Part 12 (2/2)
The system starts with some criterion such as level of contribution or level of support The color or nu indicate the desired behavior Thus a high nuht indicate the expectation that everyone will ”chip in” regularly A low nu information
This system is usually used for three types of issues The first is about process, not content That is, how attendees treat each other In brainstor others' ideas; about valuing quantity over quality; about acceptable piggy-backing on somebody else's ideas The same applies here
Some process prescriptions are about politeness, while others are about si one et the floor in the first place So a greenmay indicate that what is required is short, crisp interjections A blue ht indicate that it is acceptable to develop an idea
Sos erous issue Jokes can lighten the mood, but can also offend They may introduce inappropriate levity where seriousness is required One useful rule is about criticisreen, a criticism of certain features; yellow, that no criticism is allowed unless a feasible alternative is apparent; and red, anything can be said
But, more important, the system can be applied to content Thus the ruleoutside the box; about radical reforht put certain things out of bounds One of the advantages of the system is that it sets expectations beforehand It's a bit like a dress code black tie, smart casual, dress-down The rule says a lot about how the o, and therefore also its outcos are particularly important These are often a function of the physical features of theup or sitting down; is there a table; can the participants all see each other; what are the ranks of people present; what topics are being discussed; what are the hidden agendas and so on? Behaviors are e, and indices of anxiety are also attention-grabbing First there is eye contact: who looks at whom the most and the most frequently, and when do parties avoid eye contact This is usually an index of disco how tense or relaxed people are Third,such as foot tapping, hair touching and so on when people are bored, frustrated or trying (unsuccessfully) to look relaxed and as if they are concentrating Also look out for displacement yawns It is known that people, faced with a tedious task, often yawn or suddenly feel extremely tired or sleepy Desmond Morris (1982) reports on a curious case of soldiers feeling a treo into an attack He explains that this behavior was not a product of physical weariness but rather a displace situation
Orientation can change during s when people push back their chairs or turn the their backs on soically when trying to push your agenda across in aopposite the other party ionism Cooperation can, conversely, be instilled by physical proxi persuaded in a ree if s/he is physically surrounded by the members of the other ”cah, you should be aware of the other party's behavior If the other party is growing unco, an atteestureswhere speakers use repetitive, inappropriate or clunals can also be in conflict with each other For exan of joy and accord that is acco away of the, let's say, report on the desk, sends a ree display a cluster of certain gestures to indicate their community, and each of the behaviors froe If there is a sign that does not fit the general pattern, it nal a said
As well as nonverbal gestures, we get a lot of infores in voice quality or accent, or coughing A change to a shrill voice may indicate frustrated atteister, warm voice attempts to seduce
ADVERTISING AND POLITICAL MESSAGES
The ah a 30-et as the progra is essentially nonverbal that is, visual Some advertisements may have as little as three phrases in the the product
Equally, politicians and political parties spend billons on advertising and conference design, not topoliticians to be better coe
Advertising, from soap powder to political parties, wants us to notice, remember butthe product or voting for the candidate
Consider the task of selling a new chocolate bar, or a financial product or a holiday destination The questions are endless: should one use actors, and if so,or mature, black or white, ”posh or common”? Should one use children or animals, or both or neither? Should one confirm or disconfirm stereotypes the male scientist/expert, the female homemaker? Should one use humour or sex to attract attention? Should there be music or not, and if so which, why and when? What should the location of the advertisement be? And what are the effects of close-ups?
The party-political advertiser wants to kno toand believable How to portray energy and ability as well as confidence and approachability, andoxymoron that politicians have to learn to fake sincerity They are trained in how to sit and stand, point and s leaders and law back video clips of their behavior over the years It is startling to see how some nonverbal behaviors have been accentuated or ”reed, and how quirky mannerisms have been adopted or erased
The clothes they wear, their preferred hairstyles and even how closely they shave are all considered in detail to understand the e they send Speeches are carefully scripted but also regularly rehearsed, and they are choreographed to reduce less favorable caestures
A candidate can be ”destroyed” in a television interview by looking down or away; freezing or hesitating and ative es Make-up artists know candidates with ”mature” faces are preferred over those with ”baby faces” The size of the eyes and hips also give clues to maturity However, older candidates need to have a youthful and healthy look
Coe, politicians are less often bald or balding; wear glasses less often; are taller, slimmer and appear fitter They tend to try to epitomize and accentuate the values of their society This is, of course, less important in non-democratic countries where people are unelected to political positions
OBSERVATION AND IDENTIFICATION
Could you accurately identify the person who sold you a newspaper this ht person in a classic identity parade? How , identification just because they looked like ”a criminal type”? And how many people escape punishment for serious crimes because they were not identified by one or y of eyewitness identification is one of the es the intersection of psychology and the law We know that jurors overestimate the importance of eyewitness reports: conviction rates rise from 20 percent to 70 percent with just one witness testimony However, most people are unaware of how many different factors can falsely influence our recollection of events Poor viewing conditions, brief exposure and situational stress are all established and well-researched factors, yet expectations, biases, personal stereotypes and leading questions can all intervene to create erroneous reports The question here is, how does the body language of people influence recall? How does the memory connect to the system of nonverbal communication? The answer has to consider several factors
First, several variables affect the formation and successful retrieval of any ories: individual, contextual, social and interrogational Table 65 provides exaories
TABLE 65 Factors affecting the formation and successful retrieval of memories Witnesses vary in their ability to recall an event correctly Wos than ht andadults perfor people froroup This may be because of the aroups, or to racist attitudes
The situation also influences one's recall and recognition faculty The more stressed the eyewitness, the less they recall accurately One experiment showed that stressed witnesses made around two in three false identifications while unstressed witnesses only made only one in ten errors Also, there is an established ”weapon-focus effect”, so that if a gun or knife is involved in an incident, this seems to command a lot of attention and the chances of an accurate eyewitness identification decline
Next, there are the social factors associated with the very particular constraints and regulations of the courtrooe used in court can have a powerful effect In a famous study (Loftus & Palmer, 1974), different words were used to describe a car accident: bump, collide, contact, hit and smash The choice of words influenced later recall Thus, if the word ”smash” was used, people were lass than when the word ”bumped” was used
There are also a host of iational methods and tools These have also been called ”police procedures” or syste as simple but important as the ”line up” Should the suspected culprit be in the line up or not? We know from evidence that when the actual perpetuator of the criher chance of being incorrectly identified If the witness is told the guilty person may or may not be present, the likelihood of a mistake sharply decreases couilty person must be there The ”line-up administrator” may easily ”leak” infor for longer near the criestures or eye contact when looking at the suspect This is often done unconsciously by the administrator but picked up by the identifier To avoid such ”leaks', it is recommended that the procedure is carried out by sonorant about, the case
Feedback on witnesses' errors aid the identification, especially if they choose ”known innocents” Errors are more likely to occur if people are shown the full line-up (all the people are seen at the sa seen one at a time A sequential parade reduces problements
What does this infore on memory? First, identification happens on the basis of salient physical features The descriptive reports of fugitives always involve details of their height, weight, hair color, skin tone, facial features and clothing
Meile in the sense that we do not re that happens to us: sometime it is just the details that escape, while at other ti it often enough It is flexible in the sense that it is changeable Indeed, even fake memories can be created and planted in our minds Memory is fallible in the sense that it is prone to all types of errors Indeed, things that we remember do not always reflect the truth
Memory can, for example, easily be influenced by the type of question asked One example of early experimental work showed participants a clip of a car crash and then asked them to estimate the speed of the vehicles when they either ”contacted” or ”save was directly related to the force i fro questions have had e to the wording leading to a dramatic effect on testimony; ”Did you see a ” co just one exanificant word can influence respondents' answers
Jurors, like other people, may be unaware of the factors that can interfere with eyewitness perception, such as the weapons focus effect, or factors that interfere with e, such as the effect of prior exposures on suspect identification This ful arrest found that 52 percent of these cases were associated with mistaken eyewitness testied to consider a range of issues before giving much attention to an eyewitness testiood opportunity to observe the person (for how long, at what distance and angle, and in what light)?
Was the witness's capacity hindered by alcohol, drugs or injury?
Do the witness and accused know each other?
Are they of the sao did the event happen?
Hoas the accused identified (photographs, line up)?
How confident was the witness at the initial identification?
It is been established that any testiiven in an assertive and positive matter is considered to be o an event happened, the less we re or novel are always better recalled than the nitive interview have been fores various specific acts: recount the story both forward and backward, and fro all remembered details, however trivial
BODY LANGUAGE AND MEMORY
Memory for names