Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Angry Emotions

The universal emotion of anger is often seen as a negative social norm.  If someone “loses” their temper in public many people find that unacceptable especially for an adult.

Of course, everyone gets angry at least once in a while.  However, society views people who remain “calm” do not show outward signs of anger, as displaying acceptable and in some sense, revered behavior.

According to PBS’s This Emotional Life website, not expressing anger is not as great or beneficial as one might think.  They suggest that society sees angry displays as uncomfortable and less acceptable than expressing sadness or anxiety.  This makes more people try to mask their anger.  Well, the down side of that could be an explosive “temper tantrum”, which never solves any problem.

This was the case in a recent episode of the Apprentice when Meatloaf lost his cool with Gary Busey.  What that video clip does not show is that Meatloaf later sincerely apologized to Gary and accepted full responsibility for his actions.

As a result of not fully expressing our anger, we do not learn how to handle our anger constructively.  Anger can be managed correctly, TEL website purports, and can be a force for reflection and perhaps a breakthrough in how we feel and live our lives.

So the questions are why do we get angry, and how can one get over their anger issues and become a happier person?

Well, first accept your anger and express yourself (appropriately of course).  Second, reflect on your anger don’t suppress it. The other thing you can do, according to The Emotional Life website, is to surround yourself with happy people and you in turn will be happier.

Take a look at the video below about social networking and happiness.

Watch the full episode. See more This Emotional Life.

Emotional Lethargy

Research has already determined that a side effect of Botox is the inability to fully express emotions.  New research, according to msnbc.com , reveals anther side effect: the inability to fully feel emotions.

Botox is made of a toxic protein called Botulinum toxin , and it temporarily paralyzes muscles that cause wrinkles.  Botox’s paralyzing side effects mean no wrinkles but also no movement of those muscles.

Scientists believe that facial expressions themselves may influence emotional experiences.  If a person with limited ability to make facial expressions may also have a limited ability to feel emotions.

Researcher Joshua Davis, a psychologist at Barnard College in New York, commented, “With Botox, a person can respond otherwise normally to an emotional event, a sad movie scene, but will have less movement in the facial muscles that have been injected, and therefore less feedback to the brain about such facial expressivity.”

In his study called “Botox Linked to Weakened Ability to Experience Emotions“, Davis and his colleagues showed groups of individuals emotionally charged videos before and after they were injected with either Botox or Restylane (the control group), which adds filler but doesn’t limit the movement of the muscles.

Compared to the control group, the Botox participants experienced a decrease in the strength of emotional experience and responded less strongly to mildly positive clips after the Botox injections rather than before.

This study suggests that feedback from facial expressions to the brain can influence the overall experience of emotions.  The simple act of smiling can help make a person feel happy.

Take a look at the video below about a woman who has had 52 cosmetic procedures and read about how botox has also been suggested as a cure to depression.

Lie to Me is filled with “Lies to You” -Dr. Maureen O’Sullivan

Some of you may know the late Dr. Maureen O’Sullivan, who was a Professor Emeritus of the University of San Francisco.

Dr. O’Sullivan is widely known for her work with Dr. Paul Ekman on the “Wizards Project”, where they identified Truth Wizards. Truth Wizards are those that are exceptionally good at detecting deception. One of these truth wizards, Eyes for Lies, has a popular blog where she comments on current new events.

We came across this informative lecture by Dr. O’Sullivan where she speaks about the TV show “Lie to Me” and her career researching human emotion and lie detection.

Humintell director Dr. Matsumoto has also done research with Dr. O’Sullivan. Notably in 2008, they co-wrote a chapter in the Handbook of Emotion called Facial Expressions of Emotion. The chapter was written with other researchers Dr. Dacher Keltner, Dr. Michelle N. Shiota, and Dr. Mark Frank. You can read the complete chapter here.

Thanks to Steve for the link!

Click here to view the embedded video.