Heartbreaking news in my area

[justamouse]

I understand what you are saying, but people are not actually claiming psychic powers when they refer to a 6th sense or creepdar or whatever. It is actually a scientific process that the person doesn't know they are tapping into. It is psychology to be technical, but still a science. It could be influenced by a person's prejudices or bias, yes. But, no, I nor my dh think that unbathed or poor grooming etc=creep. What someone is doing is unknowingly relying on hundreds of evaluations of facial and body movements, voice changes, story fluency, and are checking these against a known database, a collection from years of living and interacting with other people. It is a real process. It is not magic. Some people are made more suspicious or more trusting based on their life or situations. It is not full proof. this ability/process is only as good as the collection of life experience you have had thus far. It also depends on the person you're 'reading'. Some people read almost all people well. Some people only read the alarming symptoms well. My dh has a hard time reading people's general emotions unless he knows them, but reads/senses concerning behaviors of most people very well.

 

 

 

Telling people that these 'reads' are not real or are not to be trusted is the disservice! Dh and I both ignored what we felt were problematic interactions of an elderly man we knew at a church. We both felt uncomfortable with some aspects of him; not all the time just at moments here and there. We both had concerns. We could not put our finger on it. We discussed it and dismissed it at least 4-5 times throughout a 10 year period! What kept us dismissing it was that he was elderly (a sweet old man), a long standing church member, we felt there was no real proof to cite, he was an upstanding member of the community and we were not willing to go against that and be wrong. Then a youth disclosed that this man had been inappropriate with her for years! Dh and I were distraught at our failure to protect this girl. We felt so guilty because we didn't want to be seen as troublemakers, we chose to ignore it all and hope we were wrong. It brought us NO joy to have been right, only pain and grief at a level I cannot begin to describe. We weren't psychic, we were observant...we were also too conditioned and caved to social pressure to ignore it. I'm not saying we should have stood up and shouted in the middle of church. But we should have actively guarded, insisted on general rules of no one alone with those under 18 etc. We have not forgotten our hard learned lesson and have beefed up child safety at our church as a result.

 

Please, don't tell people that these 'feelings' are bologna. They are very much real. They are not fool proof but can help remind you or spur you on toward better safety decisions. Not seeing a problem coming does not mean you are dumb or even that you missed something, it means the criminal was really good at what he does. There is no shame in that.

 

I think you're right about some people having a gift of reading micro expressions.

 

The HBO? Series, LIe To Me, is based on the micro facial expression science of Dr Paul Ekman, and his books Emotions Revealed and Unmasking the Face are fascinating. (and, I am not a TV watcher, but I watched that show straight for days on Netflix.)

 

I am a very good people reader. So is my mother. I think she taught it to me non verbally. Like when she would be in a conversation with someone, and me, knowing her voice, knew when she was deflecting, or me, knowing her face, I knew when she was not liking the person or doubtful.

 

When I've gotten into the most trouble is when I've tried to rationalize my dislike of a person.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBLWh6bbmLE&feature=player_embedded

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXm6YbXxSYk&feature=player_embedded