Activity: Last 10 WeeksThe real sixth sense
I have always been envious of women’s uncanny ability to read emotions. It could be sample bias, but I have consistently found men to be pretty bad at this. Often I find myself walking away obliviously from a social encounter when a woman will remark to me, “Didn’t you notice such-and-such?” At least I have a gaydar!
People with this ability must be perceptive; to be able to subliminally interpret visual cues given off by other people. I’m way too absent-minded for this kind of thing. I have also noticed that it is a skill easily lost without practice.
Here is a short story: take a maladjusted man, give him a keen intuition and let him loose for a day. See how he takes advantage of his new sense.
on June 14th, 2006 at 22:24 Quote
Once again the NYT comes to my rescue with a relevant article: Men Are Better Than Women at Ferreting Out That Angry Face in a Crowd. The second paragraph reads:
…women are more adept at detecting more socially relevant expressions that communicate happiness, sadness, surprise and disgust.
The paper itself can be found here: Do angry men get noticed?
on February 6th, 2007 at 08:25 Quote
The latest research reveals that the insula is the seat of social emotions. If this is correct, I’m placing a bet that women have a more developed one.
This paper delves into greater detail.