Watch this video to see if you can understand how contextual clues might lead someone might read a particular emotion in someone's face even when it is not there.
I found this part of the chapter very interesting, and now having watched the video I can kind of catch what people think they may have seen. The man's eyes seem to be watering which leads to the feeling of a powerful emotion (hunger, sadness, lust). Near the end of the short scene he seems to take a sigh. This could have triggered the emotion of despair or longing as many people do sigh in sadness or annoyance. If I had not read about it before hand I think I to would have thought it was a different scene each time.
I agree. Body language is very interesting. If I’m remembering correctly, emotions are conveyed through clusters of gestures, not individual actions. It is fascinating that, due to the context, viewers altered their interpretation of said clusters. Like you said, depending on the image shown, they attribute individual actions with different emotions, such as watery eyes and sighing as resulting from a feeling of hunger, grief, or lust, when they likely mean nothing. I suppose that body language is similar to written or spoken language; we rely on context clues to decipher its meaning!
I feel that sometimes, as human beings, we see what we want to see rather than seeing what is actually there. For instance, because I would feel hunger when viewing a bowl of soup, I might attribute those same emotions onto someone who may not feel the same way. Likewise, the feelings of sadness or lust that we may experience make more sense to us if every man or woman has the same reaction to whatever stimulated those feelings in us.
When reading this section I was captivated. As I looked at the pictures I witnessed exactly what the other people in the experiment reported. I saw the man hungry, sad, and lusting. However, as I read on and then looked at the man again, without the other images, I realized it was the exact same expression. I had projected the emotions I would have felt onto that man’s face. Also, with the experiment involving the shapes moving around. I imagined the video playing and immediately began to make up a story as to why they were moving around in that particular manner. Was is a symbol of a drama unfolding? The fact that only three out of one hundred and fourteen actually gave the reasonable answer, geometric shapes moving around a screen, shows us something spectacular. I think that we all see the surroundings and our minds create an answer that makes sense to us. -Alex Porter
It's interesting that when I watched this video the individual looked the same, however when I performed the same experiment with the pictures in the book I saw differences. Perhaps this was the case because I was more aware of what the experiment demanded when I watched the video verses when I read the book and saw the pictures. I had been exposed to the experiment multiple times, and therefore was less susceptible while watching the video. Another reason I did not see differences in the video may have been that I was paying close attention to the individuals facial expression rather than their breathing.
However, others who had not been told anything about this may very well have seen differences from picture to picture. In the video, the man's eyes are slightly squinted, an expression we often associate with longing, intense studying, and a variety of emotions. Since this is a video, which detects movement as well as expression, and the book simply uses pictures, this could also effect an individuals interpretation. The video of the man seems to play through with certain moments spliced with the other pictures. It is interesting to note that the first three sections have the man breathing in, while the last section has him breathing out. Does this have an affect on the way someone would interpret the emotion? Someone might see the inhale as the man holding his breath so as not to wake the child. Or perhaps the exhale is a sigh of desire for the woman shown before this clip. However, since the breathing seams to be the only thing changing slightly, any emotional differences individuals describe are interpretations of the human mind.
I can see how we can give emotions to others by the context clue we are given. As humans we want to know why. By making an assumption about someone’s emotions from the context clue given we give ourselves a false positive of why. If I had not read about this test before watching the video I'd be wondering how all these different things are put together. If I were then asked what emotions the person had I would then find a way to connect the scenes making them therefore make sense. I have to disagree with some of the others above I don't think it has anything to do with what the face was emitting your brain is looking for an answer and when asked the question of what emotion the person had it draws a connection. It would be interesting to see this experiment with a person who is obviously mad and see if people draw the conclusion that the person was somehow mad about his soup from the picture of the soup etc.
This experiment by Kuleshov shows how easily the brain can be manipulated. For another example, it is like when I would say something to my friend, and he gave me a look, frowning and eyebrows squinted, that made him look frustrated. So, naturally, I apologized and tried to make things right, but he seemed confused about why I was apologizing. It turns out, he was not mad at all; he was simply confused by what I said. Humans’ emotions are expressed best through body language and tone of voice. Most humans have a variety of faces for different emotions, but some faces could represent a variety of emotions, which explains how I got confused about how my friend reacted to what I told him. Gottschall included the reference to this experiment most likely to demonstrate that the brain, although extremely powerful, can often be fooled. This leads to the point that storytelling, fiction, is a strong influence in the lives of humans because the brain uses fiction to learn from and develop the human personality (a reason why we as humans sometimes get fiction and reality confused). -Talor Stewart
I think that along with body language, such that Miranda made a good point over, humans can also perceive emotions or signs in others depending on how their state of mind is. If someone is walking down the road and is feeling upbeat and optimistic they are going to key in on the more expressive emotions around them. Their eyes are naturally going to want to see the joy and excitement in the faces of those passing by and they will normally flit over the ones that are more saddened or frustrated looking. On the other hand if one was to walk through a crowd while feeling angry or depressed you would see more grief and suspicion in those around you because it would be corresponding to how you are feeling. I think the emotions of the viewers of this experiment had at least a small amount to do with what they saw in overall outcome of it.
I found this part of the chapter very interesting, and now having watched the video I can kind of catch what people think they may have seen. The man's eyes seem to be watering which leads to the feeling of a powerful emotion (hunger, sadness, lust). Near the end of the short scene he seems to take a sigh. This could have triggered the emotion of despair or longing as many people do sigh in sadness or annoyance. If I had not read about it before hand I think I to would have thought it was a different scene each time.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Body language is very interesting. If I’m remembering correctly, emotions are conveyed through clusters of gestures, not individual actions. It is fascinating that, due to the context, viewers altered their interpretation of said clusters. Like you said, depending on the image shown, they attribute individual actions with different emotions, such as watery eyes and sighing as resulting from a feeling of hunger, grief, or lust, when they likely mean nothing. I suppose that body language is similar to written or spoken language; we rely on context clues to decipher its meaning!
DeleteI feel that sometimes, as human beings, we see what we want to see rather than seeing what is actually there. For instance, because I would feel hunger when viewing a bowl of soup, I might attribute those same emotions onto someone who may not feel the same way. Likewise, the feelings of sadness or lust that we may experience make more sense to us if every man or woman has the same reaction to whatever stimulated those feelings in us.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading this section I was captivated. As I looked at the pictures I witnessed exactly what the other people in the experiment reported. I saw the man hungry, sad, and lusting. However, as I read on and then looked at the man again, without the other images, I realized it was the exact same expression. I had projected the emotions I would have felt onto that man’s face. Also, with the experiment involving the shapes moving around. I imagined the video playing and immediately began to make up a story as to why they were moving around in that particular manner. Was is a symbol of a drama unfolding? The fact that only three out of one hundred and fourteen actually gave the reasonable answer, geometric shapes moving around a screen, shows us something spectacular. I think that we all see the surroundings and our minds create an answer that makes sense to us.
ReplyDelete-Alex Porter
It's interesting that when I watched this video the individual looked the same, however when I performed the same experiment with the pictures in the book I saw differences. Perhaps this was the case because I was more aware of what the experiment demanded when I watched the video verses when I read the book and saw the pictures. I had been exposed to the experiment multiple times, and therefore was less susceptible while watching the video. Another reason I did not see differences in the video may have been that I was paying close attention to the individuals facial expression rather than their breathing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, others who had not been told anything about this may very well have seen differences from picture to picture. In the video, the man's eyes are slightly squinted, an expression we often associate with longing, intense studying, and a variety of emotions. Since this is a video, which detects movement as well as expression, and the book simply uses pictures, this could also effect an individuals interpretation. The video of the man seems to play through with certain moments spliced with the other pictures. It is interesting to note that the first three sections have the man breathing in, while the last section has him breathing out. Does this have an affect on the way someone would interpret the emotion? Someone might see the inhale as the man holding his breath so as not to wake the child. Or perhaps the exhale is a sigh of desire for the woman shown before this clip. However, since the breathing seams to be the only thing changing slightly, any emotional differences individuals describe are interpretations of the human mind.
I can see how we can give emotions to others by the context clue we are given. As humans we want to know why. By making an assumption about someone’s emotions from the context clue given we give ourselves a false positive of why. If I had not read about this test before watching the video I'd be wondering how all these different things are put together. If I were then asked what emotions the person had I would then find a way to connect the scenes making them therefore make sense. I have to disagree with some of the others above I don't think it has anything to do with what the face was emitting your brain is looking for an answer and when asked the question of what emotion the person had it draws a connection. It would be interesting to see this experiment with a person who is obviously mad and see if people draw the conclusion that the person was somehow mad about his soup from the picture of the soup etc.
ReplyDeleteThis experiment by Kuleshov shows how easily the brain can be manipulated. For another example, it is like when I would say something to my friend, and he gave me a look, frowning and eyebrows squinted, that made him look frustrated. So, naturally, I apologized and tried to make things right, but he seemed confused about why I was apologizing. It turns out, he was not mad at all; he was simply confused by what I said. Humans’ emotions are expressed best through body language and tone of voice. Most humans have a variety of faces for different emotions, but some faces could represent a variety of emotions, which explains how I got confused about how my friend reacted to what I told him. Gottschall included the reference to this experiment most likely to demonstrate that the brain, although extremely powerful, can often be fooled. This leads to the point that storytelling, fiction, is a strong influence in the lives of humans because the brain uses fiction to learn from and develop the human personality (a reason why we as humans sometimes get fiction and reality confused).
ReplyDelete-Talor Stewart
I think that along with body language, such that Miranda made a good point over, humans can also perceive emotions or signs in others depending on how their state of mind is. If someone is walking down the road and is feeling upbeat and optimistic they are going to key in on the more expressive emotions around them. Their eyes are naturally going to want to see the joy and excitement in the faces of those passing by and they will normally flit over the ones that are more saddened or frustrated looking. On the other hand if one was to walk through a crowd while feeling angry or depressed you would see more grief and suspicion in those around you because it would be corresponding to how you are feeling. I think the emotions of the viewers of this experiment had at least a small amount to do with what they saw in overall outcome of it.
ReplyDelete