learning to re-interpret facial emotions

[chhotii]

Researchers find that they can reduce violence in teens by having them learn to interpret facial expressions differently. Very interesting if you've read Steve Pinker's Better Angels of Our Nature, on the subject of why violence has declined; this seems to show that the same thing can happen not just over historical time, but within the lifetime of an individual. Very, very interesting if you're interested in how to deal with aggression problems in kids.

Comments

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

"If you've grown up in a tough environment where actually a lot of the time people are out to get you, then that default assumption is probably a relatively safe assumption to make,"

That does make sense -- a false positive for spotting aggressive intent in a stranger is a lot less dangerous than a false negative.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Yes. Exactly. Recall the game-theory matrix that we were talking about, for deciding whether to be aggressive in the absence of law, commerce, etc.:

you peaceful and me peaceful: 0 for each
you aggressive and me peaceful: +10 for you, -1,000 for me
you peaceful and me aggressive: -1,000 for you, +10 for me
you aggressive and me aggressive: -50 for each

...so being peaceful is an acceptable strategy for me if I KNOW you will be peaceful.