How well can you read emotions? Take the test to find out

February 23, 2017

Two thirds of women in the survey correctly recognized 5 or more emotions
Men found to be better at recognizing emotions related to lust and anger
Researchers also found that ability improves with age, until you reach 65

Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com

Published:
13:47 EST, 22 February 2017

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Updated:
15:18 EST, 22 February 2017

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Eyes may be the ‘windows to the soul,’ but depending on who’s reading them, they might tell very different stories.

A new study in the UK found that women tend to be more perceptive than men when determining another person’s emotion based only on their eyes and eyebrows, especially when it comes to reading signs of vulnerability.

Men, however, were found to excel at detecting emotions related to lust and anger – and for both genders, researchers say the ability gets better with age.

Take the test below to see how well you perceive others’ emotions

In the study, the researchers surveyed a total of 2000 men and women in the UK.

Participants were shown pairs of eyes and eyebrows, and asked to choose the correct term that describes which emotion that person is conveying.

Overall, women were found to be slightly better at reading other people, with two thirds of women in the survey correctly recognizing 5 or more emotions.

Only 56 percent of men were able to do this.

The researchers also found that women were more confident in their ability to read emotions, with half reporting that they were either ‘slightly better’ or ‘much better’ at doing so than their friends and family, while only 44 percent of men said the same.

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The survey also revealed that men and women differ in their abilities to notice particular emotions.

Women were more likely to recognize ‘vulnerable emotions,’ including shocked or scared, with more than three quarters able to do so.

But, only 60 percent of men could tell that someone was scared.

When it comes to recognizing a ‘pleading’ or ‘guilty’ look, women beat men by five percent.

HOW WE READ EMOTIONS

In a new study published in Psychological Science, researchers investigated how we use other people’s eyes to infer their emotional state.

Narrowed eyes, for example, tend to be associated with disgust and suspicion.

And, in turn, they say these inferences align with the optical function of those expressions.

While opening our eyes wide boosts sensitivity and allows more light in to see any potential threats, narrowing our eyes increases visual acuity, and helps to discriminate fine details.

In a new study published in Psychological Science , researchers investigated how we use other people’s eyes to infer their emotional state

According to the researchers, these opposing types of expressions may have evolved social purposes as well.

‘Our findings show that how we see directly relates to how others see us, through our facial expressions,’ says psychological scientist Daniel H Lee of the University of Colorado Boulder.

‘This is a clear demonstration of emotional embodiment, from sender to receiver.’

In the survey, men were found to be better at recognizing emotions related to lust and anger, including ‘interested,’ ‘desire,’ and ‘hostile.’

Roughly 58 percent of men could correctly detect ‘interest’ from the visual cues, and 41.9 percent could recognize desire.

The researchers say the ability improves with age – until you reach 65.

The best scores were seen in people aged 55-64 and 45-54, they say, though people aged 65 and over were best at determining when a person is ‘ashamed.’

On average, participants scored 4.9/10 on the test, ‘suggesting most people can’t detect other people’s moods as much as they think they might.’