You are contagious | Vanessa Van Edwards | TEDxLondon
TEDx Talks
18 min, 17 sec
Vanessa, a recovering awkward person, shares insights on how people's emotions and behaviors are contagious, and how to use this to spread positivity.
Summary
- Vanessa explains her journey from social awkwardness to studying human behavior and patterns in TED Talks.
- She discovered that hand gestures are a key factor in the popularity of TED Talks, with viral talks averaging 465 hand gestures in 18 minutes.
- Vanessa discusses how emotions and expressions are contagious, and how they can influence others around us.
- She conducted experiments demonstrating how people mimic non-verbal cues and how specific conversation starters can trigger positive emotions.
- Vanessa concludes by offering strategies to intentionally spread excitement and positivity in interactions.
Chapter 1
Vanessa introduces herself as a recovering awkward person and how her past led her to a career in human behavior.
- Vanessa reflects on her past social awkwardness.
- She credits her awkward years for leading her to a career in human behavior.
Chapter 2
Vanessa and her team analyze TED Talks to understand why some talks become viral and discover a pattern involving hand gestures.
- The research team analyzed thousands of hours of TED Talks.
- They examined body language, hand gestures, vocal variety, and outfit choices.
- A pattern emerged showing that popular TED talkers used more hand gestures.
Chapter 3
Vanessa discusses the importance of hand visibility in establishing trust and comfort in interactions.
- People instinctively look at hands first to assess safety.
- Hidden hands make people uncomfortable and distract attention.
- Visible hand gestures can indicate friendliness and underline spoken concepts.
Chapter 4
Vanessa explains how emotions and facial expressions can be contagious, influencing others around us.
- Emotions like fear and confidence are contagious.
- Microexpressions are universal and reveal our emotions, which others can catch.
- Genuine happiness expressions are more infectious than fake ones.
Chapter 5
Vanessa presents an experiment showing that happiness and confidence can be communicated and detected through voice alone.
- Different versions of 'hello' can convey happiness or anger.
- Participants rated 'happy hellos' as more likeable.
- Happy vocal tones make individuals more memorable and likeable.
Chapter 6
Vanessa discusses how certain conversation starters can trigger excitement and dopamine in the brain, making interactions more memorable.
- Common conversation starters often lack excitement and fail to trigger dopamine.
- Positive reframing of questions can lead to pleasure and memorability.
- Asking exciting questions can flip a conversation from autopilot to optimism.
Chapter 7
Vanessa shares a study demonstrating that reframing nervousness as excitement can improve performance and suggests using this technique in our lives.
- Anxiety and excitement are similar but differ in mindset.
- Reframing 'I'm nervous' to 'I'm excited' can significantly improve performance.
- She challenges the audience to think about how they want to affect others emotionally.
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