Is laughter recognized in the same way across cultures? And, if so, can we tell if people in different cultures are faking their laughter? This is exactly what a team of researchers attempted to answer in a recent publication in Psychological Science. An astoundingly large group of 31 researchers sought to analyze reactions to laughter…
Read MoreReading Hairstyles?
We focus a lot on reading people’s nonverbal behavior, but is there something to be read into about our hairstyles also? This is precisely what Humintell’s Drs. David Matsumoto and Hyisung Hwang argue in a recent paper. Essentially, while past research has argued that emotional expressions can reveal one’s culture, they argue that differing hairstyles,…
Read MoreEmbracing Nuances Across Cultures
It is very easy to fall into the trap of assuming that everyone from a given culture thinks similarly. Psychologists have been doing it for years! Last month, we blogged about Drs. Takano and Osaka’s research challenging the “common sense” idea that Japanese are invariably and typically collectivist in their thinking, while Americans are individualists.…
Read MoreSilent Political Power?
Many commentators are keen to read into the nonverbal behavior of political leaders, but is that even really possible? After Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki last week, it’s safe to say that they completely dominated the news cycle. In a presumable effort for a fresh take, the Washington Post interviewed nonverbal…
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