A new study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology has confirmed that a new era of airport security screening is upon us.

The study conducted by Thomas Ormerod of the University of Sussex and Coral Dando of the University of Wolverhampton, was partially funded by the British government.

Two hundred four mock airplane passengers, including acting students and undercover cops, were given cover stories and asked to attempt to deceive security agents in real airport screenings in Europe. As an extra incentive, the mock passengers were given money if they successfully avoided detection by the security agents.

The new method of screening is based on establishing rapport and asking passengers open-ended conversational questions while they observe people’s body language and responses, including changes in behavior such as increasingly shorter responses, or evasive or erratic responses. Trained security agents who used this new screening method successfully detected 66% of the mock passengers. Agents who used different methods detected a measly 3%.

The findings of this study could have important implications for preventing terrorist attacks or catching criminals, the researchers said. Moreover, the findings highlight the importance of training to read many of the nonverbal behaviors offered in the Humintell suite of online training courses.

Giving and receiving Christmas gifts can be a stressful nightmare but how can you tell if someone really liked their gift?

In a survey of 2,000 Brits, 65% of people confessed to pretending to like a gift to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.

The graphic above shows the body language signals to look for to see if someone does or doesn’t like their gift.

Most of us probably know how to read these signs somewhat instinctively- in a study conducted on gift giving, 680 men and women were asked to identify whether or not a recipient liked their gift. 75% of the participants were able to correctly do so. We covered this story in a past blog on Emotions in Gift Giving.

However, in this spirit of giving this holiday season, let’s remember that psychologist have also scientifically proven that one of the greatest contributing factors to overall happiness is how much gratitude you show.

It’s truly the thought that counts and expressing your appreciation for a gift (whether you truly like it or not) can lead to not only your happiness, but the gift giver as well.

 

A recent study out of Germany suggests that one’s ability to read emotions in others may have a direct correlation to how much you earn.

In a study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, researchers looked at emotion recognition ability and tested and measured it along with other interpersonal skills such as how socially astute they were, their networking savvy and how seemingly trustworthy they were in 142 German workers.

High emotional recognition was linked to a higher salary, even after controlling for salary-bumping factors like age, gender, education, work experience and work hours.

“This very basic ability has effects on the interpersonal facilitation facet of job performance and, most notably, even on annual income, an objective indicator of career success,” the study authors wrote. “The better people are at recognizing emotions, the better they handle the politics in organizations and the interpersonal aspects of work life, and thus the more they earn in their jobs.”

So just how good are you at reading emotions in others? Humintell offers a full suite of products to help improve your emotion recognition ability!

Save 40% this holiday season on any online course until December 24th with code HOLIDAY40!