What does it really mean to read facial expressions?

[Granta_Omega]

I have yet to really meet an aspie who cannot tell the difference between a happy face, sad face, or an angry face.

I also can generally tell that someone is bored or disgusted if they make it obvious, such as rolling their eyes around all over the place, or they drop their jaw really low.

I guess the only facial expressions I would have trouble reading what they mean would be some of the more poker face typed expressions where they aren't trying to openly communicate an emotion or make it obvious.

I generally think the arts and media sometimes help us interpret faces by seeing acts and the people's faces when performing them may give us somewhat of a guideline of how to interpret such in real life.

 

[Sev]

On the note of facial expressions, I can usually tell whether they are, in general, happy or sad. However, the biggest problem is trying to figure out what they actually want.
Because of my inability to pick up on these subtle hints that somehow come magically to the NT population I have am constantly harassing my own mind with questions.

"Do they want to talk to me?"
"What do I do with my arms?"
"Should I change the topic, I might have talked to much about this subject?"
"What does it mean when they do that? Are they trying to end the conversation?? (what did I do wrong this time...)"

I have more of a body language comprehension problem, than an actual identification problem.

 

[Granta_Omega]

On the note of facial expressions, I can usually tell whether they are, in general, happy or sad. However, the biggest problem is trying to figure out what they actually want.
Because of my inability to pick up on these subtle hints that somehow come magically to the NT population I have am constantly harassing my own mind with questions.

"Do they want to talk to me?"
"What do I do with my arms?"
"Should I change the topic, I might have talked to much about this subject?"
"What does it mean when they do that? Are they trying to end the conversation?? (what did I do wrong this time...)"

I have more of a body language comprehension problem, than an actual identification problem.

I think this seems to be more typical. If they are nodding their head really quickly it usually means they are getting impatient with what you're talking about and want to intervene or close the discussion is what I learned. I was typically able to guess correctly on those fake and real smile tests. I don't really think facial expressions alone tell what someone is feeling though, which is the difficult part.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

I have trouble with some facial expressions... For example, I can't tell the difference between angry and bored expressions.
But I don't usually pay attention to people's face when talking to them anyways, since I find it mostly distracting.

 

[rollerskate]

It's the subtle stuff I have trouble with, and I suppose... context?

Like I can notice someone's head drooping and a dull expression in their eyes. But instead of being able to instantly know what it means, I start launching into this laundry list of possibilities and searching for clues that might help me out. It's like being the non verbal Nancy Drew. I might ask a question about it, because many times they'll just tell you. It drives me insane if they don't though. This is the beginning of why I don't tend to get very close to other women, because many of them won't.