A Fear Response Can Have Some Unexpected Benefits

Most of us would just as soon not be afraid, but our natural fear response can have some unexpected benefits. This point is made salient by recent scientific efforts to program fear responses into artificial intelligence. While this might seem like an odd thing to do, programmers saw this as a helpful component to teaching…

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Learning in Unlikely Faces

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…

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Facial Expressions Shape Professional Evaluations

We know that facial expressions hugely shape social interactions, but they also shape professional evaluations, as well. A recent blog by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) critically examines the extant research on the connection between nonverbal behavior and professional evaluations. This article seeks to summarize the role that facial features, such as facial hair,…

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Social Influence in Investigative Interviews

We talk a lot about how to understand people’s emotions and how to read what they say accurately, but what about learning how we can change our behavior so that they are more forthcoming? This is the subject of a recent paper by Humintell’s Dr. David Matsumoto and Hyisung Hwang. In this study, they sought…

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