In the 1970s Paul Ekman, an American psychologist, developed a comprehensive coding system which is still widely used.

ECONOMIST: Facial monitoring

Nonetheless, Ekman is a giant in the field and his contribution to our understanding of non-verbal communication is enormous.

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Humans share the basic emotions identified by Dr Ekman's work with other mammals.

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Along the way, Ekman discovered something else, his other great contribution to the study of non-verbal communication: micro-expressions.

FORBES: People I'm Grateful for #5: Paul Ekman

If you have any interest in body language or reading other people, then you need to know the work of Paul Ekman.

FORBES: People I'm Grateful for #5: Paul Ekman

Today, my gratitude is for Paul Ekman.

FORBES: People I'm Grateful for #5: Paul Ekman

Ekman himself offers training from his website, or you can train yourself by studying facial expressions and identifying the basic ones using simple pictures which you look at for shorter and shorter periods of time.

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That created in Ekman a desire to be able to read human emotion and thus intention, because he thought if he could tell that anger was on its way, he might be able to avoid it.

FORBES: People I'm Grateful for #5: Paul Ekman

In studies he conducted in Papua New Guinea, Ekman found that members of the Fore tribe (who were completely disconnected from Western culture and were also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals) attributed smiles to descriptions of situations in the same way you and I would.

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