Case-can you read emotions from faces

Reference no: EM13740272

Questions

1. What factors do you think make some organizations ineffective at managing emotions?

2. Do you think the strategic use and display of emotions serve to protect employees, or does covering your true emotions at work lead to more problems than it solves?

3. Have you ever worked where emotions were used as part of a management style? Describe the advantages and disadvantages of this approach in your experience.

4. Research shows that acts of co-workers (37 percent) and management (22 percent) cause more negative emotions for employees than do acts of customers (7 percent).130 What can Laura's company do to change its emotional climate?

Sources: A. Kreamer, "Go Ahead-Cry at Work," Time (April 4, 2010), www.time.com; J. S. Lerner and K. Shonk, "How Anger Poisons Decision Making," Harvard Business Review (September 2010), p. 26; and J. Perrone and M. H. Vickers, "Emotions as Strategic Game in a Hostile Workplace: An Exemplar Case," Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 16, no. 3 (2004), pp. 167-178.

CASE INCIDENT 2 Can You Read Emotions from Faces?

We mentioned previously that some researchers-the psychologist Paul Ekman is the best known-have studied whether facial expressions reveal true emotions. These researchers have distinguished real smiles (so-called Duchenne smiles, named after French physician Guillaume Duchenne) from "fake" smiles. Duchenne found genuine smiles raised not only the corners of the mouth (easily faked) but also cheek and eye muscles (much more difficult to fake). So, one way to determine whether someone is genuinely happy or amused is to look at the muscles around the upper cheeks and eyes-if the person's eyes are smiling or twinkling, the smile is genuine. Ekman and his associates have developed similar methods to detect other emotions, such as anger, disgust, and distress. According to Ekman, the key to identifying real emotions is to focus on micro-expressions, or those facial muscles we cannot easily manipulate.

Dan Hill has used these techniques to study the facial expressions of CEOs and found they vary dramatically not only in their Duchenne smiles but also in the 124125degree to which they display positive versus negative facial expressions. The accompanying table shows Hill's analysis of the facial expressions of some prominent male executives:

Jeff Bezos, Amazon	51% positive
Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway	69% positive
Michael Dell, Dell Computers	47% positive
Larry Ellison, Oracle	0% positive
Bill Gates, Microsoft	73% positive
Steve Jobs, Apple	48% positive
Phil Knight, Nike	67% positive
Donald Trump, The Trump Organization	16% positive

It's interesting to note that these individuals, all of whom are successful in various ways, have such different levels of positive facial expressions. It also raises the question: is a smile from Larry Ellison worth more than a smile from Bill Gates?

Questions:

1. Most research suggests we are not very good at detecting fake emotions, and we think we're much better at it than we are. Do you believe training would improve your ability to detect emotional displays in others?

2. Do you think the information in this case could help you tell whether someone's smile is genuine?

3. Is your own impression of the facial expressions of the eight business leaders consistent with what the researcher found? If not, why do you think your views might be at odds with his?

4. One research study found people's ratings of the positive affect displayed in CEO's faces had very little correlation to their company's profits. Does that suggest to you that Hill's analysis is immaterial?

5. Assuming you could become better at detecting the real emotions in facial expressions, do you think it would help your career? Why or why not?

Sources: Based on P. Ekman, Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2009); D. Jones, "It's Written All Over Their Faces," USA Today (February 25, 2008), pp. 1B-2B; and N. O. Rule and N. Ambady, "The Face
of Success," Psychological Science 19, no. 2 (2008), pp. 109-111.

Reference no: EM13740272

Questions Cloud

Do you think that there be equal opportunity in society : Do you think that there should be equal opportunity in a just society?

Calculate the annual return : A 25-year maturity bond has a 9% coupon rate, paid annually. It sells today for $1,027.42. Calculate the annual return for the 25-year maturity bond over the next five years

Hospital bioethics committee and interview : Contact the chair of a local hospital's bioethics committee and interview him/her regarding the use of the committee at that facility, how the committee functions, how it makes decisions and recommendations, and the chair's views on the impact the..

Impact of no frills airlines : Prepare a report on impact Of No Frills Airlines

Case-can you read emotions from faces : We mentioned previously that some researchers-the psychologist Paul Ekman is the best known-have studied whether facial expressions reveal true emotions. These researchers have distinguished real smiles (so-called Duchenne smiles, named after Fren..

Why does the death penalty violate the us constitution : does the death penalty violate the U.S. Constitution? Why, or why not? Does the age of those sentenced to death influence your opinion of the death penalty, and if so, how?

How the fraudsters were caught : Please research three financial crimes and detail each of the following: How the fraudsters were caught

Case analysis-coca cola : Case Analysis: Coca Cola, Create a case study summary of the company you have chosen including a general overview of the company and its external environment, a list of its current strategies and objectives

What ways did the british government seek to exert control : In what ways did the british government seek to exert control over its american colonies in the seventteth and eighteenth centuries?

User Account

All Pages