Happy Holidays From Humintell

Wishing You a Wonderful Holiday Season!


We thank you for your support and for being a loyal customer.

We would not be able to continue to expose the fascinating world of  facial expressions of

emotion and nonverbal behavior without your support.

We wish you the very best Holiday Season!

Women, Work, Motherhood & Emotions

Mothers in the work force has long been a subject of debate especially when it comes to having young children.  Should women with young children work outside the home?  Will working and being a new mom be good for the family/individual or Is it too stressful?

A study reported on by Time Healthland, suggests that working moms with young children are happier than stay at home moms.

Cheryl Buehler, a professor of human development and family studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G) and led author of the study affirms, “Employment helps women and their families.”  Her study is new in that unlike other studies on working mothers it focuses on how working affects the mom not the child.

It also delves into the impacts of working full -time vs part-time.  Interesting enough mothers with young children who work only part-time fair the best.  Buehler reported that there was not a lot of emotional difference between part-time and full-time participants but there was less work-family conflict.

The biggest differences were between the stay at home moms and the part-time moms.  The part timers were less depressed, more sensitive to their children and provided more learning opportunities for them.

“Maybe that [work environment] translates to the experience they bring to their children, comments Buehler.  Employment is an exercise in social skills and can increase a person’s awareness of what is going on in the community.

The Sunday Times has reported that overall women are better judges of men when assessing emotion. This comes from top management guru and accountant Chandra Jayaratne.

David Brooks, a New York best selling author was quoted by Jayaratne, “Everyone of us have emotions as emotions are more important than pure decisions and if you cannot resolve any crisis by your accountancy profession resolve it my emotion and that is why ladies are better intuitive judges than men”.

Jayaratne went on to note that when making decisions everyone forgets about emotions and sometimes sentiments are more effective and important than mere logical conclusions.

The message of his overall speech:

“Emotions are more important than pure decisions when value judgments are made.  Women are better intuitive judges than men as men tend to follow the book.”

 

Update: Niqab & Burkas Banned in Courts?

In the recent past, Humintell has blogged about the controversy surrounding head dressings and their use in court systems throughout the world.

On Dec. 12th a Canadian court official, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, ruled that Muslim women must remove their face covering such as the burka or niqab before reciting the Canadian oath of citizenship.

cbcnews Canada describes how the decisions regarding head dressings is effecting Canada’s  entire legal system.

An Ontario woman, whose name has been withheld, is waiting to hear if she can testify in a case with her niqab.  She is the complainant in a sexual assault case. The defending lawyers say that they want to and should be allowed to see her facial expressions.

Do you agree or disagree that she should be allowed to testify with her face veil?

In Quebec there is a “reasonable accommodation”  debate going on regarding face veils.  A woman was barred this past summer from being a Lac St. Louis Regional Soccer Association referee simply because she wears a niqab.

Read the rest of the article to see how this controversy is affecting other countries as well.

Airport of the Future

With the holiday season upon us, visiting relatives and spending time with loved ones is on many people’s agendas, and the fastest way to do that is often by air.

The EU recently announced that it will ban x-ray body scanners at airports.  This was reported on last month by CNN.  But don’t jump for joy yet- there will be another security measure to take their place.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has delineated its vision for the future of airport security.  They plan on implementing a series of neon lit tunnels.  This sounds exciting and at least colorful, but it is more than just aesthetically enhancing airports of the future.

These neon-lit tunnels come equipped with eye scanners, x-ray machines and metal and liquid detectors.  Travelers will be issued a ‘travel profile”, which might prove to be the most controversial and time-consuming part to implement, and then escorted into one of the various tunnels in airports throughout the globe.

Think this sounds impressive.  Well the time-line to implementation is even more impressive.  The IATA is hoping to have these features in airports within the next 5-7 years.

What are your insights on the airport of the future?

This new idea sounds like it would make long security lines  a thing of the past.  It would be more ascetically pleasing not to mention futuristic.  After-all most airports do need updating (it is the 21st century).

The question is, is this less intrusive than what is available now?  Probably not, but with its new ascetics and  low key security features passengers might not mind it as much as the time consuming body scanners in place right now.  It could  alleviate anxiety surrounding ethnic profiling as well.

For more information about airport security read the rest of “The Future of Airport Security”.

Do you think that this is more intrusive than what is in place now? Or do you think it is speedier and more customer friendly?

Emotional Intelligence: An Important Child’s Social Skill

Emotional Intelligence – the ability to manage one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions -, a term coined in 1990, is an extremely important social skill that is often either overlooked or under-recognized or both.

Have you ever wondered, How did he/she get the promotion over me (I have more education or experience)? Why do I always get the customer support person who seems rude?

Well, auburnpub.com reports that children’s social skills are critical to their happiness and success in life.  This comes from Daniel Coleman’s book Emotional Intelligence.

So what are the key elements to keep in mind when trying to raise emotionally intelligent children?  Here is an abbreviated version of the top 5 pointers.

1.  Empathize with your child.

Number 2 is a big one and I imagine a bit controversial for some parents.

2.  Don’t force toddlers to share.  Instead us the concept of taking turns.

3.  Before play dates let your child put away ‘special” toys that they do not want to share.

4. Set clear limits on physically acting out.  Teach healthy self-management

5.  Labeling emotion is the first step in managing it. Ex:  That sound is scary but your safe here in the house.

To read more about tips on emotional intelligence click here.

Update: Computers, Language & Lie Detectors

Photo Courtesy of Columbia University

In a past blog “The Language of Language” Humintell noted that computer science professor and spoken language expert Dr. Julia Hirschberg was setting out to examine what people unconsciously communicate through things such as intonation, accent and phrasing.

Now Dr. Hirschberg is teaching computers how to spot deception detection via programming them to parse speech for these such patterns mentioned above.

This lie detection software provides clues to the intentions/emotions of the voices it analysis via loudness, changes in pitch, pauses between words, ums and ahs, nervous laughs and dozens of other tiny signs that can suggest a lie.

The applications of such a device are numerous:  This software could be used in call centers, business meetings and in online dating services throughout the world.

This research development is closely related to another study conducted by James Harnsberger, Ph.D. that we recently blogged about.  That research also analyzed the human voice with its focus on stress indicators.

The New York Times article goes on to state that algorithms developed by Dr. Hirschberg and colleagues have been able to spot a liar 70 percent of the time in test situations.

Don’t forget Big Brother is not only watching but soon to be listening as well.

Infants and Credibility

The University of Concordia reports that even in infancy humans can delineate between credible and non-credible sources.  The study, published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development, examined a group of 60 infants.

“This [study] shows infants will imitate behavior from a reliable adult,” says second author Ivy Brooker, “In contrast, the same behavior performed by an unreliable adult is interpreted as irrational or inefficient, therefore not worth imitating.”

The babies were divided in two groups; with reliable or unreliable testers.  To determine the reliability of experimenters they looked into a container with a reaction of excitement.  Then the infants were invited to discover if the container actually had a toy in it or was empty.

The follow up experiment then had the experimenter use their forehead in lieu of their hands to turn on a light.  The researchers recorded whether the infants would imitate the experimenter.  The study findings, only 34% of infants of unreliable testers followed the strange assignment.

“Like older children, infants keep track of an individual’s history of being accurate or inaccurate and use this information to guide their subsequent learning,” says senior researcher Diane Poulin-Dubois.

Holiday Spending-Emotions and Shopping

This holiday season companies are pulling out all the stops to find out what makes consumers buy goods and why shoppers shop.

Aided by science, a research group sets out to understand the body’s response to buying using  bio-metric bracelet technology that was developed by MIT’s Media Lab.

The Wall Street Journal reported that a market research agency fitted 50 shoppers from Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta with biometric bracelets to track their body’s response to shopping.

Why do companies want to know the body’s response to shopping?  Well, to be able to track the emotions attached to shopping in an effort to make products more marketable.

Basically they want to know how emotional states affect shopping in stores versus online.

The sensors in the bracelets monitor “electrodermal activity” or micro changes in sweat levels to gauge a person’s emotional response to the event.

The study, conducted by Interpublic Group of Cos., Shopper Sciences Unit, wants to clarify what sparks a reaction in shoppers and what doesn’t.

The study will benefit major marketers such as Hasbro and Coca-Cola.   The participants will be divided into two groups those shopping in stores and those online.  The online shoppers will also have facial recognition cameras attached to their computers for further information about their shopping experience.

“You are looking to tap that deep unconscious reason that people buy” says Donna Sturgess, president of New York-based Buyology Inc.

Many experts disagree with such studies.  They purport that these physiological changes are too complex to tie to a shopper’s behavior.

A few other studies on emotions and gift giving that we have blogged on in the past can be found here.

The old-fashioned survey, which relies on people’s honesty, is a thing of the past.  Technology seems to be the leading force in marketing consumerism.

What do you think about this new type of research?

Win or Loss?

Look at the facial expressions of  the Futbol (soccer) team from Barcelona below.

Do you think they won or lost?

 

Photo courtesy of Futbolita.com

Athletes display a variety of emotions after a win or a loss.  It can be difficult to distinguish between happiness, sadness or surprise, especially if they are subtle facial expressions of emotions.

It is also important to note that still pictures such as these are hard to judge, as they only represent a fraction in time and emotions can come on and off the face in a matter of seconds. Keep in mind that it is also often hard to judge a picture like this without knowing the context in which it was taken (e.g. what may have happened the moment before this was taken)

You might notice that each player is displaying a different facial expression.  The Blaugranas as they are called enjoyed their 4-0 victory, which they dedicated to their coach Tito Vilanova.  However, what is not obvious is that despite the happy news of their undefeated record the players are dealing with the hospitalization  of their beloved coach (Vilanova).

Dr. Matsumoto comments on the ray of emotional facial expressions expressed by athletes who have won and lost and points out that they are immediate and genuine reactions to the circumstance.

To learn more, read our past blog posts about emotions in sports and how emotions affect critical thinking in a sports setting.

Dream it Away

Dreams are nature’s best stress relievers?  That is exactly what a new study by researchers at the University of Berkeley, California suggests.

According to the The Daily Californian, the studies findings, which were published in the journal Current Biology, demonstrates that REM can decrease emotional intensity in reaction to past events.

Els van der Helm, a UC Berkeley doctoral student in psychology and lead author of the study, stated “It [REM] aids therapies not only for (post-traumatic stress disorder) but also mood disorders.”

The research, which was conducted for over a year, suggests that REM creates an optimal environment for the brain to process emotions because it reduces stress inducing electrical activity patterns.

They also noticed that the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes emotion, decreased as a result of REM sleep especially the aggressive aspects.   This study is the first of its kind to record sleep’s effect on brain activity and behavioral reactions to emotional experiences.

“We believe this unique brain state helps to put these emotional experiences ‘in perspective’ by integrating them with previous memories while ‘stripping away’ the emotional tone associated with them,” van der Helm

PsychCentral also delineates the new insights that the findings of this study offer, which is an explanation for why people with disorders such as PTSD suffer reoccurring nightmares.

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