The Good Life

Positive psychology and what makes life worth living.

by Christopher Peterson

How to Put on a Game Face

Here is how to intimidate people.

Published on April 11, 2010 by Christopher Peterson, Ph.D. in The Good Life

In my recent blog entry "Smiles and Longevity: Game Faces and Life Faces," I made some offhand comments about game faces, the facial expressions deliberately displayed by athletes to disguise their real emotions and to intimidate opponents. I speculated that in recent years, these have become markedly negative: hostile and threatening.

In support of my speculation is advice contained on an Internet entry that I just stumbled across titled "How To Put Your Game Face On." I assume it is tongue-in-cheek, but who knows with the Internet. In any event, the how-to advice is thoroughly consistent with my speculation. For what it is worth, here is how I paraphrase the advice:

Preparation
1. Focus on your opponents.
2. Imagine them as snarling dogs in a cage. It is your job to execute these dogs.
3. Concentrate on repeatedly killing these dogs in a vast array of fashions.
4. Learn to hate your opponents. Learn to hate their family. Learn to hate their friends. Learn to hate their fans.

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Procedure
1. Flex all of the muscles in your face, creating an intimidating scowl.
2. Widen your eyes as much as possible.
3. Breathe loudly.
4. Twitch uncontrollably and spit.
5. Look at your opponent from an awkward angle. (Here I cannot help but think about Detective Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who seems always to interrogate suspects while dislocating his own neck.)
6. Scream in pure rage (optional).

If you were to follow this advice as an athlete, you would certainly scare me off the basketball court, the baseball diamond, or the football field. I'd leave gladly because life is short

And if you were to follow this advice - or just some of it - at work or in your life, you would also scare me away. Again, I'd leave gladly because life is short.

So maybe this "advice" should come with a warning label about the interpersonal hazards of a "game face" that lasts more than four hours.