Active shooter incidents are incredibly frightening events that often have deadly consequences for individuals, and dire consequences for organizations. The term “active shooter” describes a “situation in which a shooting is in progress and an aspect of the crime may affect the protocols used in responding to and reacting at the scene of an incident” (Blair…
Read MoreThe Role of Powerful Postures in Everyday Interaction
Reading people is more than just gesture and expression. It also involves posture. This blog tends to focus primarily on gestures and expressions, and we have delved only occasionally into the importance of posture in expressing or detecting various affective states. However, in a comprehensive review of research on nonverbal postures, Dr. Amy Cuddy and…
Read MoreAping Around with Gestures
Many of our gestures and emotions are universal across cultures, but is this limited to just our species? In an exciting new study by Dr. Kirsty Graham of the University of York, researchers found surprising patterns among gestures utilized by bonobos and chimpanzees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not only did they find…
Read MoreCultural Gestures and Verbal Cues
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…
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