The Ecosynergy Group is interested in collaborating with the EmotionWise Group on the Global Empathy Study because of the fundamental impact of Emotional Intelligence on our activities in leadership and storytelling. The Emotion test is a reliable measure of Emotional Intelligence that does not rely on self report of leadership value - a measure that does not suffice in appraising the impact one has on others. This EQ measure will be correlated for the first time ever with a range of cognitive, emotional and biometrics data. This research can help break the vicious circle of leadership - that it is those who need the most emotional training who realise it the least! This research is foundational, paving the way for leadership development in identifying and offering targeted individual training.
Background
The science of emotional expression is now 130 years old; in the past 20 years alone, there have been over 300 scientific articles and countless books on the nature of emotional expression in the face, the voice, and in touch. We know that emotions are directly linked to our physiology, personality and perception of the world around us. We also know that certain emotions transcend cultural boundaries and are universally expressed and experienced.
More importantly, the extent to which we can recognize these signals, a skill called empathic accuracy, can have profoundly positive impacts on our social relationships, leadership abilities and satisfaction with life.
Worldwide empathy study
Despite these major breakthroughs in emotion science, emotion researchers generally only agree upon seven expressions in the face as universally recognizable. Data from our lab and dozens of other experiments suggest that there are at least 13 additional facial expressions, and over a dozen vocalizations of human emotion that transcend cultural boundaries.
Researchers, however, have yet to perform a full-scale analysis on which emotional expressions in the face and the voice can be understood in all cultures. This is largely due to the fact that emotion scientists have traditionally focused on only one type of expression modality (face, voice, touch), and that no one has launched a research program designed to synthesize all of this material into a single worldwide empathy experiment.
For more details on the Global Empathy Study and/or to take the test click here. As we progress into the study, we will update our research blog.
