Do you use a lot of facial expressions during a conversation? If yes, then you are probably a naturally good negotiator. Researchers at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) have found that people who express more facial expressions are better at negotiating.
In this research, more than 1500 conversations were analyzed, in which the movements of facial muscles, such as smiling, raising eyebrows, wrinkling the nose and moving the edges of the lips, etc. were studied. Researchers say that people with expressive faces are more liked and more socially successful than those with straight faces.
Expert statement
The study was led by Bridget Waller, Professor of Evolution and Social Behavior at NTU’s Psychology Department. Her target was to study the reasons behind humans’ complex facial expressions compared to any other species. She said that our comparative study between humans and other primates shows that humans make more facial movements overall and their faces are more expressive. Our study suggests that being expressive makes you more likable, which can make it easier to stay in a social group, which is a clear advantage of evolution.
How was the study done?
Researchers asked 170 people to watch short videos of conversations. They were asked how well they could understand the emotions and expressions of the people in the video and also how much they liked them. After this, the researchers looked at the conversations on Zoom calls between 1456 people who did not know each other. These chatters told how much they liked the person they were talking to.
Study results
The researchers found that during these conversations, people made an average of 71 facial movements per minute. They found that people who were highly expressive were generally more liked, both by those watching the video and the people they were chatting with on Zoom.