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Forged by Trust: The Healing Power of Nonverbal Behavior

Written by Robin Dreeke of the People Formula, originally published on LinkedIn

Introduction

In the world of trust and the intricate dance of nonverbal communication, I had the privilege of exploring the life and wisdom of David Matsumoto, Ph.D.

Renowned for his expertise in nonverbal behavior and as an Olympic Judo Coach, his journey is a captivating blend of resilience and profound human connection.

From humble beginnings to triumphs on the Olympic stage, Dr. Matsumoto’s story offers valuable insights into the transformative power of trust and the unspoken language that unites us all.

Building Trust from the Ground Up

Dr. Matsumoto’s journey begins in the loving embrace of his family, where trust becomes the cornerstone of his character.

Their unwavering support instills in him a belief that he can conquer any obstacle that life throws his way.

This early foundation of trust provides him with the confidence to navigate life’s challenges and embark on his path to greatness.

The Artistry of Judo and Nonverbal Communication

Within the realm of Judo, Dr. Matsumoto discovers a language that transcends words.

In the graceful movements and precise grips of the sport, nonverbal cues come alive, building a bridge of trust between practitioners.

Through the unspoken dialogue of touch and body language, they establish a profound connection that goes beyond the realm of spoken words.

Judo becomes a canvas for the exploration of trust and the power of nonverbal communication.

A Mentality of Service

As Dr. Matsumoto progresses in his Judo journey, he embraces a mentality of service.

Beyond personal achievements, he recognizes the importance of guiding and uplifting others.

Teaching becomes a means to foster growth and trust in his students. By offering guidance and support, he cultivates deep connections and leaves an indelible impact on their lives.

Coaching at the Olympics: A Trusting Relationship

Dr. Matsumoto’s coaching career reaches its zenith when he is chosen as a coach for the USA Olympic Judo Team in the prestigious 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

This honor is a testament to the trust that both his athletes and the organization place in his expertise and leadership.

Through unwavering commitment and a deep understanding of trust, he creates an environment where athletes can thrive and achieve their full potential.

The Life-Saving Gift of Trust

In the midst of Dr. Matsumoto’s journey, a remarkable act of trust unfolds. One of his judo students, moved by compassion, selflessly offers him a kidney to combat his kidney disease.

This act of trust not only saves his life but also reinforces the profound impact trust can have on forging connections that transcend the boundaries of mortality.

It serves as a poignant reminder of the transformative power of trust in our lives.

Rising from Setbacks with Trust

Life presents its fair share of challenges to Dr. Matsumoto, but his unwavering trust becomes a guiding light in times of adversity.

Embracing the Japanese proverb, “Fall down seven times, stand up eight,” he uses setbacks as stepping stones for growth and self-improvement.

Trust becomes the catalyst that propels him forward and enables him to rise above challenges.

Conclusion

Dr. David Matsumoto’s journey is a testament to the profound impact of trust and the intricate dance of nonverbal communication.

From his humble beginnings to his triumphs as a coach, he exemplifies the transformative power of trust in personal relationships and on the Judo mat.

Through his experiences, we gain valuable insights into nurturing trust, understanding the language of nonverbal communication, and using trust as a springboard for growth.

Let us embrace these lessons as we navigate our own journeys, forging connections and creating a world rooted in trust.

The post Forged by Trust: The Healing Power of Nonverbal Behavior first appeared on Humintell.

The Importance of Eyebrows in Emotion Expression

It may be easy to live your entire life without giving your eyebrows a second thought, but in reality, they’re an incredibly important social communication tool.

As reported in the Independent, “Your eyebrows reflect your inner mental and emotional landscape with amazing speed and specificity. They are involved not just in emotional expression, but also in emotion perception in social situations”.

Turns out researchers have been studying facial hair (including eyebrows) and the role they play in emotion expression. Read on to learn more about what the research says.

Why Do We Have Eyebrows?

Eyebrows are a big part of our appearance and are one of the most distinct features of your whole face. 

One of the most important roles eyebrows play is to protect your eyes from moisture such as rain or sweat. The shape of your brows themselves, along with the hair help force water away from your eyes so you can still see.

While protecting our eyes may have been their original purpose, eyebrows found themselves playing a secondary role somewhere along the line: conveying emotion.

What Are Eyebrows For?

Eyebrows are one of the most expressive features of your face and helps you communicate all kinds of messages non-verbally.

Different eyebrow positions convey different emotions like happiness, surprise or anger.

According to Discover Magazine, “A 2018 study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution investigated why early hominins’ brow ridges were so much larger and more rigid than modern humans’ ridges. They found that having more mobile eyebrows likely helped our ancestors to form relationships and ensure survival in groups. Eyebrow hair, the researchers say, simply increased the visibility of this form of communication.”

Fascinatingly, our eyebrows may be involved not just in emotional expression but in emotion perception.

Research has shown that along with the rest of your face and body, your eyebrows may spontaneously mimic the people you interact with in social situations.

Why Dogs Have Eyebrows but Wolves Don’t

puppy-dog-eyesInterestingly, using our eyebrows to communicate emotion does not seem to be a uniquely human trait.

Dogs were domesticated from wolves over 33,000 years ago and, during that time, selection processes have shaped both their anatomy and behavior.

Eyebrow movement plays a major role in human communication and dogs have a muscle in the eyebrow region that gray wolves don’t.

The fact that dogs can lift their eyebrows to communicate with humans is probably one reason many think of our dogs as children.

Eyebrows give dogs a wider range of human-like facial expressions we can identify with and they play a vital role in how dogs became “man’s best friend.”

Evolutionary psychologists believe that centuries of domestication “transformed the facial muscle anatomy of dogs specifically for facial communication with humans,” write the authors of a 2019 study published in PNAS.

For more on how dogs are born ready to read body language and are capable of communicating and interacting with humans at a very young age read our past blog post:

Puppies Read Body Language

What About Beards?

In his Descent of Man, Charles Darwin suggested a reason for why we grow beards.

He suggested that beards were an example of sexual selection and may have evolved “to charm or excite the opposite sex” — while also intimidating the competition.

Researchers tend to think the same, for example, of lion’s manes, which may signal to other lions that the mane-bearer is in good health and a formidable opponent. 

An interesting 2019 study published in Psychological Science suggests Darwin’s hypothesis is possible.

The researchers investigated whether beards enhance recognition of threatening expressions, such as anger.

The results of their study suggested that found that, “the presence of a beard increased the speed and accuracy with which participants recognized displays of anger but not happiness”.

Bonus fact: If a man never shaves his beard it can grow up to 30 feet long during his lifetime.

The post The Importance of Eyebrows in Emotion Expression first appeared on Humintell.

Can Smiling Improve Your Mood? Research Says Yes.

Emotions and Facial Expressions

We all know that emotions give our lives meaning, and life without emotions is impossible to imagine.

Emotions are a vestige of our evolutionary history and are primarily controlled by an archaic part of the brain.

This is why Dr. Matsumoto describes emotions as immediate, involuntary, automatic, and unconscious reactions to things that are important to us.

Emotions help us react in some situations with minimal conscious awareness and are triggered by a universal, underlying psychological theme.

When triggered, they recruit an organized system of reactions that produce specific physiological signatures, direct our cognitions, and produce specific types of feelings.

Importantly, emotions produce specific, nonverbal behavior in the face, voice, and body.

Different emotions are expressed by different, specific, unique facial configurations (facial expressions) that are universal to all cultures, regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender or any other demographic variable.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

If emotions produce specific universal facial expressions, can facial expressions in turn affect your emotions? According to the facial feedback hypothesis, they can.

But is this actually true?

Scientists have been interested in the idea of a facial-feedback hypothesis since the 1800s (Source: Betterhelp) and modern researchers have continued to study the hypothesis to this day.

Smiling is Good for Your Heart

One study conducted by clinical psychologists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman showed the positive effects of smiling. Turns out, smiling can be good for your heart in stressful situations.

How Masks Hinder PolitenessFor their study, the researchers examined participants’ heartbeats, since stress and heart health are related.

17o participants were split into 2 groups: one knew what the study was about, while the other didn’t.

In the training stage, the researchers taught the volunteers how to either hold their faces in a neutral expression, hold a social smile (upper right hand image), or hold a Duchenne smile (upper left hand image).

The researchers monitored the participants’ heart rates as they performed various tasks; both groups were required to use their hand to quickly trace a star reflected in a mirror, followed by placing their hand in a bucket of ice water for one minute.

While completing these tasks, each person had to hold chopsticks in their mouth which activated muscles corresponding to a forced smile.

They found the participants who were instructed to smile, and in particular those whose faces expressed genuine or Duchenne smiles, had lower heart rates after recovery from the stress activities than the ones who held their faces in neutral expressions.

Even the volunteers who held chopsticks in their mouths, that forced the muscles to express a smile (but they had not explicitly been instructed to smile), had lower recovery heart rates compared to the ones who held neutral facial expressions.

Interestingly, those who smiled genuinely during the trial recovered the fastest, followed by people with fake (social) smiles. Those with neutral smiles had the slowest recovery.

Even Fake Smiles Can Improve Mood

Recent research also suggests that fake or social smiling can make people feel happier.

An international collaboration of researchers led by Stanford University research scientist Nicholas Coles published a study in Nature Human Behavior.

As part of the Many Smiles Collaboration, a total of 26 research groups from 19 different countries and over 3,800 participants were involved. The average age of the participants was 26 and over 70% were women.

The researchers created a plan that included three well-known techniques intended to encourage participants to activate their smile muscles:

  1. One-third of participants were directed to use the pen-in-mouth method
  2. One-third were asked to mimic the facial expressions seen in photos of smiling actors
  3. The final third were given instructions to move the corners of their lips toward their ears and lift their cheeks using only the muscles in their face

In each group, half the participants performed a small physical tasks and simple math problems while looking at cheerful images of puppies, kittens, flowers, and fireworks, and the other half simply saw a blank screen.

They also saw these same types of images (or lack thereof) while directed to use a neutral facial expression. After each task, participants rated how happy they were feeling.

After analyzing their data, the researchers found a noticeable increase in happiness from participants mimicking smiling photographs or pulling their mouth toward their ears.

Interestingly, the researchers didn’t find a strong mood change in participants using the pen-in-mouth technique but the evidence from the other two techniques was clear.

It provided a compelling argument that human emotions are somehow linked to muscle movements or other physical sensations.

For more on how smiling boosts your mood, visit this past blog post

The post Can Smiling Improve Your Mood? Research Says Yes. first appeared on Humintell.