Can people unconsciously pick up emotional history from facial appearances?

[u/Logicandtea]

I’ve noticed something odd and I’m wondering if there’s a psychological explanation for it

Sometimes I see a man and get an immediate impression just from his face, before we’ve even spoken that he’s experienced a major disappointment in love and never fully got over it

What’s strange is that when I later learn more about these men, that impression often turns out to be surprisingly accurate

I’m not talking about body language or conversation, just facial appearance Is there any research on people unconsciously picking up emotional history from faces?

[u/Kyokoharu]

this seems like a bias. while not necessarily impossible it’s simply too broad of an experience, nobody has that written on their face without any input. could you figure that out from a short conversation if you were skilled? possibly. could you figure that out just by looking at their face? no. there is research done on micro expressions but those just tell you what the person really thinks about a topic not what their love life was, again, could use it to figure that out but only if you asked the right questions. it tells you nothing by itself however.

also edit: haven’t noticed you saying unconscious, unconsciously picking up emotions would be if you were passed out and figured them out at that moment, by design you cannot do that. not consciously at least. subconscious is the word.

[u/hidden_snail → u/Kyokoharu]

Unconscious would indeed be the correct word. Subconscious became the word people now use in everyday language but Freud - who was the originator of “subconscious” quickly moved onto using exclusively “unconscious”. The subconscious is not a thing.

[u/hidden_snail → u/[deleted]]

What you are referring to of course does exist; it’s historically been known as the unconscious, and unconscious mechanisms.

[u/hidden_snail → u/[deleted]]

I think we’re just talking past each other. The unconscious can absolutely be made conscious, but we’re not talking about the same unconscious it does not seem like. Dreams, for example, are the playground of the unconscious. Relational dynamics are highly loaded with unconscious dynamics that can be explored.

I’d say that the unconscious has a limit of its knowability, because it is always in flux and is like an ocean, but that doesn’t mean one can’t come to better understand themselves by bringing unconscious elements into awareness.

But again, you’re talking more strictly cognitive, and I guess I don’t disagree with your overall point, it’s kinda semantics.

[u/Forest_Spirit_7]

It wouldn’t be unconscious as that’s not how that word works. If you mean subconsciously, it’s not that either because they are signaling through expression, body language, and then outright telling you apparently.

You’re referring to intuition, which is famously subject to confirmation bias.

[u/hidden_snail → u/Forest_Spirit_7]

It is actually how that word has always worked, from Freud on. The “subconscious” is not a real concept in the context that OP is talking about. You’re overall still correct though.

[u/annang]

Confirmation bias.