Writing down your thoughts on the cause of your anger and then throwing that piece of paper away can be an effective way to neutralize your negative feelings.

The study entitled “After being insulted, writing down your feelings on paper then getting rid of it reduces anger” was published in Scientific Reports on Nature.

This important research builds on similar research on the association between the written word and anger reduction as well as studies showing how interactions with physical objects can control a person’s mood.

For example, after a bad breakup you may feel the desire to burn letters or destroy gifts from your ex.

Anger Study Methodology

For their anger project, lead researcher Nobuyuki Kawai and his graduate student Yuta Kanaya asked 50 participants to write brief opinions about important social problems, such as whether smoking in public should be outlawed.

Evaluators then deliberately scored the papers low on intelligence, interest, friendliness, logic, and rationality.

For good measure, evaluators added insulting comments such as: “I cannot believe an educated person would think like this. I hope this person learns something while at the university.”

After handing out these negative comments, the researchers asked the participants to write their thoughts on the feedback, focusing on what triggered their emotions.

One group was told to either roll up the paper with their thoughts and throw it in a bin or keep it in a file on their desk. A second group was told to shred the paper, or put it in a plastic box.

The students were then asked to rate their anger after the insult and after either disposing of or keeping the paper.

Anger Study Results

As expected, all participants reported a higher level of anger after receiving insulting comments.

However, the anger levels of the individuals who discarded their paper in the trash can or shredded it returned to their initial state after disposing of the paper.

Meanwhile, the participants who held on to a hard copy of the insult experienced only a small decrease in their overall anger.

Researchers concluded that “the meaning (interpretation) of disposal plays a critical role” in reducing anger.

The Japanese Tradition Hakidashira

This process is like a Japanese tradition called hakidashisara, in which people write their negative thoughts on a plate then destroy it.

Along with its practical benefits, this discovery may shed light on the origins of the Japanese cultural tradition known as hakidashisara (hakidashi sara refers to a dish or plate) at the Hiyoshi shrine in Kiyosu, just outside Nagoya.

Hakidashisara is an annual festival where people smash small discs representing things that make them angry.

The study’s findings may explain the feeling of relief that participants report after leaving the festival, the paper concluded.

Kawai imagines using his research to help businesspeople who find themselves in stressful situations.

“This technique could be applied in the moment by writing down the source of anger as if taking a memo and then throwing it away when one feels angry in a business situation,” he explained.

For another helpful guide to anger, read this past blog post from Humintell.

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What are the Key Ingredients to Effective Intercultural Interactions?

Dr. David Matsumoto, Director of Humintell, recently led a free webinar where he provided participants with an overview of major research findings concerning keys to effective intercultural communication, as well as practical tips to interact with others from different cultures.

Most of us live in a multi-cultural society where effective intercultural communication is crucial. This is as a result of technology and other advancements. The world is getting smaller every day!

The Difference Between Cross-Cultural Adaptation vs Adjustment

Dr. Matsumoto believes at the heart of all intercultural communication and interactions is a process of adaptation and adjustment. Many scholars do not delineate between these two concepts.

Adaptation refers to the process of altering one’s behavior to fit in with a changed environment or circumstances.

Adjustment refers to the subjective experiences that are associated with, result from, or are consequences of, adaptation, and that motivate further adaptation. Dr. Matsumoto explains adjustment in laymen’s terms as “how we feel about what we’re doing”.

Living in any society in any culture requires a constant process of adaptation and adjustment, as noted in the above graphic. This process also encapsulates the underlying process of growth.

Defining Successful Intercultural Communication

How does Dr. Matsumoto define successful intercultural communication?

He outlines 4 factors that play a part, as seen in the graphic below.

1. Having successful relationships with people from other cultures.
2. Feeling that interactions are warm, cordial, respectful, and cooperative.
3. Accomplishing tasks in an effective and efficient manner.
4. All of the above, and the ability to manage psychological stress effectively.

Research has shown there are a lot of different types of people in terms of how they adapt and adjust in different cultures.

There’s many people who adapt (change their behaviors) but don’t adjust well. Adjustment problems may manifest itself in depression or anxiety or substance abuse problems.

Then there’s people who feel things are perfectly fine but they’re not adapting well.

Adaptation and adjustment go hand in hand when discussing intercultural interactions and intercultural communications.

The Contact Hypothesis (Allport, 1954)

So what does the science say about intercultural adjustment and communication?

One very important concept is called the Contact Hypothesis which is the proposition that contact between groups is effective in reducing prejudice.

One study that tested the contact hypothesis was known as The Robbers Cave Experiment where two group of boys were invited to participate in a summer camp (which in reality was part of a study in intergroup relationships).

The boys were separated into two groups (Rattlers and Eagles) and when the groups were unaware of each other, group activities were directed at building unity and cohesion.

During the second week, the two groups were brought together in a competitive environment where the other group became an obstacle to resources.

It was during this competitive period that the groups became hostile toward one another, calling each other names and even engaging in physical fights.

After a period of conflict, the groups participated in a superordinate goal and hostile feelings between groups were reduced after researchers allowed the groups to work cooperatively.

The Robbers Cave Experiment showed that when two groups feel mutually interdependent, hostility between groups subsides.

Key Psychological Ingredients to Effective Intercultural Competence

There’s also a large body of research that have examined what key psychological ingredients (skills, traits, abilities) can help intercultural competence effectiveness.

The instruments that have been developed examine traits have been shown across the last 50 years to be indicative of effective cross-cultural communication.

These tests include the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS), and Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS).

A 2013 study entitled Assessing Cross-Cultural Competence: A Review of Available Tests by Matsumoto and Hwang reviewed the validity of all existing instruments.

They found that the most important predictor of successful cross-cultural adaptation was emotional robustness aka emotion regulation.

Learn More About The Basics of Emotional Intelligence by Clicking Here.

Negative emotional reactions from cultural differences are inevitable. Adapting to these differences well require people to regulate their emotions well so they can acquire new skills and behaviors.

Final Tips and Advice for Next Steps

Dr. Matsumoto concluded his webinar by offering some helpful tips.

1. Get exposure to different people and cultures

2. Engage in activities or training to improve your own emotion regulation skills

He ended the webinar by playing the video below about Tarra and Bella- The elephant and dog who became best friends.

The post The Key Ingredients to Effective Intercultural Interactions first appeared on Humintell.

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Dr. David Matsumoto, Director of Humintell, led a free webinar on The Basics of Social Influence where he provided participants with an introduction to evidenced-based topics of social influence.

These included the topics of:

• Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience
• Cooperation
• Emotion Contagion
• Social Loafing and Social Striving
• Leadership
• Persuasion and Influence

Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience

In social science and social psychology these topics (conformity, compliance and obedience) are generally considered together within the larger rubric of social influence.

They are all important constructs in any social system as ways of reinforcing behaviors.

Some of these words may have a negative connotation, but in reality they are important concepts for any group or society as ways of reinforcing behaviors.

Definitions of conformity, compliance and obedience can be found in the graphic to the left.

In this area of psychology there are a few studies that form the backbone of what we know about these three topics. Let’s explore them!

The Ash Experiments

A researcher named Solomon Ash conducted a very well-known set of experiments that are some of the first and classic studies on conformity and compliance.

In one of his most famous studies, a participant went into a room with seven confederates who were part of the experimental team.

The participants were given lines (see example). You can see there is a target line and other lines on the right hand side.

Every person in the room was asked which line on the right hand side matches the target line on the left. There was an obvious correct and incorrect answer.

The results of the study showed that when the participant is the last to answer and everyone before them has given the incorrect answer, it increases the likelihood that the participant will also give the incorrect answer.

On average 32% conformed to the incorrect answer. In over 12 trials, 75% conformed at least once.

The Milgram Experiments

Like the Ash experiments, any people have heard about the Milgram experiments led by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram.

In one of his most famous studies (that could not be conducted today due to ethical reasons), Milgram recruited 40 men to come to a laboratory with equipment that was labeled with shock danger warnings.

The participant was told that they are the teacher who is going to deliver a shock to a student in a neighboring room. They couldn’t see the student (and who was not actually being shocked contrary to what the participant is told).

Every time the student answered a question wrong, the participant was instructed to deliver a shock to them of increasing intensity. The student in the other room banged on the wall, made other sounds, then eventually went silent.

The participants asked the experimenter if they should continue (to which they are told yes). In the study with 40 men, 26 delivered the maximum shock and 14 stopped before reaching the highest levels.

Like the Ash study, the Milgram studies demonstrates an amazing amount of conformity and obedience.

Over the years, these findings have been replicated many times all around the world in various countries suggesting that conformity, compliance and obedience may be universal human phenomenons.

Cooperation

Cooperation refers to people’s ability to work together towards common goals. Cooperation is necessary in every society and based on unique cognitive abilities, especially a concept called shared intentionality.

Dr. Matsumoto believes that shared intentionality is at the root of human cultures. He also believes that the main purpose and function of human communication including language and non-verbal behavior is to share intentions.

Cooperation is a universal phenomenon that is part of the basis of social influence. It has been studied extensively in social psychology.

However, there is some research that suggest there are cultural and individual differences in cooperation.

Some research suggests that the rates of cooperation tends to be higher in collectivistic societies (e.g. East Asia, SE Asia, Latin/South America) compared to individualistic societies (e.g. USA, Canada).

Additional research suggests that individual differences in cooperation exist due to levels of trustworthiness (high trusters vs low trusters).

Research on cooperation has also been conducted regarding the sanctioning systems across various cultures as well as inter and intra-cultural environments.

Dr. Matsumoto’s research suggests that when people from different cultures come together, they generally cooperate less.

Emotion Contagion

The concept of emotion contagion started with researcher Elaine Hatfield and others in 1993.

What is emotion contagion?

Emotion contagion is a phenomenon when someone’s emotions lead to or produce similar emotions in others.

What Hatfield and colleagues have demonstrated is when there’s a group of people, one person or several people’s emotions can affect the emotions of the rest of the people.

Why does emotion contagion occur?

The truth is that science has not gotten to the point where we know exactly why emotion contagion occurs.

However, there’s interesting literature within the emotion contagion literature that pertain to what’s called mirror neurons.

Mirror neurons are essentially special types of brain cells that are triggered when viewing the actions of other individuals. For example, when we see another person fall and hurt themselves, our mirror neurons trigger the part of our own brain that would be activated if we had fallen.

Facial feedback is another concept that suggests that when we have an expression on our face our brains tell us we’re having that emotion and thus turns our emotional system on inside of us.

This may be the reason why some research suggests that smiling can improve your mood. 

Social Loafing and Social Striving

When people are in a group and they have a task to do, sometimes individual productivity and motivation is reduced. This concept is called social loafing.

Social loafing has led to the concept of freeriders- members of a group who are not producing as much as others

On the other hand, there’s the opposite effect called social striving. Sometimes working in a group enhances individual performance rather than diminish it so then the product of the group is greater than the sum of the individual members.

One factor that has been shown to influence whether members of a group either loaf or strive is leadership.

Research has put issues faced by leaders into two buckets: 1) task performance and 2) group maintenance.

There has been extensive studies about the characteristics of leaders that are universally endorsed all around the world and the most influential set of researchers are known as the GLOBE project.

The GLOBE project has produced a number of amazing findings that are universally endorsed as good leaders are:

• Charisma: ability to connect and persuade others
• Team Orientation: focus on the team as a whole
• Empathy: the degree to which leaders are perceived as being empathetic

Persuasion and Influence

Without a doubt, the most influential psychologist in the area of persuasion and influence is Robert Cialdini.

The seven psychological principles underlying persuasion, influence, and compliance that Cialdini has compiled are:

• Reciprocity
• Consistency
• Social Proof (related to conformity)
• Liking (related to cooperation)
• Authority (related to obedience)
• Scarcity
• Unity

Cialdini has done an amazing amount of research himself but has also done a great job of integrating the knowledge in the field to come up with these various principles of persuasion and influence.

One of the points that Cialdini makes which Dr. Matsumoto finds absolutely true is that these principles exist because societies and cultures and all groups need them.

These principles work because they work to mobilize emotion, either through what’s known as cognitive dissonance or anxiety or something that motivates people to alleviate their emotion.

Other Social Influence Constructs

There are actually many other social influence constructs that have been demonstrated and documented in science including:

• Mere Exposure Effect
• Trust and Trustworthiness
• Rapport

Want to Learn More?

Our Tactical Social Influence Workshop, explores how to use various psychological techniques to discern points of views and detect nonverbal emotions, behaviors, and reactions in order to advocate, influence, and convince others.

The post Free Webinar: The Basics of Social Influence first appeared on Humintell.

The post Free Webinar: The Basics of Social Influence appeared first on Social Engineering Blogs.

A survey conducted by OnePoll in conjunction with Joy Organics explored the festive stressors and anxiety-inducing moments of the holiday season.

They polled about 2,000 Americans and found that financial concerns actually topped the list of worries when heading into the holiday season — with 56% saying this was one of their concerns.

What other things stress us out during the holidays?

• 67% of those studied say they try to create the “perfect” holiday — which leads to stress.
• 47% say they take on more than they can handle during the holiday season.
• 77% find it hard to relax during the holiday season, which can leave them stressed and worn out.
• 43% of Americans polled tend to be over scheduled during the holiday season
• 59% would define the holiday season as “chaotic.”

So what can you do during this stressful time to ease holiday stress?

Psychologist Jelena Kecmanovic recently wrote a piece for the Washington Post where she suggests 5 ways to deal with holiday stress.

1. Temper Expectations

The post 5 Tips to Manage Holiday Stress first appeared on Humintell.

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Most emotion scientists believe that emotions are triggered by how we evaluate events.

These events include not only what happens around us, but also thoughts and feelings in our heads, because those thoughts and feelings can themselves trigger emotions.

Appraisal Theories of Emotion

This evaluation process is known as appraisal, and over the decades there have been tons of research that have led to many different appraisal theories of emotion. Although there are differences among them, these theories generally state that there are different emotions are triggered (or elicited) by different ways we appraise or evaluate events, and that different emotions are triggered by different appraisals.

Cross-cultural research on emotion has contributed a wealth of information about many domains of emotion.

In my last blog on understanding anger, we discussed about how that body of research has informed us about what is known about emotion antecedents and appraisals.

Learn tips and techniques on how to better manage your emotions!

Join us for our LIVE webinar on March 25, 2021! More info here.

What are Antecedents?

Antecedents are the specific events that people identify to trigger emotions.

Those include things like what are at the top of this blog – getting stuck in traffic, being hungry, watching the news, or the toothpaste fiasco. But as mentioned just above, antecedents can also include thoughts about the future, memories about the past, and even one’s current emotions.

Universal, Psychological Themes

Research has demonstrated that, despite many differences (and similarities) in the specific types of events that trigger emotions in us, there are universal, psychological themes associated with each of the seven universal emotions – anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.

A psychological theme is the basic, most elemental way in which our minds process and evaluate any event in terms of what the event means to us psychologically. These themes are mostly concerned with our welfare.

The fact that there are universal, psychological themes associated with basic emotions means that the same underlying, psychological themes trigger the same emotion in all humans around the world, regardless of differences in race, culture, nationality and any other demographic characteristic.

In that last blog (hopefully it was helpful for some to deal with their anger episodes), we learned that the universal, psychological theme that triggers anger all around the world is goal obstruction. That is, regardless of whatever the specific event is, if the event is appraised or evaluated in our minds as “goal obstruction,” that appraisal would trigger the emotion of anger.

In the same way, each of the other basic emotions are associated with a universal, psychological theme that triggers it all around the world.

Quick Descriptions of Themes for the Other Basic Emotions

Contempt – Moral Superiority

Contempt is the emotion that is elicited when our minds appraise something or someone as beneath us.

Disgust – Contamination

Disgust is triggered when our minds appraise something that is dirty, rotten, offensive, or contaminated.

Read how anger, contempt and disgust fuel hostility

Fear – Threat

Fear is triggered when our minds appraise something as threatening, or potentially threatening, or sense of self. The sense of self that is threatened can be our physical self as well as our psychological self.

Happiness – Goal Attainment

Achieving our goals triggers happiness (which makes happiness sort of the opposite of anger, not sadness).

Sadness – Loss

Loss of a loved object or other person elicits sadness.

Did you know? Children as old as 12 have difficulty telling the difference between genuine and fake sadness from facial expressions. Read more here.

Surprise – Novel Objects

Surprise is triggered when something is new. Interesting, surprise tends to be the briefest emotion because things are not new to us for very long.

Where do emotion appraisals come from?

I believe that they are part of our innate emotion system, which we have inherited as part of our evolutionary history.

Having this system and this set of appraisals and psychological themes was helpful in that evolutionary past to ward off threats, fight for food, obtain and keep mates, build families and communities – basically to survive.

Moreover, they helped us humans to survive in many situations that required an immediate response or action. Emotions and the appraisal system helped us respond in those situations with minimal conscious awareness.

For example, what do you think would happen if you started drinking spoiled milk and had to think through the risk-benefit ratio of doing so once you perceived the nasty taste?

By the time you thought that through, you would have ingested that spoiled milk and it would be in your system, along with all the other contaminants in there, which would obviously make you sick and/or even bring about death. That wouldn’t be good for survival!

Thank god we don’t go through such time consuming, risk-benefit calculations for many events that have implications for our health or safety. Those with that system survived and remain here today; those without that system were selected out of existence by nature.

The appraisal process is fast! Extremely fast!

And for good reason. It is so fast that scientists still don’t have an accurate accounting of exactly how fast it is (although we have good guesses!). Thus, changing the appraisal process is very, very difficult.

In actuality, we’re all constantly scanning our environment for possible emotion triggers. Much of time, we appraise events and they don’t trigger an emotion; that is, they are not evaluated as possibly requiring an immediate response from us in order to survive. In fact, some may say that our contemporary human life is pretty cushy, where emotions hamper more than they help.

But when something happens that may require an immediate response, the emotion system kicks in, appraising events and other stimuli extremely rapidly and turning on the emotion system in order to act. Just think about a time that you may have been on a sidewalk and abruptly heard a car or bus coming at you.

What about culture and emotion?

Now, although the underlying psychological themes associated with each of the basic emotions are universal and innate, culture still plays an important role in how we adapt our emotion system for daily use.

Yes, there are some events that universally trigger the same kinds of emotions – spoiled milk, snakes, feces, etc. – all kinds of things that are associated with survival regardless of culture.

But cultures also facilitate our learning to associate our innate emotion systems in culture-specific and individually different ways. That’s why the same event can trigger very different emotions in different people – because they have learned to associate different appraisals for those events in their upbringing.

So the next time you think about an emotion, think about not only the specific event that you think triggered it, but the underlying, psychological theme with which your mind evaluated that event.

That’s the real trigger of the emotion.

The post What Triggers Emotions in Humans? first appeared on Humintell.

The post What Triggers Emotions in Humans? appeared first on Social Engineering Blogs.

There have been many articles addressing this “zoom fatigue” and the potential reasons for it. One reason often cited is the mental work and effort it takes to process nonverbal cues like facial expressions, the tone and pitch of the voice, and body language; paying more attention to these consumes a lot of energy. But can our exhaustion from remote meetings somehow be tied to our personality?

Many researchers today believe that there are five core personality traits that speak to the characteristics or qualities of an individual. These traits have been found by research to exist in humans all around the world, though the degrees to which people possess each trait differs.

One may find it helpful to use the acronym OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) when trying to remember the big five traits.

Extraversion is one of these cross culturally universal underlying personality traits. A person who is extroverted is generally outgoing, friendly, sociable and happier more of the time than others. In contrast, a person who is introverted may be shy, quiet, reserved, and typically don’t seek out social events.

How introverted or extroverted are you? Find out here with a FREE test!

One suggested characteristic that’s associated with extroverted individuals is that when they meet people, they receive energy. When they meet people, teach classes, or socialize with others, they become energized. Whereas an introverted person uses energy when interacting with others, which can leave them drained. So how does this all relate to zoom fatigue?

Extroverted individuals may find themselves particularly drained after a remote meeting or class. Dr. Matsumoto suggests that although they may be interacting and seeing people they normally interact with, they’re likely not receiving the energy transfer they would in real life that normally invigorates them. Thus, these digital interactions leave them more exhausted than if the same interaction happened in real life.

The remoteness eliminates the interaction quality that allows them to give and receive energy.

Interestingly, there’s cultural differences in mean levels for extroversion as well. Americans generally have high extroversion, low neuroticism, higher conscientiousness, high agreeableness and high openness. Which means as a society as a whole, Americans may be suffering more from Zoom fatigue than other countries who have lower rates of extroversion such as Malaysia (see table below)

In addition to the many emotional consequences of digital communication we’ve covered, being remote may also eliminate the possibility of energy transfer we normally get in live interactions.

What are your thoughts? As an extrovert do you find this to be true? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!

Want to learn more about the role of culture in shaping personality? View the video below to learn more!

The post Can Zoom Fatigue Be Related To Your Personality? appeared first on Social Engineering Blogs.

In his column with The New York Times, Arthur Brooks tackles the difficult question of political polarization. A great deal of political science scholarship has sought to examine how people’s attitudes are drifting increasingly farther apart and what this means for our two parties to work together. While most scholars focus on cultural values, economic interests, or other politically situated opinions, Brooks suggests that it is much more simple: we feel contempt.

He begins by explicating some recent research on “motive attribution asymmetry.” Such research has found that we tend to attribute loving motives to our political allies and hateful motives to our enemies, regardless of our party.

It is this asymmetry that allows us to develop a profound sense of contempt for the other side. This goes beyond concerns over incivility, and into this particularly powerful emotion’s pull on our evaluations. Contempt, he says, creates a sort of addiction, as social media and political elites leverage it to demonize political opposition and make compromise impossible.

Not only does contempt make compromise difficult, but it can also make us profoundly unhappy. The American Psychological Association found that experiences of contempt can make individuals feel rejected by their peers, leading to anxiety and depression.

And most people don’t want to feel this way. Most polls find that strong majorities want civil disagreement and compromise, rather than hostility and contempt.

Brooks’ diagnosis of contempt as the source of many political ills is not without evidence. As we blogged on some time ago, contempt, alongside anger and disgust, can predict political and group-based violence. One of the first steps in dehumanizing out-groups is the cultivation of a feeling of contempt towards that group.

Contempt is deeply rooted in a sense of who other people are, and it often drives from an evaluation that they are lower in a hierarchy and lacking of respectable status. This can translate to a sense that that person is bad, disgusting, or not worthy of moral consideration.

Brooks notes that one way in which contempt can shape our political interactions is how it has increasingly eroded friendships. He contends that 1 in 6 Americans stopped speaking to a friend or family member during the 2016 presidential campaign.

If this is because of contempt, then it isn’t the first time contempt has killed a relationship. In fact, Dr. John Gottman, a renowned expert on emotions and relationships, described contempt as one of the “four horsemen” of the relationship apocalypse.

The post Contempt and Politics appeared first on Social Engineering Blogs.

The facial expressions of a kombucha drinking social media poster might not be a national headline, but they serve a great example for learning about facial expressions.

As the New York Times reports, an online video by Brittany Tomlinson went viral after she showed a wide range of emotions upon trying some kombucha. In the video, Tomlinson tries her kombucha and proceeds to experience an apparent whirlwind of emotions: wincing, shaking her head, giggling, and smirking.

The verdict? “Low-key it’s kind of good, but it’s nasty,” she clarified.

So, why is this important if you are not contemplating trying kombucha yourself? In fact, the video contained in the Times article shows Tomlinson showcasing a rapid succession of easily identifiable facial expressions.

Dr. David Matsumoto was called in to comment on the exceptional nature of this video. While these cycles of expressions “go on all the time,” he said “you’re watching the person’s mind process in real time, which is really cool.”

Specifically, its “really cool,” because even laypeople can recognize emotions in her faces.

The University of California, Berkeley’s Dr. Dacher Keltner also agreed, calling this “an amazing sequence” which allowed “easy to see” facial expressions.

According to Keltner, Tomlinson showed five to seven clearly different emotions. Disgust is of course clearly available, but what else are you recognizing? Please don’t hesitate to sound off in the comments!

If you’re struggling, this article helps by breaking down the video frame by frame!

The post Learning in Unlikely Faces appeared first on Social Engineering Blogs.

Humintell’s Dr. David Matsumoto has done exciting work on the role of body language in human communication and the extent to which similar patterns span cultures. As we’ve noted, it is necessary to disentangle what expressions are universal from those that differ based on culture, and in this respect body language is no different.

A recent article in Discover Magazine dug well into some of Dr. Matsumoto’s past work on body language and posture. Specifically, author Teal Burrell discussed Dr. Matsumoto’s work on the postures of Olympic and blind Paralympic athletes from around the world. This research found that, regardless of sight, victorious athletes consistently made the same posture of triumph.

While powerfully demonstrating universals across cultures, this same research also pointed to the role of culture. For example, defeated athletes often slump their shoulders in shame, but this is less common for those from cultures which discourage outward displays of shame. However, blind athletes from those same countries slumped their shoulders regardless of culture.

This helps show both a tendency to slump shoulders in shame but also the ability of culture to teach people to avoid that form of expression.

Dr. Matsumoto’s research underscores the importance of body language in understanding people and the culture that influences them. As the magazine piece continues, we can leverage our body language to make positive impacts on our own mood.

For instance, smiling may help reduce our stress levels, while so-called “power postures” can improve our confidence. A power posture, as we have blogged on before, is when the chest is thrust out with arms crossed, in a way that Burrell aptly describes as a “Wonder Woman” pose. Research into power postures does find that they lead to a great sense of power, but still such correlations can be taken with a grain of salt.

Body language isn’t just about changing how we feel but can also shape people’s perceptions of us. Eye contact, though not really an indicator of deception, helps promote a perception of trust. Similarly, mirroring posture and facial expressions helps show that we are listening and feeling empathetic.

This helps show how important body language is for us, but like many universal expressions, humans are not alone in our use of such communicative tools. In fact, Burrell points out how critical body language is for bees to communicate, and similar sorts of communicative dances are present among fish. Similarly, the highly intelligent ravens use their beaks to point and gesture, helping to form interpersonal bonds.

Coming to grips with how universal and powerful body language is is as important as understanding how culture mediates it. By better understanding both determinants of behavior, we can learn how to read people better and communicate effectively.

The post Better Reading Body Language appeared first on Social Engineering Blogs.

In a fascinating study from 2002, a pair of researchers asked over a hundred people about their stress and happiness during the holidays, including questions about consumption behavior. They found that family-based or religious celebrations tended to result in the greatest levels of happiness, as opposed to materialist consumption practices.

While the holidays, and especially in the United States, Christmas have long and complicated histories, Drs. Tim Kassier and Kennon Sheldon explain how they tie together many different strands of tradition.

These include, of course, religious practices, rooted both in Christianity but in a variety of other faiths, but that these practices have also been tied to secular celebrations of Santa Claus, for instance. This isn’t even including the commercialist and materialist elements of the modern holiday season.

It is this historical and cultural framework that motivated their survey study. Specifically, they interviewed participants as to how they spent their Christmas, such as volunteering, worshipping, spending time with family, or exchanging/purchasing gifts.

Similarly, participants were also asked more detailed questions about how much money they spent on gifts and material consumption, how much they donated, and what the material value was of gifts that they had received.

Finally, the researchers inquired into questions of environmental consumption, such as trash produced or energy consumed as a part of their holiday practices. Perhaps counter-intuitively, they theorized that the more sustainable participants’ practices were, the happier they would end up feeling around the holidays.

Each of these questions was included in quantifiable measures in order to test the extent to which they predicted a happier or less pleasant Christmas season. Overall, most people reported a generally satisfactory Christmas, while just under half reported that they experienced a great deal of stress.

In terms of what tended to predict a better holiday, each of the measures of family engagement and religious activity were strong positive predictors.  This may be due to the inherent satisfaction of either activity, or out of the feeling that people are conforming to the socially expected emphasis of the holiday.

However, this latter point is undermined by the strong social pressures to engage in a consumptive and materially-focused holiday season. Neither expenditure, nor receipt, or great sums of gifts consistently predicted positive experiences. Often, the opposite was true. Moreover, environmentally sustainable practices tended to predict positive experiences.

This is not to tell you how to spend your holiday, of course, but given the extreme levels of stress that so many people experience around holidays, this will hopefully give you some sense as to what relieves the stress of others and promotes their happiness.

The post A Truly Merry Holiday appeared first on Social Engineering Blogs.