Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

The Efficacy of Training to Recognize Microexpression of Emotion

A new study performed by Dr. David Matsumoto and Dr. Hyi Sung Hwang demonstrated that the ability to read microexpressions, facial expressions of emotion that can appear on the face as fast as 1/2 second,  can be trained.

They present two studies that prove this claim as well as evidence for the retention of the training effects.  Their study is the first scientific evidence of training efficacy to read microexpressions in normal adult populations.

These findings are important because they demonstrate that not only can people be taught the ability to read emotions on the face, but also that this ability can be retained.

See the full paper and the research for both studies here.

Blushing: A Free Pass?

Charles Darwin described a blush as “the most peculiar and most human of all expressions” and noted that it is a reaction we have no control over.

A recent study has suggested that besides the redness of your cheeks, blushing can have some unexpected benefits.

MSNBC.Com purports that a study claims that blushing after making a public mistake make others think that you more trustworthy than someone who showed no emotion towards their public faux pas.

The study’s findings , published in the journal Emotion stated that participants, in a prisoners dilemma game, judged the defector (of the research game) less harshly when she blushed and thought she was less likely to defect again.  They even gave the blushing, neutral faced opponent more money during this trust task.

Corine Dijk, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the study’s lead author, says, “After you do something wrong, people like you more when you blush.”  Dijk goes on to state, “[blushing] signals that you care about others opinions.”

What do you think about the study’s findings?  Do you think blushing should be a free pass for a mistake, or that it makes a person more likable?

Positive Emotions and Asians

If you think happy thoughts then you will eventually become happier.  Is this true? 

Much research has shown that what a person portrays as reality can become their reality.  If you smile even when you’re sad you will become less sad.  Does this always work? 

According to a new study, posted on EurekAlert , performed by psychologists at the University of Washington, this might be true for many European Americans but is found lacking for the Asian American population.  

This study  published in the online journal Emotion , showed that for Asian Americans there was no correlation between positive emotions and less stress or depression as was shown for their European-American counter parts.

The study’s findings reveal that Asians interpret and react to positive emotions differently in regards to their mental health.  This is significant considering that Asian make up 60% of the world population.

For example, upon winning an award the typical Asian response would be “I’m so happy I’m afraid.”  Their achievement would trigger feelings of happiness for the achievement combined with concern that others would be jealous. 

The researchers suggest that the blending of emotions is common among Asians and may be contributed to by Buddhist beliefs and yin-yang attitudes, that happiness either leads to suffering or is impossible to obtain and that life is a natural balance of good and bad.

Janxin Leu, UW assistant professor of psychology purports, mindfulness therapies that encourage patients to pay attention to the good and bad will likely work better and [patients should] “observe when they feel good and bad and notice that both will disappear.  Everything passes.”

This analysis suggests that although humans share seven universal facial expressions of emotion (fear, sadness, anger, contempt, surprise, joy and disgust) across cultures our internalization of these emotions is divergent because of cultural differences and traditions.