Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Emotional Android Companions

Robot companions can now express nine different emotional states.

This new android, reported on by Wall Street Daily, is designed to be a resourceful human companion equipped with an animated neck, three discs and a set of eyes.

Check out the link to the original article to view a photo of this new Anthropomorphism machine.

Polish designers are the brains behind this new devise coined  Emotive Heady System or EMYS.  Chief robot designer Professor Krzysztof Tchon comments on their creation,

“the robot is meant to accompany humans in their domestic environment or at offices…so it has to perform some functions useful for humans.  That’s why the robot is able to express emotions to a certain degree and also read human emotions and react accordingly.”

The researchers hope their robot will pave the way towards natural  and unselfconscious human-robot interactions.

Fetal Facial Expression Research Update

In December Humintell blogged on new research, which posited that facial expressions begin in utero.  The article entitled “Baby Face” delineated that several facial movements begin in the second trimester and enable the formation of all the elements of laughter by the 30th week of pregnancy.

This suggests that the smile is not a reflexive response mimicking a human behavior but rather an independent action.

The National Right to Life News Today has just released additional photos of facial expressions in the womb.  These photos are extremely interesting as they highlight that smiles and perhaps laughter occur even early than thought at around 24 weeks.

Peter Tallack affirms in In the Womb for National Geographic that, “Whatever the fetus is feeling, at 20 weeks she is certainly capable of demonstrating lots of facial expressions. 4D scans have revealed babies not only grimacing but also seeming to smile and even laugh.”

Inside the Interrogation Room

ABC News’ “Primetime: Crime” was granted unprecedented access to the inner-workings of the Houston Homicide Division, to explore how Homicide Detective Sgt. Brian Harris conducts interviews in the interrogation room, otherwise known to law enforcement as “The Box”.

Sergeant Harris emphasizes that coercive interview techniques are ineffective when trying to illicit information from a suspect: “I treat them with dignity,” he told ABC News’ Chris Cuomo. “If they can see me as a person that views them with dignity, the chances of communicating are starting to open up.”

Indeed it’s true: when trying to illicit information from someone, research shows that non-coercive interview techniques based on rapport building have been proven to be the most effective.  One extremely important part of rapport building involves reading emotions and then reacting to those emotions appropriately.

Take a look at the video below for Part 1 of “Inside the Interrogation Room”.

Also, don’t forget to take a look at Dr. Matsumoto, Dr. Hwang and Dr. Frank’s front cover article “The Role of Emotion in Predicting Violence” in this month’s edition of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.

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