Humintell Director David Matsumoto recently appeared on the Social-Engineer Podcast: The Doctor Is In Series – where they discuss understandings and developments in the field of psychology.
In their latest episode, Social Engineer CEO Chris Hadnagy and Director of Education Dr. Abbie Marono interview Dr. Matsumoto on the topics of emotion and nonverbal communication.
The Origins of Human Emotion
They began the podcast by speaking about the origins of human emotion where he addressed claims that facial expressions of emotion are not innate or universal in nature.
Dr. Matsumoto points out that the thought that emotions are not innate and entirely constructed is actually a minority thought or concept within the field itself, although it gets a lot of traction.
Matsumoto’s Olympic Study
They discuss Dr. Matsumoto’s famous Olympic Judo Study entitled Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion of Congenitally and Noncongenitally Blind Individuals.
This study was conducted at the 2004 Athens Olympic and Paralympic Games where photographs were taken during medal matches in the judo competition.
From these images, Dr. Matsumoto and his team were able to study the first reactions of these judo athletes when they won or lost a medal match.
The results of this study of 84 athletes from 34 countries, showed that winners were immediately smiling. Losers generally showed sadness or disgust or anger. Importantly, there were no cultural differences in these reactions.
Additional images were taken of Paralympic athletes, many of them who were congenitally blind from birth. Researchers compared the images of the sighted and non-sighted athletes and found an amazing amount of similarity between them.
This research (and many others like it) suggests that the capacity to have emotions and facial expressions of emotion is biologically innate.
Behavioral Indicators of Mal-Intent
The conversation then shifted to discussing behavioral indicators of malicious intent.
Dr. Matsumoto emphasizes that much of his research and work has focused on immediate threats and is relevant for those who work at security checkpoints or in harm’s way. He delved into some of the research he’s conducted and their results.
A Writer’s Obligation
They discuss the anonymity and human factors that affect behavior as well as Dr. Matsumoto’s 7th Edition of his book Culture and Psychology.
He emphasizes that he now wants to focus his energy and knowledge on helping others.