Why our faces tell our personalities

by phil on Monday Feb 9, 2004 1:50 PM
facial expressiveness

From the time we our born, our personalities are manifesting in 24/7 (even while sleeping) facial expressions. These mappings persist and leave imprints on our faces as we grow. Thus the shape of our face on the outside is indicative of shaping on the inside.

You can infer this natural kind of "imprinting" by artifical imprinting.

There are societies that place rings around their necks during childhood so as to inspire the elongation of the neck. In China, they used to keep women's feet wrapped in tight shoes to shrink the feet. And those in wheelchairs during childhood retain small legs. Persistent constraints during ontogeny (The origin and development of an individual organism from embryo to adult) determine what the adult will look like.

Our personalities have an arc of concresence that slows to a snail's pace by the time we're 16. From the time we are born to that point, our facial expressions are constantly constraining the growth of tissues on our faces. Our faces are born with some clay, but then molded by our constant facial gestures. Eventually, you can read someone's face directly to get a sense of their personality.