Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

The Neuroscience of Social Emotion

© Ruslana Stovner | Dreamstime Stock Photos

The Monthly.com , Australia, has reported on the Mind and it’s Potential Conference that took place December 2009 in Sydney, Australia.

The video below of Dr. Daniel Siegel MD, a psychiatrist, is about Interpersonal Neurobiology, “We feel; therefore we learn the neuroscience of social emotion.”

The video explores the mind, the brain and relationships and how they work together and influence the way we learn and live.

  “Just imaging doing something (mental activity) can in fact change the physical structure of the brain.  Also, the focus of attention can alter connections in the brain and also change the physical structure.“

Dr. Siegel is also the executive director of the Mindsight Institute whose mission is to link science with practical applications to cultivate mindsight skills and well-being.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Past Blog: Do Emotions Affect Critical Thinking?

By Guest Blogger Sayaka Matsumoto a 2008 Olympian in the sport of Judo

Emotions are a part of everyday life; it doesn’t matter who you are or your profession. It’s how you control and regulate these emotions that determine your success in any given situation.

I know first-hand that being an Olympic Athlete is an extremely emotional experience. I’ve faced a lot of ups and downs during my competitive career and truly understand “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”.

Some emotions and feelings are impossible to describe in words: how can you explain to someone the feeling of losing a crucial match in the last 10 seconds or walking into the Bird’s Nest for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics in front of 90,000 people all cheering for you?

As a result of my experiences, I have come to a profound conclusion: the most striking characteristic of being an elite athlete for me is that it is as much an emotional experience as it is a physical one. It is by controlling their emotions that athletes are capable of maintaining high levels of critical thinking and focus, regardless of what sport they are in.

Research has suggested that when we are very emotional, our critical thinking abilities decrease dramatically. The ability to think critically is crucial to athletes in particular, who must stay incredibly focused during competition.

If athletes do not control their emotions, there are serious consequences. The more emotional they get, their ability to think critically decreases and they lose focus.

An example of this loss of focus and control occurred at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy when snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis made the crucial mistake of celebrating her win before the race was over. Jacobellis held a significant lead over Tanja Frieden of Switzerland for the whole run, until she performed a celebratory trick on the second to the last jump and fell. While Jacobellis struggled to get up, Frieden passed her, winning the gold medal, becoming Olympic Champion.

Video with commentary

Click here to view the embedded video.

A clearer video without commentary

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jodi’s Tears – Real or Fake?

Jodi Arias’ body language during the trial on Tuesday, March 26, 2013
As expert witness on domestic abuse was on the stand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzspDZUMnHY&feature=youtu.be When the witness about domestic violence was asked if she’d been a witness for a man in a domestic violence case, Jodi Arias leaned on her head and did an arm hand block on her neck. She is doing a lot of eyeglass adjustment where she lifts her eyeglasses up and puts them back down as she did last week. This eye glass adjustment is only done when there is something going on that she really does not like seeing. Remember the timing is the tell. Also notice how full her cheeks are and how her lips are pressed indicating she’s trying to keep emotions in. Notice the timing of this tell is during the expert witness on domestic abuse discussing isolating the victim. Also for the first time I’m seeing extreme fatigue. (The day following this testimony court is canceled as Jodi has a migraine so I think I was seeing the pain buildup here.)
Jodi did a pretend head rest a lot today where she pretended to rest but did not fully rest head on her upraised fist symbolizing her wish to be fighting.
When the expert witness said, “and sometimes it can be sexual abuse it does not have to be forceful,” Jodi brought her hand as if she was going to brush back her hair and scratched her ear and spent quite a long time scratching around the ear which indicates that the idea that she was sexually abused even this conversation coming up was disturbing to her and she didn’t like hearing it again.