SKIN COLOR DOES NOT MATTER

SKIN COLOR DOES NOT MATTER

It is well known that tone of voice, face muscles, body movements, choice of clothes and many of our behaviors, whether conscious or not, reflect our moods. We now know that our face skin color changes with our moods and those who look at us perceive our mood because they interpret the colors. Changes in blood flow and composition around the nose, eyebrows, cheeks and chin give combinations of red, yellow, green and grey that are specific for well-defined emotional states. Onlookers understand if we are angry, happy, sad, disgusted etc. The combinations are so specific for each mood that algorithms have been patented so that computerized artificial intelligence programs can recognize and simulate human emotions. Besides the basic emotions like anger and happiness there are more complex ones, such as happily surprised or sadly angry or disappointed with regret and each has a specific color combination. Researchers have identified 18 moods with corresponding colors that most people recognize. Using elaborate forms of photoshop they showed candidates impossible combinations like sad and happy simultaneously. Some candidates said that they were frightened by these faces or that they never wanted to meet people like that. Having to choose between these impossible combination faces and the same faces with colors for negative moods such as disappointment or anger they chose the latter as hypothetical friends. The practical implications of these studies are multiple. It is thought that in some cases of autism there might be a difficulty in recognizing face colors. The cosmetics industry is working to come up with make-up that does not just make people seem prettier, but also happier or whatever mood one wishes to convey.

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