Lectures 19:00 - 21:00

Place: Sarona Space, Kdoshei Bagdad St. 39, Gate 3, Floor 3, Haifa

Department: Human Services

Whether conveyed through expressions of the face, body gestures, tone of voice, or even computer-mediated communication - emotion displays have a profound impact on others. Encountering emotional displays can shape the emotions, thoughts and behaviors of those on the receiving end. It is probably for this reason that unlike thoughts, emotions have evolved in such a way that they are felt inwardly and are expressed outwardly. Emotion displays have been found to be powerfully influential in shaping others’ consequent responses. In this talk I will demonstrate the vast impact that emotion displays have. Research on this topic which has been conducted by colleagues and myself indicates that (1) emotions can be contagious even in virtual teams where there is no direct physical contact between team members and where non-verbal cues are scarce; (2) the intensity of anger displays of patients in hospital settings impacts the responses of nurses; (3) in sports - information can be gleaned from emotion displays of baseball pitchers; (4) in customer service - the intensity of an emotion displayed impacts the evaluation of service, product and even whether or not customers will make use of a product; (5) in virtual first impressions - the use of a smiley can be detrimental. The research includes both lab and field studies in various organizational settings in different countries. All in all, the emotions that others display shape the very way we evaluate and react in social interactions

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