Who We Are
The Science of People works with companies, brands and individuals on how to use body language, nonverbal communication and human lie detection to be more successful. We take the most interesting research about people–relationships, human behavior and personal development and put it into easy to understand, accessible articles and workshops.
People lie all the time–about 2 to 3 times during a ten minute interaction. Learning the science of fraud detection and how to read body language and spot hidden emotions has changed my life and my business. I had no idea how much I was missing. My mission is to share these tools with others.
–Vanessa Van Edwards
As Seen On: 
“Vanessa’s presentation style is so engaging and entertaining that I believe everyone in any job function will get something extremely useful out of it. “
–Monica Enand, Founder of Zapproved
For Businesses
Our unique approach features exciting findings in body language research to improve sales, human resources efficiency and leadership management. The Science of People’s human behavior approach to improving a company’s bottom line has been featured on CNN, NPR and Forbes.
- Currently, body language research and human lie detection is only used in government agencies and security companies. I want to bring the techniques law enforcement, FBI, CIA agents use into the business and everyday world.
We give workshops, write and speak about interesting human behavior so companies can learn how to spot lies and hidden emotions to improve sales, HR efficiency and leadership.
For Every Day Life:
We need to know what our bodies are saying and what other people’s hidden emotions reveal to protect ourselves and be more successful. Body language and deception detection can be used with dates, friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, spouses and children.
We give teach, write and speak about interesting human behavior so individuals can learn how to spot lies and hidden emotions to improve relationships, communication and connection.
“Vanessa is a dynamic and polished speaker. We would definitely ask her back for more presentations.”
–Emily Ediger, Portland State University Business Accelerator
Our Mission:
Our goal is to take the most fascinating research from around the world, translate it into easy to understand, ‘bite-sized’ terms for practical application for both business and individual success.
Only 7% of our communication is verbal. 93% of our communication is through body language, voice tone and facial expressions. Do you know what you are communicating to the world?
The Science of People is curated by Vanessa Van Edwards who travels around the country sharing the latest research with audiences.
Vanessa has been on CNN, NPR and Forbes. She has a column on the Huffington Post.
About Vanessa Van Edwards
Author and Behavioral Investigator
As an acclaimed writer and behavioral investigator, Vanessa is a professional people watcher—speaking, writing and cracking the code of interesting human behavior for audiences around the world.
“If I could, I would call myself a professional people watcher—because I speak, write and endeavor to crack the code of interesting human behavior.” — Vanessa
Vanessa is a published Penguin author and a Huffington Post columnist. She regularly gives keynotes and appears in the media to talk about her research.
“Simply put, I got started in this field because people were lying to me and I wanted to find a way to stop it.” — Vanessa
See her Science of People Workshops and media here.
Vanessa does workshops and columns about the Body Language, Nonverbal Behavior and Human Lie Detection in:
- Business and the Workplace: In this research, Vanessa synthesizes the most interesting studies on business behavior, leadership and, even, office politics!
- Relationships: Vanessa shares the latest research on friendships, love, relationships, family drama and personal connection.
- The Science of Families: Parenting and family relationships are one of Vanessa’s specialties. In addition to these articles she actually has a website dedicated to science’s perspective is on parenting, children and teens.
Far too often we hear people ask, ‘Is there any science to back this up?” or “I wonder if there has ever been a study done on that?” We answer those questions. Most importantly, there are hundreds of studies being done every day at the top universities and institutes around the world, but very few of their fascinating findings reach non-academics. In addition, even when we get access to studies, they are often so difficult to understand and loaded with academic jargon, they are impossible to decode or apply to real life.
“Vanessa Van Edwards’ speech to our club of hundreds was a welcome break from the standard speech. It was always engaging, at times uproariously funny and very informative. As I looked at the audience, everyone was leaning forward and feeling each moment together. We all came away feeling more light-hearted and armed with insights about human behavior that we didn’t know at the beginning. It was a treat to hear her speak!”
–Mike Pendergast, Business Development Consultant and Rotarian
In addition to the above themes, the Science of People also presents the latest studies in the following areas of development:
Relationship Research:
Did you know that the highest ‘break-up’ rate on Facebook is two weeks before Christmas? In these articles and workshops, the Science of People presents the latest findings on the science behind relationships–why we bond, why we break-up, why we love and what that does to our bodies and brains.
Research on Human Behavior:
There is an astounding amount of research on how we interact, behave, think and feel as humans. Yet, it is incredibly difficult to access most of the articles in scientific journals. In these articles and workshops, the Science of People presents the latest findings on the science behind human behavior and interactions.
Use power body language when persuading.
Use rapport body language when selling.
Use trust body language in your advertisements.
Emotional Intelligence Research:
Emotional Intelligence is a growing body of research on how humans feel, identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Emotional intelligence and mindsight, an attentiveness to our own inner belief systems, is an essential part of our day to day interactions and well-being. The Science of People will report on the latest research on emotion detection and what we call emosocial intelligence which is the combination of emotional intelligence research and social intelligence studies.
Social Intelligence Research:
Social Intelligence research involves learning how people communicate and use social skills, as well as discovering how to effectively and purposefully mediate interactions with family members, friends and colleagues in the school or business environment. We will also talk about the latest lie-detection research and learn what the science says about how to tell if someone is lying to you. Lastly, this area of the People of Science is about the science of being ‘people smart,’ or socially competent in people to people interactions.
This website is completely free. We hope from here you will subscribe to our monthly newsletter and enjoy the latest research!
Follow Us on Twitter: @vvanedwards
Citations:
Gross, By Doug. “Facebook Knows When You’ll Break up – CNN.” Featured Articles from CNN. 02 Nov. 2010. Web. 31 Dec. 2010. <http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-02/tech/facebook.breakups_1_facebook-designer-spring-fever?_s=PM:TECH>.
Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P. & Caruso, D.R. (2008). Emotional Intelligence: New ability or eclectic traits, American Psychologist, 63, 6, 503-517.
Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1996) Bantam Books.
Kluemper, D.H. (2008) Trait emotional intelligence: The impact of core-self evaluations and social desirability. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(6), 1402-1412.
Goleman, Daniel. Social Intelligence: the New Science of Human Relationships. New York: Bantam, 2006.
