transcript/TED_cef35Fk7YD8.txt

[0.000 --> 17.280]  Hello, my name is Vanessa and I am a recovering awkward person.
[17.280 --> 23.120]  This is me at the peak of what I like to call my plaid vest phase.
[23.120 --> 28.800]  Luckily my years of social awkwardness led me to a fascinating career trying to figure
[28.800 --> 31.840]  out how people work.
[31.840 --> 36.080]  So what I didn't realize is that many years ago I would do an experiment that led me
[36.080 --> 39.000]  right on this stage in front of you here today.
[39.000 --> 43.760]  My lab researchers and I were curious about TED Talks.
[43.760 --> 48.480]  We wanted to know why do some TED Talks go viral and others don't?
[48.480 --> 50.320]  So we embarked on a huge experiment.
[50.320 --> 54.680]  We analyzed thousands of hours of TED Talks looking for patterns.
[54.680 --> 56.680]  Now I wasn't sure if we would find anything.
[56.680 --> 61.240]  So we were analyzing body language, hand gestures, vocal variety.
[61.240 --> 67.160]  We even looked at outfit choices which made today particularly pressure-filled.
[67.160 --> 72.200]  And very quickly there was a pattern in the data that made me curious.
[72.200 --> 76.240]  And after we coded more and more TED Talks we realized there was a pattern.
[76.240 --> 81.000]  Now before I tell you what that is, I have a personal question for you which is when
[81.000 --> 85.080]  you see someone, what part of the body do you look at first?
[85.080 --> 86.400]  You can just call it out.
[86.400 --> 89.360]  What do you look first when you see someone?
[89.360 --> 93.480]  Face, eyes, so most people choose.
[93.480 --> 99.400]  They're very high.
[99.400 --> 104.480]  So most people say eyes, face, or mouth.
[104.480 --> 109.960]  But actually when we first see someone the first place we look is the hands.
[109.960 --> 112.360]  And this is left over from our cave man days.
[112.360 --> 115.640]  Because if we were approached by a stranger cave man, the first place we looked was the
[115.640 --> 118.480]  hands to see if they were carrying a rock or a spear.
[118.480 --> 122.240]  In other words we wanted to know if we were safe, if they were friend or foe.
[122.240 --> 125.480]  Now this actually still remains from cave man days.
[125.480 --> 129.640]  And when we can't see someone's hands, something interesting happens.
[129.640 --> 132.240]  So I just did something a little mean to your brain.
[132.240 --> 136.400]  You should start to feel just a little bit uncomfortable.
[136.400 --> 140.400]  And the reason for that is because when you can't see my hands you wonder, what is she
[140.400 --> 143.040]  doing back there?
[143.040 --> 147.920]  And then the longer I leave my hands behind my back, you get more and more distracted because
[147.920 --> 148.920]  you can't see them.
[148.920 --> 152.440]  And eventually your brain is just screaming, can she just bring her hands out from behind
[152.440 --> 154.280]  her back?
[154.280 --> 158.880]  And the moment I bring them back out, it feels so much better.
[158.880 --> 162.920]  And this is because our brain knows that if we can't see hands, we can't see intention.
[162.920 --> 168.520]  And what we found is when we compared the most viewed TED Talks, side by side with the
[168.520 --> 172.880]  least viewed TED Talks, we found a pattern with hand gestures.
[172.880 --> 180.560]  Specifically, on average the most popular TED Talkers use an average of 465 hand gestures
[180.560 --> 181.560]  in 18 minutes.
[181.560 --> 184.320]  Yes, we painstakingly counted every single one.
[184.320 --> 189.720]  I have 465 prepared for you today.
[189.720 --> 197.720]  And the least popular TED Talkers use an average of 272 hand gestures, almost half.
[197.720 --> 199.120]  What's happening here?
[199.120 --> 203.880]  So when TED speakers take the stage, they're showing you first friend, friend, friend, friend.
[203.880 --> 206.360]  You'll notice when I walked out on the stage, I waved.
[206.360 --> 210.040]  I was saying friend, friend, friend, friend.
[210.040 --> 213.520]  And the other thing that TED speakers do, see this looks familiar.
[213.520 --> 219.000]  So they come into the red dot and they do something like this.
[219.000 --> 224.160]  Today I want to talk to you about a big idea.
[224.160 --> 236.480]  I'm going to break it down into three different areas that are going to change your life.
[236.480 --> 241.440]  So the most viral TED Talkers seem to sit in the same way with these hand gestures, because
[241.440 --> 246.560]  what they're doing is they're showing you, I know my content so well that I can speak
[246.560 --> 248.800]  to you on two different tracks.
[248.800 --> 254.880]  I can speak to you with my words, but I can also explain my concepts with my hands.
[254.880 --> 257.760]  And this way they underline their concepts with their words.
[257.760 --> 266.000]  For example, if I were to say today, I have a really big idea.
[266.000 --> 268.960]  It's huge.
[268.960 --> 271.840]  You laugh and you're like Vanessa, it's so small.
[271.840 --> 273.680]  It's not very big.
[273.680 --> 279.400]  And that is because your brain gives 12.5 times more weight to hand gestures.
[279.400 --> 285.720]  So today I have a really, really big idea.
[285.720 --> 288.400]  And I'm going to explain it to you in three different ways.
[288.400 --> 293.200]  My big idea is that we are contagious.
[293.200 --> 298.640]  Specifically as humans, we are constantly sending and decoding body language signals.
[298.640 --> 302.080]  We also do this emotionally and chemically.
[302.080 --> 307.840]  To explain this, I have a rather disgusting but very fascinating study.
[307.840 --> 315.160]  So in this study, researchers collected sweat pads from people who ran on the treadmill.
[315.160 --> 320.320]  Then they collected sweat pads from skydivers on their first time skydive.
[320.320 --> 322.000]  Two very different kinds of sweat.
[322.000 --> 323.520]  Here's the disgusting part.
[323.520 --> 327.480]  Then they had poor unsuspecting participants.
[327.480 --> 328.560]  I know.
[328.560 --> 334.720]  They had unsuspecting participants in the lab smell these sweat pads while they were in
[334.720 --> 336.800]  an FMRI machine.
[336.800 --> 338.800]  Here's where it gets interesting.
[338.800 --> 343.680]  Even though the participants had no idea what they were smelling, the ones that smelled
[343.680 --> 349.520]  the skydiving sweat pads had their fear response in their brain activated.
[349.520 --> 354.200]  In other words, they caught the fear.
[354.200 --> 357.400]  This means that our emotions are contagious.
[357.400 --> 358.920]  Our fear is contagious.
[358.920 --> 361.080]  Our confidence is contagious.
[361.080 --> 363.640]  This begs the big question.
[363.640 --> 368.200]  If our emotions are contagious, how do we make sure that we are infecting people with
[368.200 --> 370.320]  the right ones?
[370.320 --> 373.600]  So I believe that we can be contagious in three different ways.
[373.600 --> 375.760]  The first one is nonverbaly.
[375.760 --> 379.920]  To test this idea, I did a very simple experiment in the street of Portland, Oregon.
[379.920 --> 385.400]  What I did is I stood in the street and I looked up at nothing.
[385.400 --> 390.320]  I wanted to see if people would catch or mirror my nonverbal.
[390.320 --> 392.360]  You can see this video.
[392.360 --> 396.640]  I stand in the streets looking at nothing.
[396.640 --> 399.640]  Slowly one by one.
[399.640 --> 402.760]  I infect people walking by.
[402.760 --> 409.880]  Slowly we began to gather a crowd.
[409.880 --> 419.200]  This poor woman, she was standing there with me and we are standing there.
[419.200 --> 420.600]  We are looking at nothing.
[420.600 --> 421.600]  I just want to improve.
[421.600 --> 426.440]  We are standing and I am going, how long are we going to stand here?
[426.440 --> 427.440]  Who is going to break first?
[427.440 --> 439.120]  After about 40 seconds, we are looking and she leans over and says, is he going to jump?
[439.120 --> 447.040]  This experience taught me that we catch emotions and then we create rationales for why we have
[447.040 --> 449.160]  caught that emotion.
[449.160 --> 450.640]  This is actually a good thing.
[450.640 --> 452.880]  As humans, this keeps us safe.
[452.880 --> 456.280]  Dr. Paul Eckman has studied something called the micro expression.
[456.280 --> 459.920]  It is a universal facial expression and he has discovered there are seven of them.
[459.920 --> 465.440]  Across genders and races, we all make the same expression when we feel intense emotion.
[465.440 --> 468.520]  This is the fear micro expression.
[468.520 --> 473.120]  So fear is a really important emotion because we want to catch it from someone else to warn
[473.120 --> 475.600]  us if something is about to go wrong.
[475.600 --> 479.000]  This facial expression also keeps us safe.
[479.000 --> 482.960]  Imagine for a second that you are walking and you see a snake.
[482.960 --> 487.040]  Your eyelids and your eyebrows jump out of the way so you can take it as much of the
[487.040 --> 488.440]  environment as possible.
[488.440 --> 489.440]  Is there another snake?
[489.440 --> 490.440]  What is my escape route?
[490.440 --> 496.520]  Then your mouth opens so you can take an oxygen in case you have to fight, yell for help
[496.520 --> 498.080]  or flee.
[498.080 --> 503.200]  You make this face before we consciously realize we have seen a snake.
[503.200 --> 508.320]  Now what is interesting about it is you should be starting to feel a little bit anxious.
[508.320 --> 512.280]  And that is because when we see other people have fear, if we saw this face in the subway,
[512.280 --> 513.360]  we would be like, what is wrong?
[513.360 --> 514.840]  What is going on?
[514.840 --> 515.840]  Because it keeps us safe.
[515.840 --> 517.680]  So I want you to try it with me.
[517.680 --> 520.280]  So open your eyes as wide as possible.
[520.280 --> 521.280]  Raise your eyebrows up.
[521.280 --> 522.280]  Very good.
[522.280 --> 524.280]  Now take a sharp breath.
[524.280 --> 525.280]  Perfect.
[525.280 --> 526.280]  Do you feel anxious?
[527.280 --> 533.280]  What is interesting about facial expressions is they cause our emotions.
[533.280 --> 537.200]  So not only do our emotions cause our face, but our face also causes our emotions.
[537.200 --> 539.960]  It is called the facial feedback hypothesis.
[539.960 --> 544.760]  So when we see someone with this face, we catch their emotion and then we are ready to
[544.760 --> 547.320]  fight, flee or yell for help.
[547.320 --> 550.920]  Luckily, this also works with positive emotions.
[550.920 --> 555.960]  So one of the faces behind me is a real happiness micro expression and one of them is fake.
[555.960 --> 565.640]  So the real happiness micro expression is when the smile reaches all the way up into
[565.640 --> 569.480]  these upper-crows' feet muscles, those upper cheek muscles.
[569.480 --> 575.080]  And this is really important because you know when you tell a frenemy, good news, and
[575.080 --> 578.440]  they say they are happy for you, but you know they are not really.
[578.440 --> 579.440]  It looks like this.
[579.440 --> 584.520]  Oh yeah, I am so happy for you.
[584.520 --> 586.640]  So try the fake expression for me first.
[586.640 --> 589.960]  So just try the fake smile, only on the bottom half of the face.
[589.960 --> 595.280]  You can even go, it doesn't feel so good, it feels inauthentic.
[595.280 --> 599.080]  Now go all the way up into your eyes, the smile all the way up into the upper cheek muscles.
[599.080 --> 602.120]  That should feel so much better.
[602.120 --> 607.320]  So what is interesting about this facial expression is it causes our own happiness.
[607.320 --> 610.720]  And we also catch it when we see it.
[610.720 --> 613.760]  Researchers at the University of Finland looked at these two facial expressions and they
[613.760 --> 619.040]  had participants look at photos of people with real happiness and fake happiness.
[619.040 --> 623.880]  They found that when they showed participants pictures of the real happiness smile, those
[623.880 --> 628.480]  emotions caught, they caught the positive emotions and they themselves had a positive
[628.480 --> 630.080]  mood change.
[630.080 --> 635.840]  But when they looked at the face with the fake happiness smile, they caught nothing.
[635.840 --> 640.320]  In other words, if we show up to events that we are ambivalent about, interact with people
[640.320 --> 645.280]  that we don't really like, we become less memorable.
[645.280 --> 649.120]  This doesn't just happen in person, it also happens on the phone.
[649.120 --> 652.640]  So I worked with a lot of different clients, corporate clients were on the phone all the
[652.640 --> 653.640]  time.
[653.640 --> 657.200]  They said, Vanessa, I get being happy in person, but how about on the phone?
[657.200 --> 661.200]  So we decided to do an experiment where we had participants in our lab record different
[661.200 --> 665.720]  versions of their, hello, the first impression on the phone.
[665.720 --> 671.440]  We wanted to know if people could hear happiness, sadness or anger.
[671.440 --> 676.520]  So we had people record different versions of their, hello, with happiness, sadness,
[676.520 --> 678.360]  anger, and all power posing.
[678.360 --> 681.040]  We wanted to see if they would sound different.
[681.040 --> 685.680]  So I want to play you two different versions of hello and see if you can guess which one
[685.680 --> 686.680]  is the happy hello.
[686.680 --> 687.680]  Are you ready?
[687.680 --> 688.680]  All right, same person.
[688.680 --> 689.680]  Here's A.
[689.680 --> 690.680]  Hello.
[690.680 --> 691.680]  Here's B.
[691.680 --> 692.680]  Hello.
[692.680 --> 697.680]  How many will think A is the happy hello?
[697.680 --> 700.000]  How many will think B is the happy hello?
[700.000 --> 701.080]  Very good.
[701.080 --> 703.360]  We can hear this difference.
[703.360 --> 705.600]  We can hear this micro expression.
[705.600 --> 709.160]  Now I thought this was interesting, but I wanted to take it a step further.
[709.160 --> 714.120]  So we devised a second part of our experiment where we had participants in our lab listen
[714.120 --> 719.160]  to these recordings and rate that person on likeability.
[719.160 --> 723.560]  We wanted to see if the happiness micro expressions or the anger micro expressions or the power
[723.560 --> 725.640]  posing expressions did better.
[725.640 --> 726.640]  Here's what happened.
[726.640 --> 730.840]  After we asked people, I do like this person a lot.
[730.840 --> 734.440]  I like this person a little or I do not like this person.
[734.440 --> 739.160]  We found that the happiness micro expressions across all trials for both men and women,
[739.160 --> 741.560]  they became more likeable.
[741.560 --> 747.960]  Whereas the same person who made an anger or sadness micro expression were less likeable.
[747.960 --> 752.720]  This is the happy side effect of having your confidence be contagious.
[752.720 --> 758.920]  Not only do you infect someone else without happiness, you also become more likeable.
[758.920 --> 762.840]  We talked about nonverbal and I have to talk about what comes after the hello.
[762.840 --> 766.640]  How do we infect confidence verbally?
[766.640 --> 772.680]  So in this study, we did Portland, Oregon, we took 500 speed networkers and we asked
[772.680 --> 776.840]  each of these speed networkers to go through a conversation starter round, eight of these
[776.840 --> 777.840]  rounds.
[777.840 --> 782.880]  So we assigned each participant a conversation starter to have with a stranger.
[782.880 --> 787.560]  Then we set up corners, cameras and all corners of the room and we analyzed each of these
[787.560 --> 789.680]  speed rounds for patterns.
[789.680 --> 795.440]  We were looking for body language patterns, leans, nods, laughs, smiles, confidence.
[795.440 --> 800.200]  We were also looking for volume differences in a really good conversation, usually the volume
[800.200 --> 802.960]  goes up in a really awkward, bad conversation.
[802.960 --> 807.800]  There's lots of silences and the volume goes down and we also asked each of the participants
[807.800 --> 810.440]  to rate the conversation starters.
[810.440 --> 815.560]  We wanted to know which ones produce the highest quality of conversation.
[815.560 --> 821.120]  We found was that the conversation starters that worked centered on this little chemical
[821.120 --> 822.640]  called dopamine.
[822.640 --> 829.040]  So dopamine is the neurotransmitter that we produce when we feel pleasure or we get a reward.
[829.040 --> 833.160]  And I noticed that most of our chit chat that we have at parties or networking events is
[833.160 --> 834.160]  the same.
[834.160 --> 836.200]  It sounds like this.
[836.200 --> 839.520]  So what do you do?
[839.520 --> 841.360]  Where are you from?
[841.360 --> 842.680]  Live around here?
[842.680 --> 845.080]  Well I'm going to go get some more wine.
[845.080 --> 848.080]  It's great talking to you.
[848.080 --> 850.840]  Those conversations happened over and over again.
[850.840 --> 854.080]  It was almost as if they were socially scripted.
[854.080 --> 855.680]  My brain was on autopilot.
[855.680 --> 859.320]  We found was the worst ranked conversation starters.
[859.320 --> 861.120]  The ones that got the lowest ratings.
[861.120 --> 863.160]  The ones that produced the lowest volume.
[863.160 --> 868.400]  The ones that got the most leans away, worst head nods and worst micro expressions.
[868.400 --> 871.160]  Those were the ones that we use the most.
[871.160 --> 872.160]  What do you do?
[872.160 --> 873.160]  How are you?
[873.160 --> 874.440]  Where are you from?
[874.440 --> 879.560]  From a physiological perspective, have no effect, no pleasure.
[879.560 --> 884.920]  So what we tried was to find conversation chargers that could spark or create some kind
[884.920 --> 886.160]  of excitement.
[886.160 --> 889.200]  Can you verbally trigger dopamine?
[889.200 --> 891.160]  And we found that the brain is really interesting.
[891.160 --> 895.880]  If you ask the brain a question, it tends to look for hits and not misses.
[895.880 --> 901.040]  What I mean by this is if you ask someone, bin busy lately, their brain immediately
[901.040 --> 903.360]  looks for all the hits of bin busy.
[903.360 --> 905.160]  They think about all the negative things that have happened.
[905.160 --> 908.840]  The stress, the busyness, all the bad things in their life.
[908.840 --> 914.360]  Whereas if you ask someone working on anything exciting recently, their brain immediately
[914.360 --> 916.760]  begins to look for all the hits of excitement.
[916.760 --> 920.480]  They start thinking of all the good, all the happy things, all the excitement that's going
[920.480 --> 922.000]  on in their own life.
[922.000 --> 923.840]  And that does two things.
[923.840 --> 926.600]  One, it creates pleasure for them.
[926.600 --> 931.160]  You're literally asking them to borrow excitement from other places in their life and bring
[931.160 --> 933.440]  it to the situation that you're in.
[933.440 --> 936.960]  And the other thing that it does is it makes you more memorable.
[936.960 --> 941.800]  Dr. John Medita found that dopamine, when it's triggered in verbal conversation, makes
[941.800 --> 944.000]  a mental post-it note.
[944.000 --> 948.520]  In other words, when you ask someone else to think of what's exciting in their life, the
[948.520 --> 952.480]  happy side effect is that you become more memorable.
[952.480 --> 956.040]  So here's my big challenge for today.
[956.040 --> 961.360]  Instead of using the typical, what do you do, how are you, and where are you from?
[961.360 --> 964.360]  Let's banish those conversation starters forever.
[964.360 --> 969.080]  And let's try ones that ask the brain to look for hits of excitement.
[969.080 --> 972.200]  Try working on anything exciting these days.
[972.200 --> 974.280]  Have any vacations coming up?
[974.280 --> 976.240]  Anything good happened today.
[976.240 --> 980.760]  I think this is the greatest gift we can give our fellow human beings.
[980.760 --> 984.520]  We are asking them to flip into optimism.
[984.520 --> 990.040]  We're triggering dopamine and excitement and getting them off autopilot.
[990.040 --> 993.400]  The last way that we're contagious is emotionally.
[993.400 --> 995.640]  So this study is one of my favorites.
[995.640 --> 1002.120]  In this experiment, they asked students to sing the song, don't stop believing, into
[1002.120 --> 1003.320]  an accuracy software.
[1003.320 --> 1005.640]  Now, this is a very nerve-wracking experiment.
[1005.640 --> 1010.560]  They're graded on vocal tone, words, and they're given no preparation.
[1010.560 --> 1012.920]  But they did three different trials of this experiment.
[1012.920 --> 1017.280]  First, they had them just walk into the room and sing into an accuracy software.
[1017.280 --> 1022.960]  The second group got into the room and had to say, out loud, I'm nervous.
[1022.960 --> 1027.480]  And the last group had to walk in the room and say, I'm excited.
[1027.480 --> 1034.920]  They found that this simple reframe, the nervous group got 53% accuracy, the control group
[1034.920 --> 1041.440]  got 69, but the I'm excited group got 80% accuracy.
[1041.440 --> 1042.440]  Why?
[1042.440 --> 1046.160]  Anxiety and excitement are very similar emotions.
[1046.160 --> 1049.360]  The only difference is mindset.
[1049.360 --> 1054.640]  My challenge for you today is to think about how you want to infect people.
[1054.640 --> 1059.640]  When you want to harness excitement or trigger excitement, ask dopamine worthy conversation
[1059.640 --> 1066.040]  starters, use more hand gestures, make authentic smiles, and never pick up the phone in a bad
[1066.040 --> 1067.200]  mood.
[1067.200 --> 1071.440]  Now, the last thing I want to do is I want to end on a note of excitement.
[1071.440 --> 1073.680]  I want to make you really infectious.
[1073.680 --> 1077.720]  So what we're going to do to end this talk is on the count of three, with all the energy
[1077.720 --> 1078.720]  you can muster.
[1078.720 --> 1081.560]  I want you to yell out, I'm excited.
[1081.560 --> 1082.560]  Are you ready?
[1082.560 --> 1084.560]  One, two, three.
[1084.560 --> 1086.800]  I'm excited.
[1086.800 --> 1087.640]  You rocked it.