Humintell tends to focus on nonverbal behavior and facial expressions, but our voices also convey a lot of subtle information. This should not be a surprise to many of you who intuitively see different emotions and attitudes in pre-vocal utterances such as sighs, grunts, or yells. In a 2015 study, a team of researchers sought…
Read MoreBasic Emotions and Cultural Differences
Despite the universal nature of many basic emotions and types of emotions, it is pretty clear that cultural differences exist, but why? It certainly would be simplistic to think that all emotional expressions are the exact same around the world, despite the existence of basic emotional expressions across cultures. In fact, a major 2015 study…
Read MoreWhy Try to Read Others?
At Humintell, we certainly talk a lot about reading other people’s emotions, but why is this such a big deal? One obvious answer is that it is just really fascinating psychology, but there are also relevant and practical reasons to improve your ability to read microexpressions and other nonverbal cues. Not only are they particularly…
Read MoreThe Contagious Smile
Many of us often feel that smiling can be irresistibly contagious, but is this actually true? In fact, a recent study published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences adds to a growing body of evidence that indicates that other people’s expressions really can have a tangible impact on our mood. The study authors, Dr. Paula Niedenthal…
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