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.

Universal Facial Expressions & Attractiveness

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 Is the attractiveness of a person’s face impacted by the facial expression they make ?

Most people think that smiling makes a person look more attractive.  Is this really true?

Researchers at the University of Portsmouth in the UK decided to test the theory and find out not only if attractive people are more attractive when they smile but if attractive people look less attractive if they show anger or displeasure.

They also tested  the theory on unattractive people to see if it goes both ways.  They studied whether unattractive people would be considered more attractive if they smiled.

Medical Xpress outlined the results of this research, which is published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.

Participants viewed photographs of various individuals making one of the seven universal facial expressions of emotion (anger, sadness, happiness, fear, disgust leaving out contempt).

Most of the participants rated people as attractive regardless of the facial expression they were making.  Interestingly, this worked for the unattractive people as well. They did not do better when smiling leading to the conclusion of the study;  the facial expression a person makes does not affect how attractive they are perceived to be by others.

The researchers were eager to point out that facial expressions are more likely than not to still play a role in helping people decide whether someone is approachable.

 Do YOU change your notion of attractiveness when you see someone with an angry expression   OR
Does the study’s results make perfect sense ?

“Truth Serum” in a Court of Law ?

Image courtesy of Reuters

Many of us remember the tragedy that took place last July in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. NewScientist has some interesting turn of events in the Dark Knight Rises shooter case .

James Holmes has plead not-guilty by reason of insanity, and the judge presiding over the case has ruled that “medically appropriate” drugs could be used in Holmes case.  To be found insane, Holmes’ attorneys must prove that he did not know right from wrong at the time of the shooting,which killed 12 people and injured 58.

When one says “truth serum” it is not clear what drug that is, but New Scientist reports that it could be sodium pentothal, which in some US states is given as part of the lethal injection in the death penalty.  However, many scientists and psychologists think that it is very doubtful that this medical drug will be helpful in coercing Holmes into “telling the truth”.

“Under barbiturates, people often engage in fantasy and have delusions. This is similar to someone who is drunk. How much do you trust the story the drunk in the pub tells you?” said Paul Zak from Claremont Graduate University in California.

  Aldert Vrij a lie detection researcher, says that the judge’s ruling is unusual.

“I am not aware of any scientific support for truth serums.  Neither am I aware that it has value on determining whether someone is legally insane.”

However, the value of using such drugs in a court of law to elicit “truth” statements is very unclear at this point. “Regardless of their effectiveness, administering truth serums arguably violates an individual’s rights under the US constitution.  However, the constitutional implications of using a truth serum to test an insanity plea are less clear,” purports Jason Odeshoo at law firm Jenner & Block in Chicago, Illinois.

What do you think about this admission in court? Is it a violation of human rights?  OR
Is is no holds bar when one tries to plead insanity for the killing of 12 people, many in the prime of their life?