Hi Wiley, very interesting to hear from a poker player's point of view. ESP would certainly come in handy! We all have an innate ability to read people at the sub-conscious level... its connecting to the conscious level which causes problems, I think. Facial expressions and body language cannot be suppressed easily, usually not a all. If we use the word intuition, we are usually reacting to body language, words said and facial expressions and logic and I find that all to be in the realm of non ESP. As you point out, this can all be utilised to gain a better understanding of the person in front of you.
Yes, I read up on facial micro expressions too and (not sure if it was Ekman) and they have mapped them and put all the possible combinations into a computer programme so that you can completely analyse to emotional reactions of anyone you have filmed. Ekman (if it was him) could do it "live" in real time. There is also the research on partnership interactions... these guys can tell within minutes if a relationship is healthy, doomed or salvageable with contempt being the absolute killer sign for any relationship. Malcom Gladwell talks about "thin slicing" in "Blink".
The reason we feel so uncomfortable listening to politicians making a speech is the disparity between the words said and the body language/facial expressions. Clinton was a great study object for me. I remember watching him say live on TV "I did not have..." I knew instantly he did have and that he was now really in trouble. Bush II was a joke, I meant it wasn't at all fair as his ability to mask his feelings and intentions was almost zero. Best he could do was give that pleading look that said, "do you believe me yet?" after he had lied through his teeth. And when you repeatedly over-use the word peace when asking congress to go to war, you are insulting everyone's intelligence. Obama is a brilliant actor, no doubt. And yes, I'm cured on that number by now!! I notice all three were taught to make a fist with their thumb sticking out on the outside so as not to be too threatening but still be emphatic... give me a break, that's pure, "Yes, I did smoke pot, but I didn't inhale"!! As a coach, I'm reading body language all day long.
The voice is another wide-open give-away of the emotional state. Never call in sick to your boss when you're not... get someone else to do it for you! You hear the lie more clearly on the phone than in person as all of your focus is on the voice. I'm sure that folks here have noticed what an indicator of emotional state the voice is when they sing.
So all this is not ESP. ESP is knowing something without those signs being present. I can give some personal examples:
- Talking on the phone to a girlfriend and getting a sudden flash of bright green, then asking her if she's wearing something that colour. She was and it was not a pullover I had seen before.
- Picking up the phone (before digital phones and number recognition) and saying, "Hello Yvonne" after not having any contact with a former girlfriend for more than 2 years and without the person on the other end having said anything. The shock at the other end was such that she was virtually unable to put a sentence together and eventually hung up without saying why she rang. I just knew who it was.
- Watching my first love (at college in her dorm room) stand up like an automaton and walk out the door in the most peculiar fashion. When I asked where she was going she said to the the phone (in another building) in a very other-worldly way. When she returned she told me her grand mother had just died. Later her mother told me that she (the mother) was at home and had just put the phone down after getting the news that her mother had died when instantly the phone rang and it was my girlfriend asking what was wrong! The same girlfriend (sorry, its not always about one!) ducked at exactly the right moment as I threw a tennis ball at her head (nice!) with her back turned to me and walking away from the net (she won the previous point, grrrr!). No idea how she picked that up!
Pierre, that is a lovely example from your daughter. Priceless.
I'm sure that everyone experiences these things and I don't consider myself special in any way... I just have remained aware of this dimension since childhood and have learned to trust it and listen.
Nice to know the pebble did make a ripple or two in the pond...
) Completely off topic, of course so tune out now if you don't like the idea.