Media: Expression

2018 »

Power posing might make people less willing to help you when asking for charitable donations

So-called “power posing” could backfire if you’re seeking a donation. New research in Evolution and Human Behavior indicates that expansive postural displays — like standing up straight with your shoulders pushed back — can dissuade charitable giving.

“We have studied nonverbal displays of pride and high rank in my lab for some time now (for example, see herehere, and here) and this is a topic covered heavily in my book, Pride: The Secret of Success,” said study author Jessica L. Tracy, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia....

>> Read the full article in PsyPost here.

Why Does Every Soccer Player Do This? Psychology Has the Answer.

Goals in soccer games can be few and far between, which helps explain the delirious nature of most scoring celebrations. Some players yank off their jerseys or drop to their knees and glide across the turf in glee. They all often end up at the bottom of a pile of jubilant teammates.

Then there are the players who are presented with a goal-scoring opportunity and, for whatever reason, fail. When this happens, they all do the same thing: raise their hands and place them on their heads — apparently the universal gesture to signify, How in the world did I miss that? 

...

The gesture signifies that “you know you messed up,” said Jessica Tracy, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. “It’s going to tell others, ‘I get it and I’m sorry, therefore you don’t have to kick me out of the group, you don’t have to kill me.’”

 

Read the full New York Times article here >>

2011 »

Shariff & Tracy (2011)

What are emotion expressions for?

Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 395-399

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Tracy & Beall (2011)

Happy Guys Finish Last: The impact of emotion expressions on sexual attraction.

Emotion, doi: 10.1037/a0022902.

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Tracy and colleagues.

Coverage of our research on pride (2004-2011)

Our work on pride has been broadly featured on:

2008 »

Tracy & Matsumoto (2008)

The spontaneous display of pride and shame: Evidence for biologically innate nonverbal displays.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 11655-11660.

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2007 »

Tracy & Robins (2004; 2007)

Show Your Pride & Emerging Insights into the Nature and Function of Pride (2004; 2007)

Psychological Science and Current Directions in Psychological Science

[Click here or here for actual papers.]

 

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2017 »

How Nonverbal Displays of Power Influence Politics

Zak Witkower was recently interviewed about his work on nonverbal displays of power and how these behaviors can influence political outcomes. Check out this article in Vancouver Magazine, and Zak's live TV appearance on BC Global News.

2016 »

Do Feelings Look the Same in Every Human Face?

Jess Tracy discusses the universality of emotion expressions in an article published in Greater Good Magazine.

Read the article here >>