How expressive are you? (Face vs Voice)

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Some people have told me that I creep them out because my face is expressive but my voice isn't. In other words, while my voice remains monotonous regardless of how I feel, people can tell how I feel through my facial expressions (which I don't even notice). Someone who knows that I'm an Aspie once said, "You need to learn how to put on a blank face. Normal people maintain blank faces all the time so that people can't read them so easily." Hmm, how about you?

i lack common body language fluency, both in transmission as well as reception. my voice alternates disconcertingly, between sing-song and monotonous, between high-pitched and basso. i have been told that my face is mask-like and my overall manner is robotic. oh well, there could be worse things.

I chose the first one, because I am actually very expressive. I get mad if I CAN'T express my feelings, using face and voice.

Very expressive but people will always read my moods incorrectly. They also constantly misjudge the intentions behind my actions (ie I may say something and it is taken totally the wrong way...meaning that people start yelling at me for something I have not done, such as being intentionally nasty when in actual fact I was merely making an observation and was not intending to be nasty at all. Or, more frequently because I now keep my observations to myself to stop people yelling at me and upsetting me, they accuse me of being intentionally difficult and doing things that irritate them on purpose when I am not. I also get accused of lying when I am actually telling the truth, which frustrates me no end!).

Either its something I am doing wrong or NT's really can't read body language etc as well as they think they can! They seem to be worse than I am! At least I admit when something does not make sense to me or I cannot read something...

When I am upset they think I am angry, when I am excited they think I am angry (I have a loud voice if I don't consciously quieten it down so people think I am shouting when I am not). When I am happy they think I am sad (probably because I don't constantly grin like a cheshire cat) and so on. It gets on my nerves as people keep telling me to calm down and cheer up at times when I am happy and relaxed lolololololol

It's another complication that adds to all my other difficulties when socialising...expressing myself in a way that other people can understand me correctly via body language and facial expressions. I am not always fully aware of what my body language is doing, and having to focus my attention on it in an attempt to get it right is distracting!

Ie quieten voice, stand up straight, make eye contact, smile in the right places, no don't stare...

Meanwhile, I have no idea what the conversation is about because I am too focused on my body language and vocal tones to be able to follow it!

Then I am also distracted by my own thoughts, trying not to talk about the same thing all the time, trying to make sure I am having a two way conversation rather than just talking at people, trying to hear people over the background noise, trying not to squint because the light is too bright and it makes it look like I am frowning when I am not, trying to work out if people like me or not, trying to figure out what is appropriate in this situation and what is not, trying to think of things to say and trying to follow a conversation that consists of mostly small talk and gossip and which I am not really interested in...because as much as I want friends I also want to get back to pondering my own thoughts again (I have a slight problem with self absorption which is not the same as being deliberately selfish but which is often taken that way by people)...

It gives me a headache...literally. Socialising is a major trigger for my migraines. Too much stimulation I think...system goes into meltdown and can't take it, so my brain short circuits and a miss migraine shows up!

Last edited by bumble on 22 Feb 2012, 10:16 am, edited 2 times in total.

My face can be very expressive or stony. And my voice can be very animated or monotone. If I'm talking about something I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about, both will be animated. When I am conveying information to others, my voices gets monotone (not sure about my face) When someone is telling me something, my face often gets stony and unresponsive.

I also feel that people are confused by my expressions and tone a lot of the time. Apparently, I often sound argumentative when I am trying to get a point across and have to really focus to have a "nice" sounding tone. And I am confused by other people's facial expressions. I have to not look at some people when they talk to me or I will get distracted and confused by their facial expression and not be able to concentrate on their words. For this reason, I have become very fond of internet communication.

Yes, NTs can misinterpret body language too, quite a lot of times. They haven't all got eyes of a hawk that watch you every second and perfectly note every move that you do.

I've grown more accustomed to being expressive both vocally and through facial expressions. I guess I had at least a lot of practice.

The only time I'm not really expressive with my face is when I'm angry. My face just goes stiff, and people don't take me seriously because of that (not that I'm taken seriously in general, being a teenager).

My voice is expressive most of the time. And my face varies from very expressive to completely blank that is usually misunderstood as angry/mean.

I've been told a lot that my voice is monotone, especially when I'm unhappy.

I'm not sure on my face, but I couldn't imagine that being much different...I don't really know what kind of faces I could make, apart from smiling...

I don't know... I avoid mirrors, and talking. I picked not expressive for both.

My face is expressive but my voice isn't as expressive as the voices of most people.

My face and body language are very expressive - my family members can correctly pick up on even the slightest shift in my emotions.

My voice, however, is very loud and monotone.

Often my body language is misinterpreted. Sometimes others dont believe what I tell them because they think my body language indicates Im actually feeling something else. I usually dont manage to get people to take my word over my body language, which frustrates me. e.g someone thinks I look worried when I am just thinking and then starts trying to deal with my nonexistent worries, not believing me when I tell them I am just thinking, not worried.

I've noticed this more since I've come here

My voice is horrendously monotonous at work, I notice it whilst talking and try and change the pitch mid sentence which makes me sound like I'm stood on pins lol. When I am around my friends my voice can be more normal and sometimes all over the place.
I have an expressive face though. Sometimes when I'm walking to work I will think of something funny (my super power is making myself laugh) and I will just start to laugh and have a beaming smile on my face. Oppositely I will frown if I am disagreeing with someone. Come to think of it, what I lack in vocal expression I make up for in facial expression.

My face and voice don't express anything (until I start to smile in the Mona Lisa like manner to myself, which looks like I was plotting something evil) - I speak "that's great" or "that's horrible" in exactly the same voice.

Depends on who you ask. Some say I'm unusually full of expression. Others say I never show any emotion.

As a result, I have concluded that it is their problem, and not mine.