Psychologists have long been interested in understanding what leads people to trust others, and the face has long been at the center of this research. Some people just look trustworthy. Yet, just because a face looks trustworthy does not mean that the person with that face has trustworthy intentions.
Many studies had asked whether people can accurately detect trustworthiness from the face, but what does the person with the face think about all of this? In this study scientists from Columbia Business School wondered whether people who look trustworthy are aware that other people expect them to be trustworthy from their appearance. In essence, asking: Does the person with a trustworthy or untrustworthy looking face think that they will be trusted or distrusted by others? If this were the case, it could explain how people can sometimes accurately judge another’s trustworthiness from the face.
Read the complete article from Scientific American here: Uncovering the Secrets of a Trustworthy Face
Telling small lies desensitizes our brains to the associated negative emotions and may encourage us to tell bigger lies in future, reveals research from scientists at the University College London and Duke University.
“Whether it’s evading taxes, being unfaithful, doping in sports, making up data or committing financial fraud, deceivers often recall how small acts of dishonesty snowballed over time,” U.C.L. neuroscientist Tali Sharot, the work’s senior author, told members of the press during a teleconference last Friday. The team's findings confirm in a laboratory setting that dishonesty grows with repetition. The researchers also used brain imaging to reveal a neural mechanism that may help explain why. “We suspected there might be a basic biological principle of how our brain works that contributes to this phenomenon, called emotional adaptation,” Sharot said.
Read the complete article from Scientific American here: Liar, Liar: How the Brain Adapts to Telling Tall Tales
The full text journal article from Nature Neuroscience can be found here: The brain adapts to dishonesty
Contrary to the opinions of some courts, it is easier to determine the truthfulness of a woman wearing a headscarf or even a veil that leaves only her eyes exposed than a woman wearing no head covering at all, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
“The presence of a veil may compel observers to pay attention to more ‘diagnostic’ cues, such as listening for verbal indicators of deception,” said Amy-May Leach, PhD, of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
Read the complete article from The American Psychological Association here: Veils, Headscarves May Improve Observers' Ability To Judge Truthfulness, Study Finds
The full text journal article from can be found here: Less Is More? Detecting Lies in Veiled Witnesses
Our opinions are affected by what our eyes are focusing on in the same instant we make moral decisions. Researchers at Lund University and other institutions have managed to influence people’s responses to questions such as “is murder defensible?” by tracking their eye movements. When the participants had looked at a randomly pre-selected response long enough, they were asked for an immediate answer. Fifty-eight per cent chose that answer as their moral position.
ICE even has an eye tracking device that is available for students to use for their experiments! Check it out here: TheEyeTribe
Read the complete article from Lund University (and find a link to the full text journal article) here: Moral decisions can be influenced by eye tracking
