Understanding TED Talks and Human Behavior

Vanessa shares her journey from social awkwardness to studying human interactions. She discusses an experiment analyzing TED Talks to find patterns in viral success, highlighting the importance of hand gestures. Vanessa explains how emotions and expressions are contagious, affecting our interactions. She emphasizes the impact of verbal and non-verbal communication, particularly through conversation starters that trigger dopamine. The talk concludes with insights on using emotional framing to enhance performance and influence others positively.

What was Vanessa's initial career motivation?

• To analyze viral videos

• To become a TED speaker

• To study human behavior

• To overcome her social awkwardness

What did Vanessa and her team analyze in TED Talks?

• Speech content

• Body language and hand gestures

• Audience reactions

• Stage design

Why do we look at hands first when we see someone?

• To judge their fashion sense

• To see if they are carrying something dangerous

• To determine their social status

• To understand their emotions

How many hand gestures do the most popular TED talkers use on average in 18 minutes?

• 565

• 465

• 365

• 272

What did the sweat pad experiment demonstrate?

• Skydiving is more stressful than running

• Sweat pads can be used in fMRI machines

• Fear can be transmitted through smell

• People can identify different types of sweat

What is a microexpression?

• A brief, involuntary facial expression

• A type of hand gesture

• A vocal tone variation

• A scripted dialogue

What neurotransmitter is associated with pleasure and reward?

• Serotonin

• Oxytocin

• Dopamine

• Adrenaline

Which type of conversation starter is more effective?

• Working on anything exciting recently?

• Where are you from?

• What do you do?

• How are you?

How did reframing 'I'm nervous' to 'I'm excited' affect participants' performance?

• It decreased their accuracy

• It had no effect

• It increased their accuracy

• It made them more anxious

What is Vanessa's final challenge to the audience?

• To ask dopamine-worthy questions

• All of the above

• To use more hand gestures

• To reframe anxiety as excitement