Related Books and Websites

The Facial Action Coding System (FACS)

The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) Manual is a detailed, technical guide that explains how to categorize facial behaviors based on the muscles that produce them, i.e., how muscular action is related to facial appearances. It illustrates appearance changes of the face using written descriptions, still images, and digital video examples. Behavioral scientists, CG animators, computer scientists interested in pattern recognition programs, and other technicians and scientists use FACS in their professional work when they need to know the exact movements that the face can perform, and what muscles produce them. Working through the exercises of the FACS Manual may also enable greater awareness of and sensitivity to subtle facial behaviors that could be useful for psychotherapists, interviewers, and other practitioners who must penetrate deeply into interpersonal communications.

The Comprehensive Affect Testing System

The Comprehensive Affect Testing System using Ekman’s faces is an emotion processing test available in 7 languages. The use of Ekman’s faces, shown to be cross-culturally valid makes this test a unique tool for neurologists, neuropsychologists, rehabilitation therapists, and other professionals to identify deficits associated with nonverbal communication, e.g. autism/Asperger’s syndrome, dementia, brain trauma, to name a few. For more information, go to www.psychologysoftware.com/CATS.htm

Daniel Goleman : Social Intelligence

Our reactions to others, and theirs to us, have a far-reaching biological impact, sending out cascades of hormones that regulate everything from our hearts to our immune systems, making good relationships act like vitamins–and bad relationships like poisons. We can “catch” other people’s emotions the way we catch a cold, and the consequences of isolation or relentless social stress can be life-shortening. Goleman explains the surprising accuracy of first impressions, the basis of charisma and emotional power, the complexity of sexual attraction, and how we detect lies. He describes the “dark side” of social intelligence, from narcissism to Machiavellianism and psychopathy. He also reveals our astonishing capacity for “mindsight,” as well as the tragedy of those, like autistic children, whose mindsight is impaired. Available at amazon.com

Emotional Intelligence

Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence, we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman’s brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers startling new insight into our “two minds”–the rational and the emotional–and how they together shape our destiny.

Through vivid examples, Goleman delineates the five crucial skills of emotional intelligence, and shows how they determine our success in relationships, work, and even our physical well-being. What emerges is an entirely new way to talk about being smart. Available at amazon.com

BLINK

In BLINK, Malcolm Gladwell revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. How do we make decisions–good and bad–and why are some people so much better at it than others? That’s the question Gladwell asks and answers in BLINK. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, examining case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the New Coke, Gladwell shows how the difference between good decision making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but rather with the few particular details on which we focus. BLINK displays all of the brilliance that has made Malcolm Gladwell’s journalism so popular and his books such perennial bestsellers as it reveals how all of us can become better decision makers–in our homes, our offices, and in everyday life. Available at amazon.com

THE TIPPING POINT

The Tipping Point is that magical moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshhold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a sick individual in a crowded store can start can epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend or the popularity of a new restaurant to take off overnightor crime or drug use to taper off. Gladwell has explored this theory to great acclaim in several articles in The New Yorker. Here, he shows how very minor adjustments in products and ideas can make them more likely to become hugely popular. He reveals how east it is to cause group behaviour to tip in a desirable direction by making small changes in our immediate environment. The Tipping Point contains a profoundly hopeful idea that people will embrace for its sense and simplicity: one imaginative person, applying a well-placed lever, can move the world. Examples are recognizable: in the New York subways, removing graffiti caused a dramatic reduction in crime; a specific hip group of teenagers wore Hush Puppies and suddenly sparked a national craze. This is a book that should be read by everyone in business, politics, marketing, advertising, and anyone interested in trends, fashion, fads, policy making, and human behaviour. In other words, all of us. Available at amazon.com