Hidden tears and scrambled joy: On the adaptive costs of unguarded nonverbal social signals
by
Abstract:
The ability to correctly assess the internal states of another is assumed to have clear adaptive advantages. Yet, the balance of evolutionary costs and benefits appears less obvious for the sender. Rather than to indiscriminately maximize the ratio of signal to noise, human nonverbal signaling is finely tuned to its situational context. We smile naturally and without flinching, out of politeness, to signal positive intentions, or to distract an opponent. Careless displays of fear may draw a predator’s attention, or they may reveal a readiness to abandon resources without a fight. Emotional tears result in blurred vision and reduce visual acuity, akin to a self-imposed handicap. This chapter re-examines socially intelligent nonverbal communication while focusing on the evolutionary costs of signaling too clearly and indiscriminately.
Reference:
Hidden tears and scrambled joy: On the adaptive costs of unguarded nonverbal social signals (Dennis Küster), Chapter in Social Intelligence and Nonverbal Communication (Robert J. Sternberg, Aleksandra Kostić, eds.), Springer International Publishing, 2020.
Bibtex Entry:
@incollection{kuster_hidden_2020,
  address = {Cham},
  title = {Hidden tears and scrambled joy: On the adaptive costs of unguarded nonverbal social signals},
  isbn = {978-3-030-34964-6},
  shorttitle = {Hidden tears and scrambled joy},
  url = {https://www.csl.uni-bremen.de/cms/images/documents/publications/Kuester_HiddenTears_PrePrint.pdf},
  abstract = {The ability to correctly assess the internal states of another is assumed to have clear adaptive advantages. Yet, the balance of evolutionary costs and benefits appears less obvious for the sender. Rather than to indiscriminately maximize the ratio of signal to noise, human nonverbal signaling is finely tuned to its situational context. We smile naturally and without flinching, out of politeness, to signal positive intentions, or to distract an opponent. Careless displays of fear may draw a predator’s attention, or they may reveal a readiness to abandon resources without a fight. Emotional tears result in blurred vision and reduce visual acuity, akin to a self-imposed handicap. This chapter re-examines socially intelligent nonverbal communication while focusing on the evolutionary costs of signaling too clearly and indiscriminately.},
  language = {en},
  urldate = {2020-09-21},
  booktitle = {Social {Intelligence} and {Nonverbal} {Communication}},
  publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
  author = {Küster, Dennis},
  editor = {Sternberg, Robert J. and Kostić, Aleksandra},
  year = {2020},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-34964-6_10},
  keywords = {Adaptive costs, Display rules, Emotional tears, Nonverbal social signals, Social intelligence},
  pages = {283--304}
}