Many gestures may be universal, but are associated verbal cues translatable? Last week’s Olympics blog discussed the universal gesture of triumph and touched on Humintell’s research into the universal nature of many gestures. However, just knowing that many gestures are universal is not enough to effectively read people. Instead, it is important to connect them…
Read MoreThe Challenges of Cross Cultural Communication
You may be great about reading some people, but there are still a lot of people whose distinct outlook and culture may elude you. One of the most important parts of learning how to read people is accepting that this process varies considerably across different cultures, despite the presence of universal basic emotions. In a…
Read MoreSearching for Universal Gestures
If there are universal emotions and expressions, does that mean there are universal gestures? This is exactly what Humintell’s Dr. David Matsumoto and Dr. Hyisung C. Hwang sought to answer in a 2012 study which sought to conduct a groundbreaking and comprehensive analysis on international differences in gestures. In order to answer this, they compiled…
Read MoreBasic Emotions and Cultural Differences
Despite the universal nature of many basic emotions and types of emotions, it is pretty clear that cultural differences exist, but why? It certainly would be simplistic to think that all emotional expressions are the exact same around the world, despite the existence of basic emotional expressions across cultures. In fact, a major 2015 study…
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