If you’ve wondered why fearful people tend to draw more attention than content people … you’ll be interested in research that suggests why.
Vanderbilt University researcher David Zald … discovered that the human brain detects fear cues faster in people's expressions – than once realized. Even before people are aware that fear exists, it appears.
Not surprisingly, the brain’s designed to keep people safe … and to address threats against their environment.
A brain’s innate protection equipment plays a key role, as this research shows. If one person sees fearful signs early, that person can move, warn or respond, before danger strikes.
But does this explain why we overlook balanced, well adjusted people at work?
This study supported the observation that people become aware of fearful faces far faster than they recognize content or happy faces. It seems that the brain’s amygdala, in the presence of fearful faces, shortcuts the usual mental pathways that process and make sense of visual images.
Do people focus on fear factors … or do they recognize people more who do their jobs well, maintain balance, and encourage others … where you work?
I wonder if there is a different in the short term and longer term. It seems to me that threat awareness is mostly a short-term phenomenon and so it would drive behavior for a limited time. For the longer term, I think positive benefit, the person who produces so we all look good, may get more attention. If this research only concentrated on the short term, facial expressions, I understand why it might give preference to negative, fear-based cues.
It also seems to me that fear responses come automatically with high emotional loading. My amygdala cannot tell the difference between an angry client and a saber-toothed tiger, so I crank up the good old physiological systems that helped my ancestors survive. I dump adrenaline, blood leave the brain and makes for the arms and legs. If my client were going to hunt me down and try to feast on me, I would be prepared.
Posted by: Wally Bock | October 15, 2007 6:31 PM | Permalink to Comment