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Devin Dillard
COM 122 20
2/17/2016
Application Paper #2
Your Poker Face Doesnt Always Tell the Truth
My research has really given me a lot of insight on how to sharpen my emotional
communication skills goal. Very often I ask myself, How come Im unable to check my
problems at the front door somedays? With the help of the LDSBC Library and databases, I
found a couple amazing articles specifically pertaining to emotional communication. One is,
Carrying Too Heavy a Load? The Communication and Miscommunication of Emotion by
Email, by Kristin Byron (Academy of Management Review 2008, Vol. 33, No. 2, 309-327). The
other article is, Expression without Recognition: Contributions of the Human Amygdala to
Emotional Communication, by Adam K. Anderson and Elizabeth A. Phelps (Psychological
Science, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Mar., 2000), pp. 106-111).
After researching and reading through these documents I found it very interesting where
our emotions are processed; the amygdala. Effective social communication depends on both the
ability to send and receive signals of emotional state. The way emotions are processed is
established as being the amygdala but how emotional expressions are produced still seems to be
a mystery. Why do I make the faces I do and how does my mind register feelings with
expressions? We know we do make these expressions and have learned what some expressions
mean (Anderson & Phelps).
Happy, surprised, afraid, angry, disgusted, sad and neutral are expressions our faces make
that capture almost every mood we can be in. In my research I discovered charts and tests within
this research. They compared angry and disgusted expressions and that can seem to be very

similar. Happy and surprised also relate to each other and then sad and neutral alike. Afraid was
an expression that appeared to stand on its own. This made me laugh out loud as I was reading
because its not often you see someone really afraid. When you do, its an expression that makes
people laugh or worried themselves. If this werent the case Americas Funniest Home Videos
wouldnt be so popular. Think back to the last time you watched it? In how many of the videos
was somebody or some animal terrified? Almost every video you can pinpoint someone or
something very afraid for what is about to happen next; a motorcycle jump gone wrong, a person
hiding around a corner and scaring somebody, etc.
So when I come home after a long stressful day and am just feeling neutral about things,
it could possibly look like Im sad or upset. Now its beginning to make a bit more sense. Angry
and disgusted are the closest on the charts to sad and neutral. If Im not careful of my facial
expressions, my sad and/or neutral faces could be confused for being angry. This knowledge will
really help me better understand why my aura may be off to another person. They could be spot
on with how Im truly feeling or off just a little bit. Being off just a little bit can really change the
situation a whole lot.
In the workplace these expressions are just as important as they are at home or any other
setting. If a manager or superior asks for an employee to do something, their expressions of
neutral could be taken as sad and depressed. An employer or coworker doesnt want to see you as
sad when completing a task. This could set off a lot of concerns. I notice a co-worker of mine
slumped back in his chair looking sad quite often. I may be completely off on how hes feeling.
Hes probably just doing his job and not putting much thought into it but I think hes depressed.
How far off could I be? Learning to read these expressions and ask for clarity if confused
becomes the second half of communication that is important. Interpreting the emotional

communication is a skill that must be practiced and even then, we may never be fully correct on
what were interpreting.
Sending emails and communicating in other ways besides face-to-face sets a whole new
world of challenges. We must really be conscious of how we are conversing and trying to get
thoughts across in the workplace (Byron). This could decide your future employment with a
company or ruin a relationship you have with another employee in a different department. An
associate of mine always responds to my emails very plainly with short to the point comments.
Ive never met this person face-to-face but everyone I talk to in regards to him, says hes a happy
go-lucky guy and fun to talk with. To me, hes boring and doesnt appear to be interested in
anything I have to say.
Ive come to the conclusion that many days, maybe I really am able to check my
problems at the door. Part of me feels Im pretty easy going and care free. Its just that so many
of our emotions are so similarly expressed that we are mistaken for feeling one way when feeling
the opposite. When communicating via email or in writing, what we mean we could be easily
mistaken due to word choice and punctuation. I will more consciously be aware of the emotional
faces I make in my communication. The wording, length and grammar used in my written
communication is going to be taken into more thought as well. It would be horrible to think that
many clients and associates depict me to be a person that Im not. I truly want my friends, family
members, loved ones and co-workers to see me for who I am, and mistaking me for being
someone else. This isnt a change made over night, but with the knowledge Ive gained, I can
practice and become a better emotional communicator.