More and more, advances in technology are enabling emotion-sensing technologies with greater sophistication and accuracy. While software has monitored voices for agitation and pacing of voice in call centers for some time, we are nearing an age of gadgets that sense our moods, emotions, degree of agitation, stress, depression, and more.

Imagine your car sensing you are getting highly frustrated in a traffic jam, so the GPS suggests an alternative route with less traffic.

Picture an entertainment center that reads cues of depression and adjusts your entertainment to pick up your mood (e..g, changing the channel from drama to comedy).

Think of an iPhone that measures galvanic skin response (perspiration) and alters your playlist to calm you down when you show sign of stress or anger.

Computer programs are able to correctly identify the six universal emotions (via Ekman) at a rate of 88%. The average human correctly identifies the same emotions at roughly 49% (slightly less than pure chance).

 So how does the thought of emotion-sensing robots or computer gadgets make you feel?

Think about it from a perspective of interest and curiosity.

Then think about it from a feeling of paranoia and fear.

You may arrive at two completely separate conclusions based simply on your emotional starting point.

Here is the complete story from New Scientist

[1] http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327151.400-emotional-robots-will-we-love-them-or-hate-them.html?full=true

Cheers,

Dr. John Schinnerer

Positive Psychology Coach and  Author

[2] www.GuideToSelf.com