It might be that you are clenching your teeth while working. This makes one look angry.
Solution: relax the masseter every now and then.
Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
131–140 of 203 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#132I've gotten this feedback from those around me for years. Even before I was a coder, when I was an ESL teacher in China, I had multiple students approach me (those I had made friends with, they were all 20-somethings and over) and ask me if I was OK, because I looked angry. I appreciated their concern but I didn't feel angry, so I had no clue what they were talking about. It was only later that I learned about the co…
I don't think resting bitch face is about looking angry, but I understand your overall point.
What is it about if not looking angry?
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#133Not only when I work... I generally look mad; somewhat permanently furrowed brow, I suppose
I've also been routinely mistaken for somebody with military service history. I guess something to do with how I glare
Skeptical it's about how I dress, it hasn't significantly changed since I was a teenager. Purely focused on comfort. I can't be bothered to buy clothes!
I've also been told I have a smile that lights up a room; people can't make up their minds... or maybe it really melts this angry image
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#134Well I am constantly muttering "FFS" while battling with my code/compiler, so maybe.
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#135I've gotten this feedback from those around me for years. Even before I was a coder, when I was an ESL teacher in China, I had multiple students approach me (those I had made friends with, they were all 20-somethings and over) and ask me if I was OK, because I looked angry. I appreciated their concern but I didn't feel angry, so I had no clue what they were talking about. It was only later that I learned about the co…
That tendency of other humans to jump to conclusions about a person's demeanor and personality based on facial expression is one of the most irritating characteristics of humans. No matter how many times we hear cliche's like "don't judge a book by its cover," people routinely (and confidently) do that all the time.
At the same time I think a lot of people walk around angry at the world and unaware of their problem. Or a lot of people are depressed and don't realize it. Or any number of issues.
A lot of times it can be all over somebody's face and body language.
Self awareness is hard. I used to take selfies to help neutrally assess my own mood. A lot of the time I was feeling something and unaware, but I could tell from the photo.
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#136I have the most terrible frown when I’m concentrating. Not great for the wrinkles.
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think resting bitch face is about looking angry, but I understand your overall point.
What is it about if not looking angry?
looking unapproachable while having no facial expressions.
Some people just look like assholes, it doesn't imply they look angry.
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#138I had a co-worker call it RBF. Resting Bitch Face.
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#139I do and I also display other strong emotions such as disgust, surprise etc. But I also think that I look angry because I _am_ angry. Anger allows us to increase arousal and helps us focus on an 'obstacle' and programming presents many obstacles. It's self defeating however, because working in this way is exhausting. In working with a close friend, who programs much more patiently and methodically, I'm slowly learnin…
> Many people are saying that they only look angry, and that they actually aren't angry. This may be 100% true, but the facial feedback hypothesis suggests
I used to know someone like that; even when she smiled, her eyes seemed to have a pained crinkle around the edges. She insisted that she felt fine, that it was just a trick of her facial features - but she tended to get aggravated by other people so easily that it was hard to believe her. I suspect that she was simply accustomed to a baseline feeling of irritation and didn't really notice its presence.
(Validating the facial-feedback hypothesis further, I knew someone else who got botox treatment for her forehead, so she could no longer scowl; this notably improved her mood.)
Re: Ask HN: Do you look angry while you work?
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
That tendency of other humans to jump to conclusions about a person's demeanor and personality based on facial expression is one of the most irritating characteristics of humans. No matter how many times we hear cliche's like "don't judge a book by its cover," people routinely (and confidently) do that all the time.
At the same time I think a lot of people walk around angry at the world and unaware of their problem. Or a lot of people are depressed and don't realize it. Or any number of issues. A lot of times it can be all over somebody's face and body language. Self awareness is hard. I used to take selfies to help neutrally assess my own mood. A lot of the time I was feeling something and unaware, but I could tell from the pho…
Yes very true, it's "correct" often enough that it does start to build confidence.
I think that's what makes it so frustrating. Especially when you know the person well, facial expression can be a really good indicator. The main problem IMHO comes in when people try to read into facial expressions of people they don't know and draw wide conclusions from it. If people mainly saw strangers looking unhappy and thought, "oh wow that person must be having a bad day" it would probably be a net positive in society. But I have no idea how to convince people to think that way.