Your own driving fears can be affected not just by what’s going on inside your head but by what’s going on outside on other people’s faces. Or at least by how you perceive what’s going on on other people’s faces.
Research shows that how you perceive feelings or emotions in other people can have a big effect on your own feelings and even your behavior.
Let’s say you see a person driving down the road and her face is in a kind of hard-to-read expression that you might think is a scowl.
You could perceive that “scowl” as:
- Fear
- Anger
- Hatred
- Reaction to eating a really bad-tasting mint
How you interpret that woman’s expression could set the road map of how you’re going to feel and act going forward.
- Seeing her expression as a scowl of fear, which you may automatically assume must be a fear of driving, can deepen your own driving fears.
- Viewing her expression as anger might make you really ticked off.
- Thinking the her face is filled with hate can make your own hatred erupt.
- And if you view her expression as a reaction to a bad mint? You might think twice about downing one of the ancient Tic Tacs that have been in your glove box since 1992.
Let’s now say you see that same expression on the same woman but, instead of associating it with a negative emotion you link it to a positive one. Perhaps her ambiguous face really is a scowl, but one she made in an attempt to amuse her children. Or maybe she’s digesting something funny the DJ just said on her car radio.
Your new interpretation of the woman’s expression now has the power to help alleviate your fear, lessen your anger or put out the fire of hatred that is kindling in your gut. As for the mints, you needed to buy some new ones, anyway.
Now think of all the people you see throughout your day, whether you’re driving down the road, sitting at your desk or waiting in line at the supermarket. Every time you interpret their facial expressions as a negative emotion you instantly feed your own negativity.
Every time you interpret their facial expressions as positive, you may get relief from the negative emotions that plague you. You might also notice your behavior becoming less aggressive and nasty.
Can it really be that easy?
A study published in Psychological Science says so.
Facial Expression Study
The study, headed by professors Marcus Munafò and Ian Penton-Voak, examined the relationship between how people perceived emotions and those people’s subsequent thoughts and behaviors. Researchers set up a trio of experiments, each of which involved participants looking at photos of people with ambiguous facial expressions that could be interpreted as happiness or anger.
In each experiment, those who perceived the ambiguous expressions as happy ended up with less anger and less aggressive behavior after viewing the photos. This was an especially notable note since one of the experiments involved youth between the ages of 11 and 16 who were considered to have a high risk of committing crimes. The other two groups were made up of adult volunteers.
You can start testing the theory immediately, or at least the next time you see a facial expression and you’re not sure how to take it. Take it as happiness and your own negative emotions may subside. And that batch of negative emotions definitely includes your driving fears.
SOURCES:
Study Info:
“Increasing Recognition of Happiness in Ambiguous Facial Expressions Reduces Anger and Aggressive Behavior” by Ian S. Penton-Voak, Jamie Thomas, Suzanne H. Gage, Mary McMurran, Sarah McDonald, Marcus R. Munafò in Psychological Science
Photo Credit: Eric Kilby via Compfight cc
