I came across this research that studied whether one could determine the relationship strategy of another person by their face alone. Since many of us use psychological theory as a basis for our entertainment, I thought I'd pass it along for your consideration for a potential plot or effect.

Here's an excerpt:

Participants were asked to judge the attractiveness and attitudes to sex of the opposite sex from their facial photographs. These perceptual judgements were then compared with the actual attitudes and behaviours of the individuals in the photographs, which had been determined through a detailed questionnaire. The people in the photographs were all in their early 20s.

The experiments found that the men and women taking part could generally judge from photographs who would be more interested in a short-term sexual relationship. In the first study sample of 153 participants, 72 per cent of people correctly identified the attitudes from photographs more than half of the time. However, further questioning showed that the participants were not always confident in their judgements.

The full article can be found here --> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200......2048.htm

Here's another that revealed people looking for short term relationships focused on body, those looking for longer term relationships focused on the face. The methodology used in the research is just as insightful as the results.

Here's a snippet:

As part of the study, 375 college students were shown an image of another person, whose face and body was hidden, who was described as either a potential short-term or long-term mate. The participants had the option of looking at either head or body, but not both.

Twenty-five percent of men who were told to consider the mate as a long-term partner looked at their potential partner's body. In contrast, 51 percent of those who were told to consider her as a short-term partner chose to look her body.

The full article is here--> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201......5837.htm

The "why" behind the choices could be included as background when setting up an effect.

I agree with the first part of the above. However, as a male escort, mainly for women who just don't care anymore, I find that many in today's society like to look at the bank balance before committing to longer term relationships.

hahahaha you gotta be a riot on stage
you actually make me cry of laughter
I'm dying to see your show!!!
that was HILARIOUS!

well, guess that phenomen is not only up to today´s society.. ;-)

Verry interesting articles. Face reading is a science in Asia, we use it every day in cold reading. It is more easy to laught than learn.

Face reading is an excellent tool for providing effective and very entertaining readings for anyone.

Magic Café member isidOre has an excellent manuscript teaching mentalists exactly how it can be added to your repertoire

http://www.imentalism.com/e-books/readings/face-reading

Kam

Now that the search function is gone, would someone mind refreshing my memory. Several months ago there was a thread about a new system of (chinese?) face reading. There were various discussions about whether this was the same as what had gone before (micro-expression) etc... Is this Isodore's product or is there another product on this as well?

Kam,
thank you for your kind words regarding my work.

Ragingcalm,
Thank you for asking. The thread mentioned was about my offering. To clarify,as there was a bit of confusion when this first came out my product is a combination of Somatypes and Chinese/European Face reading NOT Microexpression theory.

The problem with most mono-ethnic systems is the portability of certain physical characteristics and the interpretation because of cultural influence. The system I was taught is not based on one culture alone.

I hope that explains it for you.

If you are interested the price is $37.97 and is available at http://www.imentalism.com/e-books/readings/face-reading

my best,
Walter

'You can tell a lot about people - by what they're like' - Harry Hill

:)

Bev,
I always thought that quote said " you can tell a lot about people by what they like" thanks for the correction and who said it.

Well, there might be two quotes! But this one is funny. It's the key ingredient to cold reading that everyone always forgets - when you meet someone, what do you think they're like? Sound obvious, but many people start thinking 'cold reading' stuff so early on when they meet someone they forget to just be natural and go with their instinct - which they may well have repressed by reading too many books!

I think the face is definitely a good place to start!

While I generally agree with the findings presented, I must question whether a survey of college students can be translated into what "people" think or do. This is hardly a representative sampling of any culture and is therefore flawed in any scientific sense.

What could be valuable for Mentalists is recognition that any change in facial expression might indicate a change in perception of the material of the moment, but translation into a "yes/no" cue would be a step too far. Kenisiologist (sp) make a living out of testing body reactions to external stimuli for diagnosing both physical and mentle problems -- perhasp a better place to look for useful tools.