The video owner has disabled playback on external websites.
This video is no longer available on YouTube.
This video cannot be played right now.
Watch on YouTube
Unlock AI-Powered Learning Tools
Sign up to access powerful tools that help you learn faster from every video.
You are contagious | Vanessa Van Edwards | TEDxLondon
Learning Stats
CEFR Level
Difficulty
Subtitles (397 segments)
Translator: Ki Yun Lee Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
Hello, my name is Vanessa,
and I am a recovering awkward person.
(Laughter)
This is me at the peak of what I like to call my plaid vest phase.
(Laughter)
Luckily, my years of social awkwardness
led me to a fascinating career trying to figure out how people work.
So, what I didn't realize is that many years ago,
I would do an experiment
that led me right on this stage in front of you here today.
My lab researchers and I were curious about TED Talks.
We wanted to know,
Why do some TED Talks go viral and others don't?
So we embarked on a huge experiment.
We analyzed thousands of hours of TED Talks, looking for patterns.
I wasn't sure if we would find anything,
so we were analyzing body language, hand gestures, vocal variety -
we even looked at outfit choices,
which made today particularly pressure-filled.
And very quickly, there was a pattern in the data that made me curious.
And after we coded more and more TED Talks,
we realized there was a pattern.
Now, before I tell you what that is, I have a personal question for you,
which is, When you see someone,
what part of the body do you look at first?
You can just call it out.
What do you look at first when you see someone?
Face, eyes - so most people -
shoes.
(Laughter)
They are very high.
So most people say eyes, face or mouth.
But actually, when we first see someone,
the first place we look is the hands.
And this is left over from our caveman days.
Because if we were approached by a stranger caveman,
the first place we looked was the hands
to see if they were carrying a rock or a spear.
We wanted to know if we were safe, if they were friend or foe.
Now, this actually still remains from caveman days,
and when we can't see someone's hands,
something interesting happens.
So I just did something a little mean to your brain.
You should start to feel just a little bit uncomfortable.
The reason for that is when you can't see my hands,
you wonder, What is she doing back there?
(Laughter)
And then, the longer I leave my hands behind my back,
you get more and more distracted because you can't see them.
And eventually, your brain is just screaming,
Can't she just bring her hands off from behind her back?
And the moment I bring them back out,
it feels so much better.
And this because our brain knows that if we can't see hands,
we can't see intention.
And we found as we compared the most viewed TED Talks
side by side with the least viewed TED Talks,
we found a pattern with hand gestures.
Specifically, on average,
the most popular TED talkers use an average of 465 hand gestures
in 18 minutes.
Yes, we painstakingly counted every single one.
I have 465 prepared for you today.
(Laughter)
And the least popular TED talkers use an average of 272 hand gestures.
Almost half.
What's happening here?
So when TED speakers take the stage,
they are showing you first "Friend, friend, friend."
You'll notice when I walked onto the stage, I waved.
I was saying, "Friend, friend, friend, friend."
(Laughter)
And the other thing that TED speakers do -
see if this looks familiar.
So they come onto the red dot, and they do something like this.
"Today, I want to talk to you about a big idea."
(Laughter)
"I am going to break it down into three different areas
that are going to change your life."
Full subtitles available in the video player
Practice with Exercises
Generate vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension exercises from this video
Comments (0)
Login to CommentSign up to unlock full features
Track progress, save vocabulary, and practice exercises
Interactive Mode
Quiz
Correct answer:
Related Videos
Food Inc - Full Video [HD Episodes]
Stephen Colbert Teases Future Career Plans, Almost Injured an Audience Member with a Segway
The Witcher: The Rats Vs The Bounty Hunter Fight Scene|Netflix Series|The Witcher.
James Acaster On The Absurdity Of The British Empire
What do pharmaceutical scientists do?
TEDx Talks
Quiz
Correct answer:
Quizzes appear as you watch the video
Memory Tip
From this video
Start learning languages for free
