ONLINE RESOURCES

On nonverbal communication Gestures across cultures Affects displays and body language
  • Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling
    TED description: "Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live - and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior."
  • Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar
    TED description: "On any given day we're lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lie can be subtle and counter-intuitive. Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, shows the manners and 'hotspots' used by those trained to recognize deception - and she argues honesty is a value worth preserving."
  • Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
    TED description: "Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how 'power posing' - standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident - can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success."
  • How to kill your body language Frankenstein and inspire the villagers
    TED talk by Scott Rouse
Do "clothes make the man woman"?
  • Yassmin Abdel-Magied: What does my headscarf mean to you?
    TED description: "What do you think when you look at this speaker? Well, think again. (And then again.) In this funny, honest, empathetic talk, Yassmin Abdel-Magied challenges us to look beyond our initial perceptions, and to open doors to new ways of supporting others."
  • Zainab Salbi: The Stories of a Headscarf
    TED essay: "Zainab Salbi argues that the global fixation with a Muslim woman's decision to wear a headscarf - or not - is overly simplistic - and irrelevant."
Touch, gestures, senses and emotions through technology
  • Tom Uglow: An Internet without screens might look like this
    Are there new and different - and more intimate and natural - ways for us to gather information?
    TED description: "Designer Tom Uglow is creating a future in which humanity's love for natural solutions and simple tools can coexist with our need for information and the devices that provide us with it. 'Reality is richer than screens,' he says. 'We can have a happy place filled with the information we love that feels as natural as switching on lightbulb.'"
  • Rana el Kaliouby: This app knows how you feel - from the look on your face
    TED description: "Our emotions influence every aspect of our lives - how we learn, how we communicate, how we make decisions. Yet they're absent from our digital lives; the devices and apps we interact with have no way of knowing how we feel. Scientist Rana el Kaliouby aims to change that. She demos a powerful new technology that reads your facial expressions and matches them to corresponding emotions. This 'emotion engine' has big implications, she says, and could change not just how we interact with machines - but with each other."
Semiotics and Technology