But, really, we might not need much training. One study on infant cries suggested that parents with more musical training were better at distinguishing distress cries from other types of cries. So how can we get better at interpreting emotions in the voices of our coworkers and loved ones? There isn’t much research to date exploring this question specifically. On the other hand, you can easily detect enthusiasm and excitement when someone speaks in a high-pitched and rapid manner.Ĭonnect with a partner through empathy and understanding. When you are speaking to someone on the phone, for example, you might be more likely to notice if they are breathing quickly and appear nervous, or if their speech is monotone and they sound down or tired. ![]() We simply focus more on the nuances we hear in the way speakers express themselves. Once again, participants were more accurate at detecting each others’ emotions in voice-only calls. When we only listen to voice, he found, our attention for the subtleties in vocal tone increases. He asked participants to discuss a difficult work situation over a video conferencing platform (Zoom) using either just the microphone or the microphone and the video. In several follow-up studies, Kraus honed in on the reason why the voice-especially when it is the only cue-is such a powerful mode of empathy. A few more experiments yielded similar results. In all these cases, the participants were most accurate at identifying others’ emotions when they only heard people’s voices (compared to when they looked at facial expressions alone, or looked at facial expressions and heard voices). In a third study, a different set of participants were asked to rate the emotions of the conversations partners who had been videotaped. In another study, participants had conversations on camera about film, television, food, and beverages, in a room that was either lit or pitch dark. In one experiment, Kraus asked participants to watch videos of two people interacting and teasing each other, then to rate how much the two actors felt a range of different emotions during the interaction. In other words, you may be able to sense someone’s emotional state even better over the phone than in person. Kraus found that we are more accurate when we hear someone’s voice than when we look only at their facial expressions, or see their face and hear their voice. ![]() ![]() The idea is that, if you can detect the subtle shifts in the looks people give you, you can understand what they are feeling and respond appropriately.īut a new study by Michael Kraus of the Yale University School of Management has found that our sense of hearing may be even stronger than our sight when it comes to accurately detecting emotion. Many psychologists use the Reading the Mind in the Eyes exercise to test empathy for their experiments. The way we usually try to identify other people’s emotions is through their facial expressions-their eyes in particular. We are told that “the eyes are the windows to the soul,” and eye contact is certainly critical in empathy.
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