Behavioral psychologists such as Dr. Paul Ekman who are experts in deception detection through the analysis of human body language and facial expressions specialize in decoding and interpreting people's emotional intent in telling the truth or lying. Their research reveals further support for the idea that honesty and dishonesty are both fueled by deliberate cognitive intent.
Dr. Ekman in his research has discovered that people who believe they are telling the truth but are actually stating something inaccurate will still display all the same facial expressions and body language markers of someone who is, in fact, saying something true.
In the same vein, lie detector tests measure the amount of anxiety a person feels in relation to the information he or she is speaking. The theory is that increased anxiety is a tell-tale sign that the speaker knows he or she is being dishonest - it's a "tell." However, a person who thinks he is telling the truth, but is unaware that he's saying something inaccurate, will pass the lie detector test with flying colors. He won't feel the unconscious anxiety that comes with deliberate deception, because he isn't being deliberately deceptive.
Cognitively, someone who is intending to tell the truth but speaks erroneously is the same as someone who intends to tell the truth and speaks accurately. The difference between an honest and a dishonest person is not the quality of the information, but the intent to be honest or dishonest.
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I think there is much to be learned about reading body language that we all could benefit from understanding in our lives.
ReplyDeleteRight about that. I spent a few semesters learning this stuff. I find myself sitting around just watching people rather than being in conversations with them. I can learn much more just by how their body moves.
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