sk66rc said:
I majored in forensic psychology in college... There's a thing called micro-expressions... Criminal profilers use it all the time while interviewing potential suspects... Criminal psychiatrists use it as well... Some are trained in it for that exact purpose... Studies have shown, though not conclusively, some are naturally gifted at it due to personal experiences and/or environments they grew up in... Micro-expressions are facial expressions that are shown in fractions of a second & those who are trained can pick them up... There were some controversial cases involving "psychics" & cold readings... They'll throw out some random "cold" questions or comments out & depending on how a person reacts, even in fraction of a second, they can "read" or "tell" if the statement is true or not... I've done this on numerous times where I would throw out a statement that seemingly have nothing to do with the given situation & can tell by how the person reacts get the answer I was looking for... Some cases, I don't even have to have a direct interaction with a person... I could be watching an interview done by 3rd party or person's interactions with others & be able to tell about a person... That's how I met my most recent ex-girlfriend... I was at a party & I just happened to walk by her & her friend's while they were talking... By the split second expression on her face with choice of her words I've heard when I was walking by half drunk, I could tell few things about her... When I brought that up when I got a chance to talk to her, she couldn't understand how I could possibly know things about her when that was the first time we've met... I'm not saying there's no "unusual powers" exist... I'm saying in some cases, the extraordinary abilities have surprisingly simple explanations...
I've never heard of the term micro-expressions but I always considered I'd make a good detective (problem is, detectives in the UK require 8 years worth of police work, and I'm not one of those 'rough handler' types required, and private detectives are photographic evidence/tracking based). I suppose my closest parity would be Sherlock Holmes.
I correctly deduced someone was previously employed as a waitress based on her leaning in a photograph (it had obviously become habitual enough that she had used it in real-life - leaning in a position ready to take an order sans the actual notepad or menu).
Unfortunately, such information goes very personal at times and the issue is how much do you say to the person (especially there is a probability it is either wrong, or they might deny it as it's embarrassing)? I'd love to use it to assist in solving of crimes, that would be like ideal - but there's no way I can get in to that area without doing things I'm poorly suited for.