How the E-Motions game works
Each item shows a person’s face, reported as a photo or a short video clip, with a list of emotions to choose from. You pick the one that fits. The game is reported to last four minutes.
It is reported to measure emotional intelligence, and specifically how well you identify emotions. HireVue says its emotional intelligence games line up with standard tests of the same skill.
How to read a face quickly
Read the face in three zones, top to bottom:
- Brows: lowered and drawn together suggests anger; inner corners angled up suggests sadness; raised high and curved suggests surprise.
- Eyes: a hard glare goes with anger; wide eyes showing white above the iris go with fear and surprise.
- Nose and mouth: a wrinkled nose points to disgust, lips stretched back to fear, and a loose, open mouth to surprise.
- Choose the emotion that fits all three zones, not just the mouth.
Worked example
Two faces both have raised brows, wide eyes and an open mouth. On the first, the brows are curved and the jaw hangs loose: surprise. On the second, the brows are flatter and the lips are tense and stretched back: fear.
Tips for the real E-Motions game
- Check the brows first. Fear and surprise look alike lower down the face; the brows tell them apart.
- Commit and move on. With four minutes for the whole game, a long stare at one face costs you the next.
- Practise on photos of real faces, not cartoons or emojis. The real game is reported to use photos or video.
- If faces look blurry on a Windows computer, try Firefox or Safari, or the HireVue app. Chrome and Edge can render the games poorly on low-powered machines.
Practise E-Motions on CogniPrep
Our E-Motions shows 40 photographed faces in four minutes, up to six seconds each, with seven labels to choose from: happy, sad, angry, fearful, surprised, disgusted and neutral. A face left unanswered when its time runs out counts as a miss. Your score out of 100 is mostly accuracy, with smaller shares for recognising each emotion consistently and for speed.