Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Past Blog: Facial Expressions are Innate, not Learned

A 2008 study conducted by Humintell Director Dr. David Matsumoto and Photographer Bob Willingham investigated whether or not facial expressions of emotion were innate or a product of cultural learning.

The study, which was the first of its kind, studied congenitally blind (blind from birth)  and sighted judo athletes at the 2004 Paralympic Games and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Their journal article entitled “Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion of Congenitally and Noncongenitally Blind Individuals” was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2009.

During the course of the study, more than 4,800 photographs were captured and analyzed, including images of athletes from 23 countries. According to the findings, there were “no differences between congenitally blind, noncongenitally blind, and sighted athletes, either on the level of individual facial actions or in facial emotion configurations”. This meant that the blind and sighted athletes produced the exact same facial expression, firing the exact same muscles at exactly the same time in similar situations.

For example, below are images of women who had just lost a medal match. The woman on the left is the non-sighted athlete and the woman on the right is the sighted athlete. As you can see, the expressions are both of sadness. The brows are drawn up and together in both pictures, indicating sadness.

These findings “provide compelling evidence that the production of spontaneous facial expressions of emotion is not dependent on observational learning but simultaneously demonstrates a learned component to the social management of expressions, even among blind individuals”.

In essence, facial expressions of emotion are hardwired into our genes and are not learned culturally.

“Losers pushed their lower lip up as if to control the emotion on their face and many produced social smiles,” Matsumoto said. “Individuals blind from birth could not have learned to control their emotions in this way through visual learning so there must be another mechanism. It could be that our emotions, and the systems to regulate them, are vestiges of our evolutionary ancestry. It’s possible that in response to negative emotions, humans have developed a system that closes the mouth so that they are prevented from yelling, biting or throwing insults”.

References:

San Francisco State University (2008, December 30). Facial Expressions Of Emotion Are Innate, Not Learned. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 17, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/12/081229080859.htm

Children Unable to Tell Genuine from Faked Sadness

VieF010045AAs reported in Asian Scientist, recent research suggests that children as old as 12 have difficultly telling the difference between genuine and fake sadness from facial expressions.

The study that came out of the Australian National University was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

The study involved children and adults being shown pairs of images showing facial expressions. One depicted an expression of a genuinely-felt emotion and the other depicted the same person faking an expression of the same emotion. Participants were asked to decide which facial expression was ‘only pretend.’

For happy facial expressions, children could distinguish genuine from fake emotions to some extent. However, for sad facial expressions, the child participants had difficulty distinguishing between the two. For both happy and sad faces, children did not do as well as adults.

Researchers said that the results do not mean that children can never tell whether another person is feeling genuinely sad, because they might be able to do this using other information, such as body language or knowing what caused the emotion. But the results do show that, unlike adults, children are poor at doing this just by looking at a person’s face.

Lead researcher Dr. Amy Dawel of the ANU School of Psychology said this may affect children’s ability to build relationships, or leave them open to manipulation. “Being able to tell the difference between genuine and fake facial expressions is crucial to social interaction,” Dawel said. “If children are misinterpreting polite smiles as genuinely happy then they are not picking up important feedback on their own social behavior. They might think that other children find them funny, or want to make friends, when in fact they are only being polite.”

The researchers were also surprised children aged eight to 12 showed no improvement in their ability to identify genuine facial emotion. “There is absolutely no improvement across that period,” Dawel said. “This is a skill that develops quite late—some time during the teenage years. So, we are talking about typical kids entering high school and not yet having developed the subtle skills in face emotion recognition that adults take for granted.”

Setting the Stage for a Successful Sales Call

Let me ask you a question and please be honest; doesn’t it bother you when the doorbell rings and someone has showed up unannounced and tries to sell you something? I’m confident everyone reading this agrees that’s not how you want to be approached. Then why do salespeople do that to their business customers?Salesperson – “Hi Pat. I was in the area and thought I’d pop in to say hello. Do you have a few minutes to talk because I’d love to tell you about…blah, blah, blah.”All too often people agree to give up some time because they don’t want to appear rude but here’s a newsflash for the offensive salesperson – they aren’t listening to you! They’re wondering why they didn’t honestly tell you they didn’t have time to see you and are counting the minutes until you leave.Holding successful sales calls entails setting the stage because you want to be in front of people who want to see you and believe you might just be able to help them or their business.So how do you set the stage? A little pre-call planning and understanding psychology goes a long way.Common courtesy dictates you contact a client (current or potential) to find a date and time that works for both of you. I always suggest doing this by phone because it allows you to inform them about why you want to see them and find out if there are any things you should be considering in advance.Salesperson – “Hi Pat, it’s Jim. I was calling to see if we could find a time when I could stop by. I’d like to find out how things are going and share with you some things I think you’ll find very interesting.”A big reason to make this initial contact is to give the client time to think about you, your company, and your product or service. Next, follow up immediately with an email thanking them for their willingness to meet with you, confirming the date and time, and giving them some information to look over and think about. Make sure to ask them if they will look at it in advance because when they say yes, the likelihood they will do it goes up. This approach taps into the principle of consistency – people feel internal psychological pressure and external social pressure to be consistent in what they say and do. Salesperson – “Thanks for making time to see me next Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. To get the most out of our time would you take a few moments to look at the link below?”Setting up the sales call like this also taps into a psychological concept known as priming. Simply sharing information beforehand can change how people think and behave. Resend the original email on the day of the sales call to remind the client of the time and ask if they’ve looked at the information you shared. If they haven’t already they’re very likely to in response to your email. Again, they don’t want to meet with you and not have done what you asked.As the meeting starts, again, thank them for their time. Allow them the opportunity to share what’s on their mind before you launch into your presentation. After the meeting it’s always a good idea to send a follow-up email. The reason for this email is to confirm any sale, agreed upon next steps or action items. If you came away with a different impression than the client this is the time miscommunication can be dealt with.If you’re a salesperson I challenge you to try this approach to a sales call. Clients and potential clients will appreciate you respecting their time. You’ll also have the benefit of a much more productive meeting because your contact will have had three or four opportunities to think about your offer.Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.