Business Communication

How
People to Get
from Better at
DifferentReading
Cultures
by Kasia Wezowski
September 18, 2018

Paula Daniëlse/Getty Images

Summary. Body language varies from culture to culture, but microexpressions—

very brief flashes of emotion across the face—are universal. So the ability to read
them can be an effective took for navigating cross-cultural situations. If you study
the common ones, look for... more

Ler em português
Body language varies significantly across cultures. What is
considered rude or foolish in a Nordic country may be welcomed
as warm and friendly in an African one. What a Canadian
businessperson would perceive as arrogant, an American
executive may see as healthy confidence.

But what remains consistent across all known cultures are

microexpressions. These brief, involuntary flashes of facial
expression reveal our true feelings about another person or
situation.

Photos courtesy of the Center For Body Language.

People might try to hide or obscure them in different ways
informed by culture, but to a practiced reader the true emotions
are always visible. Consider the contrast in expressiveness
between Filipino and Japanese people. In the Philippines,
showing emotion — both positive and negative — is a sign of
openness and honesty. In Japan, the opposite is true. Visible
negative emotion is seen as rude or hostile, while expressing too
much positive feeling is considered indelicate. However, when we
evaluate people from both countries for their microexpressions,
we find that they actually experience emotions at more or less the
same level of frequency and intensity. It’s just that the Japanese
consciously try to mask their reactions, often by smiling, while
Filipinos wear their feelings for all the world to see.

The ability to read microexpressions can be useful anywhere — as

we’ve previously shown, salespeople who have this knack get
better results — but it’s particularly useful in more buttoned-up
cultures, where people are careful managers of the physical
signals they send out.
YOU AND YOUR TEAM SERIES
Working Across Cultures
Here’s another example: A few
years ago, my husband and I
traveled to Qatar to lead a body
language workshop for 200 HR
executives. Immediately,
cultural norms made it difficult
to gauge how the audience was
receiving our presentation.

To
on Lead AcrossandCultures,
Hierarchy Decision Focus Women’s bodies were

Making completely covered, so we

by Erin Meyer couldn’t see their posture or
How to Successfully
Countries, Languages,Work
and Across gestures. When I stood on stage

Cultures with my husband, all the men

by Tsedal Neeley looked exclusively at him, and
Leading
RequiresAcross Cultures
Flexibility and Curiosity
all the women looked
exclusively at me. But we could
by Deborah Rowland
read the microexpressions we
saw around the room. We knew
from the videos we’d previously
made of Qataris that the flashes of emotion in their faces reflected
the same sentiments we might find from audience members
anywhere else in the world. And, so we could calibrate our
presentation accordingly, and felt just as comfortable as we would
have at home.

Recognizing and interpreting microexpressions takes practice,

but there are a few things you can start doing immediately to
improve your skills.

First, study the common microexpressions pictured above so you

know the hallmarks of each. Disgust, for example, involves down-
turned lips, while people feeling contempt might show it by
inadvertently pulling one side of the mouth up. Surprise and fear
might look similar, but the latter emotion will cause people to pull
their brows together.
Second, if you know you’re about to visit or interact with another
culture, educate yourself on the local body language — including
masking techniques. YouTube is a great tool for this: Find videos
of 10 executives from that culture and watch how they
communicate.

Third, when you’re in the moment, pay attention. You can’t

interpret microexpressions if you don’t notice them. Don’t make
your counterpart uncomfortable with an unwavering stare. But do
keep your focus on the face.

Fourth, listen to your intuition.When you notice a tiny facial

movement, ask yourself: “What could that mean?” Humans are
wired to subconsciously detect even the subtlest of emotional
flashes, so your gut instinct may be correct.

You might also try to mimic the movement. When you repeat
what you saw — whether it was a quick eyebrow raise or
tightening of the lips, it not only gives you more time to think, but
also fires the mirror neurons in your brain, making it easier for
you to associate the movement you saw with the correct emotion.

If you’re still perplexed, start to exclude emotions. After

memorizing the expressions above, you should be able to quickly
assess what the facial cue does not mean. For example, if you saw
someone’s eyebrows going down, you can exclude surprise, fear,
or sadness — all of which are associated with raised eyebrows —
and work from there.

If you’re presenting to a crowd, as we were in Qatar, continue to

scan the audience for microexpressions. Don’t fixate on one
negative look; instead try to discern the sentiments of the
majority.

Body language can be cultural, but emotions are universal.

Microexpressions reveal someone’s true feelings in a fragment of
a second, and so it pays to notice them and calibrate your
 behavior in cross-cultural interactions accordingly.

Kasia Wezowski is the founder of the Center

for Body Language, the author of four books on
the subject, and the producer and director of
Leap, a documentary about the coaching
profession.

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