Expressionless Face

Post Reply New Topic

My daughter said to me yesterday that I always look angry. I was very surprised at this, so I asked her why, she replied that my face was always "straight". Am I imagining it, or did I read somewhere that Aspies don't show much facial expression? Do you think this is what she means? (She's eleven).

I have never liked having my photo taken and would often pull silly faces because I didn't want to be in the picture. How do you feel about being photographed?

I have muted affect, and that's exactly what it is - not showing much expression.

I don't get this nearly as often as I used to, but I used to get it a lot. I would go into work, and people would ask me what was wrong. I'd be baffled, because oftentimes nothing was wrong, and sometimes I was even in a good mood. I think I've learned to adjust that to some degree.
Photos are a different story altogether. I've always hated getting my picture taken. I'm extremely unphotogenic, and I'm usually making some strange face in an attempt at a smile. My mother always said that I smiled like a frog in pictures. I never open my mouth to smile - I always thought it looks barbaric. My mother-in-law likes to point out the one picture of me in which I seem to be smiling open-mouthed, but that's just because the photographer caught me while I was talking to someone.

See thread about cameras for photo of me.
Can't be arsed to repost.

I express if I want to express. I generally keep it under control though and don't bother most of the time.
That said, when I do emote... it tends to seem a bit... forced. Mostly because it is. Manual pseudo-emotions ftw... ¬_¬

I actually have a very expressive face and my mother said to me not long ago that she noticed my expressions changed a lot in only a few seconds although I didn't say anything. I believe this may be be because I draw cartoons and my characters also have very expressive eyes and faces, and as a kid I was very drawn to cartoons on TV and movies where characters were also very expressive. Sometimes however, I feel I have to "fake" an expression such as happiness or excitement during a situation where I'm not unhappy but I'm not ecstatic, either, or deep down I am unhappy.

My facial expression seems pretty limited but to quote my debugger (psychologist):
"At least I know you can laugh or make a sad face"
So, I can express basic emotions (the strongest emotions) at least.

And I'm fine with cameras and photos, if I am not forced to "act as if".
If they want me to smile naturally, they have to make a joke (my mother somewhat understands my humour, so that works), otherwise I feel as if I come off as... weird looking.

I am told that I look angry a lot as well

When I was younger I would often get asked "what's wrong?", from my parents, friends, and random people. Suppose I looked sad or mad. Most of the time I'm content but my face is blank and not displaying any emotion.


I still get asked this occasionally, but I've learned to be a little more expressive. I smile a lot in response to things and often when greeting friends, and when I'm in a really good mood I'll likely have a permanent smirk on my face. I have an incredibly hard time smiling for pictures, though I try my best. Sometimes I'll catch my self doing somewhat funny "faces" in response to things like music, things that really strike an emotion of sort in me. But generally I don't display much emotion with my face.

Yes, my neutral expression seems to be often misinterpreted by NTs as angry, critical or stupid/vacant

I have to actively put on a 'social'/non-threatening expression to fit in better and often forget to do it as it doesn't come natural to me and it's inconvenient.

My expressions are direct reactions to things that happen and even then I don't always need to respond to something by changing my expression but NTs' expressions seem to change with every little thought I've noticed.

Mine don't and they find this disturbing and think I'm miserable/angry just because I don't actively smile all the time.
I think it's expected of women generally that they should look happy and welcoming so it's like I'm transgressing gender rules

Men aren't expected to walk around smiling though so if it's good enough for them!

To NTs the face is how you communicate to others - it's like a communication transmission unit that is expected to be continually transmitting data to others concerning your mood and thoughts - they expect to be able to read you just like everyone else. So if you aren't transmitting at all or not transmitting on their wavelength they find it consternating.

So this is not uncommon with us then. I too have been told on many, many occasions in the past to "smile!" because I look so serious (along with having people in passing cars shouting at me to take my sunglasses off because it wasn't even sunny).

In my wedding photos, I felt so uncomfortable and I was so paranoid about looking miserable I tried to put on this hint of a smile face to look "content" or something and I cried when I saw the photos, I looked like an utter simpleton. I clearly can't do fake faces, and I've found that many times when I try to make a face I've seen someone else doing, and I look in the mirror it looks nothing like the face they did.

I mostly use 2 expressions.
One is the emotionless one, that can look a bit sad at times.
The other is my smile, and I'm often told by people that I suddenly smile, without a reason.
I think that, basing this on what other people say, 55-60% of the times there's a smile on my face, 45-40% of the times my face is emotionless.

I have blunted affect (expressionless face + monotone voice) due to a mixture of autism and schizophrenia.

Add me to the list, but somewhere on the bottom. It's not entirely emotionless, it's just less emotional than the average NT face. It can still make people ask questions like "Are you sad/angry/depressed/tired?" though, which can be annoying over time.

Hi, I'm directing this reply at those who mentioned that people assume that they are angry when they are in a neutral mood. Recently, I was studying about the six so-called "basic and universal emotions" (Happiness/Sadness/Anger/Disgust/Fear/Surprise" when I realized that I couldn't detect anger. I mistook angry faces for neutral faces or determined faces. Hmm, as far as I can remember, those angry faces that I came across all had narrowed eyes and tightened lips. (You will have to press your upper lip as hard as possible onto your lower lip if you want to create the "tightened lips" effect.)

My wife will often get annoyed with me because I apparently appear angry or nasty or just 'off' when I say something. I always try to explain that I really didn't mean it that way but this rarely helps. It is very very frustrating. Last time it happened I really pushed her for what specifically I was doing wrong and apparently, after she took some time to think about it, the problem was that I was speaking really flat with a very serious/expressionless face. So, yeah, that would be typical AS then, I suppose.

I really really wish she would just take some time to read up on Asperger's syndrome. She understands bits about the condition and I have spoken to her a bit about stuff. She does agree that I probably have AS but just feels she does not really need to read up on it since she feels she already knows all there is to know about me simply from being with me for 10 years. In a way it is true since she notices things about me that I don't even realise myself but I cant help but think that it would help our marriage if she understood some of the background like how I honestly don't realise when I am appearing harsh a lot of the time. I don't expect her to obsessively research as much as I have but even just asking me a few questions about it every now and again or something.

OK, rant over.