From the article Social Rejection and Facial Expressions of Emotion, we learn that those who have been rejected socially are better at detecting real emotion compared to those who have not been socially rejected. The experiment focused on the fact that socially rejected people were able to tell when a smile was real or fake. The fact that the socially rejected were better at distinguishing between real and fake helps support the fact that basic emotions are in fact universal. Also, the article mentions that those who are socially rejected are better able to detect genuine facial expression because they have increased attention to social cues. Therefore, they can know when others are being real about accepting them into their group so it helps to minimize rejection. This shows the evolutionary perspective at work, people use previous experiences to know whether it was rewarding and approach the situation or to avoid it. For example, Candace, a character from a cartoon, is constantly trying to get Jeremy to like her, but it is a struggle for her because she was rejected by him and his friends because she has weird little brothers. When ever Candace approaches Jeremy she is able to tell whether he will be accepting of her before he even begins to talk. She notices that when he is alone that he tends to show more real emotions than he does when he is with his friends. By noticing this she avoids getting rejected and embarrassed by him because she learns when to approach him.
How would being able to detect real emotions benefit in a job setting?
What other ways besides being socially rejected could one use to better their detection of social cues?
Creshun White
I think that being able to detect real emotions would help in a job setting in many ways e.g. in hiring new personnel, in being able to tell if your boss genuinely likes your work, and in general interactions with co-workers (after all, it's all about who you know not what you know).
ReplyDeleteI was amazed that getting participants to relive one event of being rejected was enough to make them recognise true smiles consistently better. Do you think perhaps there would be more of an effect if researchers were to look at recognition rates of those who experience rejection often (compared to those who don't)? The current study suggests that the heightened detection is evolutionary, looking at longterm rejection would suggest more of a learning effect.
What are some other possible explanations for the findings of this study?
There's much truth to what Sarah said. In a job setting its all about who you know and not as much as what you know. So if you know your boss and co-workers well enough(social cues), it can benefit you in multiple situations.
ReplyDeleteExample: If a certain co-worker tends to lie a lot. Your gonna want to know when they're bluffing a big fat lie and when they're being genuinely honest. Or say the co-worker is like Jeremy from the cartoon and feels ashamed of talking with you. Your going to want to know through the social cues that the co-worker is giving off when he is feeling ashamed of you or not. That way you can merely avoid him all together when the social cues are being given off.
I think this article argues a valid point. I agree that in the workplace it is often times about who you know and not what you know. As Diamond mentioned, there are many ways that being socially intelligent can benefit you in the workplace. Not only does it help you create networks and relationships among those you work with but in the business setting in general. Those people may be your friends but are also people who will help you and work with you to accomplish goals and favors you might need them for. Being able to "read" people can also help you understand motivation and intentions of others. It can also help you judge and appraise situations. For example: if every time you pass a co-worker in the hall and they look down, they might not like you. Perceiving this non-verbal behavior helps you to know if/how you would approach them if need be and how the situation might turn out. I think when you can try to understand what people are thinking, it shows a level of empathy and therefore helps others to respect and like you back.
ReplyDeleteWhile being in a job setting, we can benefit from being able to tell others emotions because it could help us in the aspect of our lives in which we have to deal with others. can can work more cooperatively with others if we can tell if they are emotionally compromised, hiding their feelings from us. It helps us deal with then in a way in such that we would want to be treated if we were feeling down and in the dumps. We could also use being able to read someones feelings to our advantage. for instance, if your boss is happy, then you know it would be a good time to ask for that raise.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to tell others emotions has many benefits other than just in the job scene. Some of us take it for granted here in the United States. People in China are less able to tell others emotions and are taught as they are growing up to hide their emotions. thus, as they become adults, working with people is a frustrating happening.