, how would you respond to that behavior? What if it continued throughout your
presentation?

Answer:      

11. Why do children who were born blind cover their eyes when they hear something they don’t like?

Answer:      

12. What do flashbulb eyes say? How can this be used in interpersonal interactions?

Answer:      

13. What does it mean when you roll your eyes at someone? Why do people continue to do this
behavior?

Answer:      

14. Why do we feel good when someone we like stares at us but feel uncomfortable when someone
we don’t like does?

Answer:      

15. Why do some people avoid eye contact out of respect to authority? What would be the cultural
benefit to this kind of behavior?

Answer:      

16. What is eyelid flutter and what does it mean when you see it? What range of things is going on
in the brain when you see this behavior?

Answer:      

17. A true smile involves which two eye and facial muscles? Why do we even have a false smile?
Why does a false smile really look false? Why did we evolve this behavior?

Answer:      

18. What do compressed lips mean? What about when they look like an upside down U? How
authentic are these behaviors? Why do you think the brain evolved these behaviors?

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

19. What is lip biting, as shown in the photo below, indicative of? What is going on in the brain when
this takes place? Why did we evolve this behavior?

Answer:      

20. What does lip pursing mean? There are two accurate answers here. Where did this behavior
evolve from? How accurate is it? How can you use lip pursing in social settings (dating) and in
business to your advantage?

Answer:      

21. Is a sneer the same as contempt? If it’s visible, why do people still do these behaviors? What is
the brain trying to do here?

Answer:      

22. What does licking our lips with our tongues mean? What is the brain up to when it compels this
behavior? Where does comfort / discomfort fit in to this?

Answer:      

23. What does a tongue jut mean? (Please give all the appropriate answers.) Is this behavior
universal? What does a tongue jut look like and how is it different to when the tongue merely
licks the lips? Explain.

Answer:      

24. What information can you derive from the forehead? What about touching of the forehead? Why
do we have worry lines?

Answer:      

25. What does a furrowed forehead mean? Do babies do it? Do you think dogs recognize this
behavior? Why would the brain induce this behavior?

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

26. What does nose touching when talking mean? Can it ever imply that the person is lying? Why
would the brain drive such behavior and in what circumstances?

Answer:      

27. What does nose flaring indicate is about to happen? When does it usually occur? How can we
use this behavior to our advantage?

Answer:      

28. What does nose crinkling, a very accurate tell, mean around the world? Does it always mean
this? Can it communicate something else as a social cue?

Answer:      

29. If confronted with mixed signals such as a discomfort display and a crinkled nose followed by a
comfort display, which one do you trust first and foremost? Why is that a good rule to go by?
What does primacy and recency have to do with this?

Answer:      

30. What can cause blushing other than the things already mentioned in the book?

Answer:      

31. Can you use the face to get someone’s attention or to reprimand them? How can we do this?
Explain.

Answer:      

32. According to Paul Ekman the face can have over 10,000 different expressions, how is that
possible?

Answer:      

33. Why is it that we must be careful with the face when it comes to truthful information? Explain in
detail how society contorts our use of the face for communicating honestly?

Answer:      

34. What information can you derive from the chin? Years ago, I was watching a suspect tell a story
and as he told the story his chin drew closer and closer to his neck. If you were confronted with
that, what would you interpret from that behavior and how would you utilize it?

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

 Answer:      

35. Why do people touch their cheeks and/or ears as they talk?

Answer:      

36. Why do people rub their tongue on the inside of their cheek? What about when they do a jaw
displacement (shifting their jaw back and forth)?

Answer:      

37. When observing a person’s behavior, how can you differentiate between whether they are
pacifying or just thinking about something?

Answer:      

38. What is the physiological benefit of exhaling with puffed cheeks when a dangerous situation is
over? Why is this the same as whistling when we pass a graveyard?

Answer:      

39. The following photograph is from Beslan, Russia after a 2004 terrorist attack on a school. As you
look at this mother, describe all the behaviors that you see from head to toe.

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

40. Describe all of the tells you see in the following photograph. Break it down in minute detail. What
is his brain communicating?

Answer:      

41. Decipher the following photograph for me. What does this face tell us? Break it down in detail.

Answer:      

42. Describe what messages Tiger Woods is sending in the following photo and how you know that.
Articulate all the behaviors that you see.

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

43. Look at the following photo and tell me about this individual’s smile. Is it a true smile, it is a
smirk, is it cocky, what does it reveal about what is going on in his brain?

Answer:      

44. You ask for a favor and you see the face in the next photo. What are you observing and what
does it mean in reaction to your request?

Answer:      

45. Tell me what behaviors you see on this face and what is causing these behaviors?

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

46. What behaviors are we seeing in this photograph?

Answer:      

47. What three behaviors do you see on this face?

Answer:      

48. If you asked a question and suddenly saw the face in the following photograph, what would you
think? What are the behaviors present? Are they accurate and what do they tell us?

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

49. What are we seeing in this next photo, what does it mean, and how accurate is it? Tell me all the
behaviors you see.

Answer:      

50. Tell me what you see in this photo. Why is she doing this? What are all the behaviors you
observe and why only on one side of the face?

Answer:      

51. What behaviors do you see in this last photograph? Are they universal?

Answer:      

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.

 Assignment

Force yourself to smile with your eyes engaged. In other

words, give a true smile. Do this a couple of times. Now, tell
me how it made you feel. Did it make you laugh? Paul
Ekman, who I was once a student of, tells us that forcing a
true smile will actually change our mood for the better.

Copyright © 2009-2014 Joe Navarro. All rights reserved.