I have really become enamored with the new TV show "Lie To Me", which is like CSI in its problem-solving premise, but deals with the skill (or art) of determining if people are telling the truth or lying. Here is a great episode, that actually ended with a profound truth that I learned several years ago from another unlikely source: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell.
I have never actually read the book. I picked it up from a coffee table once and flipped through the pages until they stopped on the chapter called Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Art of Mind Reading. The chapter talks about the ability of cops to determine if a man/child pulling a gun out of a pocket/ holster/ etc, is going to aim and shoot or "drop the weapon". Gladwell discusses how it takes a veteran cop to read someone accurately, and to do it in about 7 seconds. This is the time needed for a cop to decide if he needs to pull his own trigger to stop a shooter.
This is all interesting, but the chapter ended with an integrated analysis of this ability [to "read people's minds", or see the micro-burst expressions on people's faces, which is what is needed to "see" if someone is lying]. Gladwell explained, "Most people come out right at the level of chance. But who does well? People who have practiced. Stroke victims who have lost the ability to speak, for example, are virtuosos...." He goes on to say that working or living in life-threatening environments, where survival is dependent on being observant, "has forced them to become far more sensitive to the information on people's faces. People who have had highly abusive childhoods also do well, like stroke victims...." (239).
This is what the Lie To Me episode also concluded. The one "detective" came from an abusive family and learned to read the facial cues of people as a result. She was confronted by another detective in this episode, where her personal prejudices related to a violent criminal were hindering her ability to do her job. In that discussion, the detective's boss actually was able to turn her abusive past around into a "blessing", explaining to the detective, "You are here because of him (her abusive father). He made you who you are today." It's a powerful insight, although maybe not always easy to embrace.
I have never actually read the book. I picked it up from a coffee table once and flipped through the pages until they stopped on the chapter called Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Art of Mind Reading. The chapter talks about the ability of cops to determine if a man/child pulling a gun out of a pocket/ holster/ etc, is going to aim and shoot or "drop the weapon". Gladwell discusses how it takes a veteran cop to read someone accurately, and to do it in about 7 seconds. This is the time needed for a cop to decide if he needs to pull his own trigger to stop a shooter.
This is all interesting, but the chapter ended with an integrated analysis of this ability [to "read people's minds", or see the micro-burst expressions on people's faces, which is what is needed to "see" if someone is lying]. Gladwell explained, "Most people come out right at the level of chance. But who does well? People who have practiced. Stroke victims who have lost the ability to speak, for example, are virtuosos...." He goes on to say that working or living in life-threatening environments, where survival is dependent on being observant, "has forced them to become far more sensitive to the information on people's faces. People who have had highly abusive childhoods also do well, like stroke victims...." (239).
This is what the Lie To Me episode also concluded. The one "detective" came from an abusive family and learned to read the facial cues of people as a result. She was confronted by another detective in this episode, where her personal prejudices related to a violent criminal were hindering her ability to do her job. In that discussion, the detective's boss actually was able to turn her abusive past around into a "blessing", explaining to the detective, "You are here because of him (her abusive father). He made you who you are today." It's a powerful insight, although maybe not always easy to embrace.