An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields
Humans are master impersonators—even infants can mimic the facial expressions of their friends and parents. Other socially sophisticated primates can copy others’ faces during play, with toothy grins bouncing from one gorilla or orangutan to the next.
Now, scientists have captured video of the world’s smallest bear doing the same thing, the first time that a non-primate has been shown to ape faces.
Anger is one of our central emotions, but it is also one of the most troubling.
We know that anger can cause a great deal of emotional upheaval for ourselves, but we also know that anger has the potential to lead people into violence or hatred. It is because anger is simultaneously so central and so problematic that it deserves some attention. Perhaps it is for that exact reason that NPR ran a series investigating the role of anger in our emotions.
There is no room to discuss each of these, but we’ll draw your attention to “Anger Can Be Contagious”, “Searching for Anger’s Animal Roots”, and “If You’re Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed.”
In the first case, we have previously written on the process of emotional contagion, but the role of anger is certainly worth emphasizing on its own. This first interview points out how easy it is for emotions to influence other people, but Dr. Jeff Hancock of Stanford University emphasized that emotions like anger are even more contagious than positive ones.
While analyzing communication on Facebook, Dr. Hancock found that when friends tend to make emotionally loaded posts, they will result in increased emotional posts for various members of their friend group. This was even more evident for sadness and anger.
This interview focuses primarily on the spread of emotions on social media, but we already know that interpersonal interaction, or even just seeing somebody’s face, can have similar effects.
Second, NPR dives into the evolutionary history of anger. This expands on our previous writings on the role of evolution in developing our basic emotions, but it takes a different angle.
Specifically, Dr. David Anderson from Caltech discusses the challenges in studying emotion in animals, namely the fact that it is hard to identify. Instead, Dr. Anderson looks at hormone levels, heart rate, and brain activity to explain how animals experience anger.
He finds that anger is often triggered when an animal is under attack, and that the physiological markers of anger are very similar across species. This can be triggered when various animals see their fellow species in violent conflict, for instance.
The third interview emphasizes the connections between central emotions, namely anger and sadness. While most people think those are pretty distinct, that may not be the case. This interview discusses how common it is for people who suffer from depression to mistake those symptoms for anger, or to experience sharp surges of anger or outbursts.
Dr. Maurizio Fava from the Harvard Medical School elaborates, pointing out that irritability and a lack of control over the temper are common symptoms of depression. These outbursts often lead to remorse and deepened feelings of anger.
Hopefully, we have shown how important the subject of anger is and motivated you to check out the full interview series!
Guest Blog by AnnMarie Baines, Executive Director of The Practice Space
Public speaking can be terrifying, especially if you don’t do it often.
If you have ever felt short of breath, sweaty palms, and nauseous at the thought of speaking in front of others, you aren’t alone. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 15 million Americans suffer from social anxiety, which affects men and women equally and tends to begin by age 13. The fear of public speaking falls under the category of “communication apprehension”, which is fear or anxiety experienced by a person due to real or perceived communication with another person.
For the youth and adult students at our El Cerrito-based non-profit, The Practice Space, it is worth facing the fear because it is so essential to self-advocacy, being heard, and feeling represented, especially for voices that are historically underrepresented. (Watch our students express their fears below)
As highlighted by Louisiana State Professor of Communication Studies, Graham Bodie, in his review of studies about the fear of public speaking, our fears can be divided into two categories. Sometimes, the fear of public speaking is part of a general trait, a tendency to experience anxiety related to any kind of communication. Other times, it depends on the state, where our anxiety occurs only in specific situations and time. In terms of situations that raise our anxiety, Psychology Today says this depends on whether we are being evaluated, whether there is a substantial difference in status or power, whether the ideas we’re communicating are new to us, and whether we are speaking in front of a new audience.
Take comfort in the fact that you are not alone. It helps to practice and build your self-awareness of what situations make you the most nervous, so that you can hopefully anticipate these feelings in the future and do your best to prepare for them. For students at The Practice Space, this involves a lot of reflection, analysis of past experiences, and for one student, “I choose to rise above it, rather than let it inhibit me” (for more student stories about fears, listen to our podcast).
This is all easier said than done, but try practicing a few coping tips at home to see what works for you:
Facing your fears starts with creating small practice experiences for yourself where you can find early success. Setting small, manageable goals is key to starting to build that self-awareness of what you need and what routines you can begin to internalize. Even when it feels overwhelming, it gets easier.