What drives Olympic athletes’ emotions? SF State psychologist and Humintell Director David Matsumoto answer this question explains the science behind an athlete’s “victory stance” in the video below. For more on Emotions, Sports and Critical Thinking, view this past blog post.
Olympic Victory and Defeat, Frame by Frame
From NPR’s “Hidden Brain” It may sound trite, but the Olympic Games truly are a chance to witness what unites us all as human beings: Our joy in triumph and our anguish in defeat. David Matsumoto believes this truism, but on an entirely different level. Matsumoto is a professor of psychology at San Francisco State…
Read MoreHappy or Not, Russians Rarely Smile in Public
In an article written by Marina Krakovsky and published in Psychology Today entitled“Global Psyche: National Poker Face”, Russian citizen’s facial expressions were compared with Americans. The article states that Russians, who seem very serious, rarely smile in public. The article suggests that this is not because they are pessimistic worry warts, but because their social…
Read MoreEmotion in Sports: Troy Dumais’ Final Dive
In case you missed it, Ventura native Troy Dumais called it quits this weekend, ending a diving career that spanned four Olympic Games and 38 national championships. The 36-year-old Dumais was trying for his fifth Olympic squad but finished fourth in the 3-meter event at the team trials in Indianapolis. Despite the disappointment, he received…
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