The Human Face

One of America's great philosophers says the time has come to reform philosophy. Putnam calls upon philosophers to attend to the gap between the present condition of their subject and the human aspirations that philosophy should and once did claim to represent. His goal is to embed philosophy in social life.

Humans possess the most expressive faces in the animal kingdom. Adam Wilkins presents evidence ranging from the fossil record to recent findings of genetics, molecular biology, and developmental biology to reconstruct the fascinating story of how the human face evolved. Beginning with the first vertebrate faces half a billion years ago and continuing to dramatic changes among our recent human ancestors, Making Faces illuminates how the unusual characteristics of the human face came about—both the physical shape of facial features and the critical role facial expression plays in human society. Offering more than an account of morphological changes over time and space, which rely on findings from paleontology and anthropology, Wilkins also draws on comparative studies of living nonhuman species. He examines the genetic foundations of the remarkable diversity in human faces, and also shows how the evolution of the face was intimately connected to the evolution of the brain. Brain structures capable of recognizing different individuals as well as “reading” and reacting to their facial expressions led to complex social exchanges. Furthermore, the neural and muscular mechanisms that created facial expressions also allowed the development of speech, which is unique to humans. In demonstrating how the physical evolution of the human face has been inextricably intertwined with our species’ growing social complexity, Wilkins argues that it was both the product and enabler of human sociality.

The fascinating story of our most familiar features. An intriguing and unique journey of self-discovery, exploring the evolutionary, social and psychological aspects of the face.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the human face, providing fascinating information from biological, cultural, and social perspectives. Our faces identify who we are—not only what we look like and what ethnicities we belong to, but they can also identify what religions we practice and what personal ideologies we have. This one-of-a-kind A–Z reference explores the ways we change, beautify, and adorn our faces to create our personalities and identities. In addition to covering the basics such as the anatomical structure and function of parts of the human face, the entries examine how the face is viewed around the world, allowing students to easily draw connections and differences between various cultures around the world. Readers will learn about a wide variety of topics, including identity in different cultures; religious beliefs; folklore; extreme beautification; the "evil eye;" scarification; facial piercing and facial tattooing masks; social views about beauty including cosmetic surgery and makeup; how gender, class and sexuality play a role in our understanding of the face; and skin, eye, mouth, nose, and ear diseases and disorders. This encyclopedia is ideal for high school and undergraduate students studying anthropology, anatomy, gender, religion, and world cultures.

Emotion in the Human Face: Guidelines for Research and an Integration of Findings reviews research findings about the link between the face and emotion and provides some guidelines for study of this complicated but intriguing phenomenon. Some of the conceptual ambiguities that have hindered research and the methodological decisions that must be made in planning research on the face and emotion are discussed. How past investigators handled these matters is presented critically, and a set of standards is offered. This book is comprised of 21 chapters and begins with an overview of questions about how the face provides information about emotion, with emphasis on evidence based on scientific research (largely in psychology). The reader is then introduced to conceptual ambiguities and methodological decisions related to research on the face-emotion connection (including sampling), along with some important research findings. In particular, emotion categories and dimensions that observers can judge on the basis of facial behavior are analyzed, and whether such judgments can be accurate. The similarities and differences in facial behavior across cultures are also considered, along with the relative contribution of facial behavior and contextual information to the judgment of emotion. This monograph is intended primarily for students of psychology, anthropology, ethology, sociology, and biology, as well as those planning or already conducting research on the face.

The authors invited more than 100 journalists worldwide to use photographs, charts and essays to explore the world of big data and its growing influence on our lives and society.

Explores how decision-makers can manage uncertainty that varies in both kind and severity by extending and supplementing Bayesian decision theory.

The original edition of Emotion in the Human Face, published in 1972, was the first volume to evaluate and integrate all the research on facial expression of emotion since Darwin's The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals was published in 1872. It presented a detailed, critical discussion of research involving the face and emotion, focusing on the complex conceptual and methodological issues involved, and settling many past controversies, such as whether the face provides accurate information about emotion, and whether some facial expressions are universal. This special Malor Books edition includes a new Preface, three additional chapters, and a new conclusion summarizing Ekman's final views on the field that he has played such a large part in creating. Contributors to this work include: Paul Ekman, Phoebe Ellsworth, Wallace V. Friesen, Joseph C. Hager, Harriet Oster, Maureen O'Sullivan, William K. Redican and Silvan S. Tomkins.

Explores and describes the evolutionary history of the face, facial forms and types, sexual and racial characteristics, structural characteristics and alteration, artificial decoration and concealment, expressive and communicative factors, and the various theories of physiognomists.

This volume marks the first time that a collection of contemporary facial scoring techniques and their utility, whether clinical, experimental, theoretical, or otherwise, follows an historical introduction of the area, thereby recording the developmental history of this science.