Friend or Foe? Let Body Language Decide
Jenny Galvao
According to research carried out by Sinke of Tilburg University and associates, our brains are easily able to respond to threats or teasing when we witness an encounter between two people.
Based on the findings of the study, the right amygdala of the brain naturally responds to threatening nonverbal situations. Interestingly, this happens even when we aren’t directly observing a situation as it unfolds. In other words, our brains are hardwired to perceive nonverbal threat.
In their paper the researchers say that “we casually observe many interactions that do not really concern us. Yet sometimes we need to be able to rapidly appraise whether an interaction between two people represents a real threat for one of them rather than an innocent tease.”
In this experiment, participants watched clips of social interactions between a male and a female. In the clips, the male was trying to grab the female’s handbag in either an aggressive manner, or in a playful manner. First, the videos were appropriately edited and then validated by different participants using a forced-choice questionnaire of either “threat” or “tease.” Next, the participants observed the video while in an fMRI in order to study their brain waves.
To distract the viewers one viewing condition had participants focus on coloured dots and determine if they were different or the same colour. In the emotion naming task, they were asked to determine if the situation was threatening or teasing, by paying attention to the actors in the films.
The results showed that the threat was recognized in both the emotion task as well as in the colour naming task. Interestingly, recognition rates were actually highest in the colour naming condition for the threatening clips. Participants also performed better in the colour-naming task when there was a threatening situation compared to a teasing one.
Our brains have amazing abilities, and this study provides insight to perhaps one of the most important functions of the brain: detecting danger. The body language observed in the altercation (where no faces are detailed) is enough for the amygdala to sense danger. In the teasing condition, the brain also does an excellent job of picking up on whether the person intends to harm the individual or not.
Body language reveals the intentions of those around us, and unfortunately, in some cases, those intentions are far from harmless. This study shows that your ability to accurately and quickly read fear or threat is in large part due to your amygdala and this happens naturally with or without your direct conscious control. So next time your brain triggers a threat response be thankful for your instinctual reaction to the nonverbal cues.
About the Author: Jenny Galvao is an undergraduate student at the University of Guelph studying psychology.
Image Credit: Pedro Ribeiro Simões
Resources
Sinke, C.B, Sorger, B, Goebel, R, and de Gelder, B. Tease or Threat? Judging Social Interactions From Bodily Expressions. Neuroimage. A Journal of Brain Function. 2019. 49:1717-1727. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.