What clue do you see most in liars?
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What clue do you use most to gauge the truthfulness of someone?
Death by Text on 48 Hours: What’s the motivation?
Tonight, CBS 48 Hours profiled the horrific story of the suicide of teenager Conrad Roy. He was encouraged through text to commit suicide by a so-called “friend”, Michelle Carter. The text between the two are sad to read. Carter is incredibly callous and cold. And you can see in the videos of Roy, he was truly a great guy.
When watching 48 Hours, what was most shocking to me was the lack of understanding about what likely caused Carter to do this. Her motive is very clear to me. While I agree that she wanted attention, as mentioned by the prosecutors, it wasn’t her main underlying motivation. None of the psychologists seem to say why she did this. They seemed bewildered, understandably.
However, as an expert in understanding human behavior, I suspect Carter must have realized at some point in her life that she could manipulate people, and she was successful at it in certain circumstances. That ability to manipulate people, I believe, gave have her a huge sense of power. She enjoyed it. She relished in it. It made her feel significant, in control and brilliant.
I believe Carter thrived on the manipulation and control, and it was her ultimate goal to see how far she could manipulate Roy. If she could get him to commit suicide, it was her ultimate, however sick, power game that would prove her superiority to herself. It would prove to her that she was very brilliant–above people in ways they couldn’t understand.
This is a common trait of someone who is psychopathic. Psychopaths realize they can read other people well, toy with them and manipulate them. They get great joy out of the power and control.
I don’t know whether Carter is or is not a psychopath, I’m not a psychologist, but she shows several indicators that support the possibility.
If you notice during her trial, the only time she felt emotions was for herself.
Michelle Carter truly gives me the chills.
My heart goes out to Roy’s family. He was a special guy. You can clearly see he was a compassionate person who was victimized by a person without any compassion. I hope and pray Carter gets an appropriate sentence and Roy’s family can somehow find peace.
Study of Honesty
If you want to be good at deception, you have to be good at spotting the truth as well. Both are equally important.
In the news this week, a woman survives a brutal shark attack, losing her arm to the shark.
Watch her tell her story. Her response is unusual, but we know the story is absolutely true due to her injuries.
Ask yourself, if you didn’t know she was telling the truth and you couldn’t see the injury, would you believe her?
If not, why? What behaviors does she have that might set you off?
And what behaviors does she have that supports her story?
Vote: James Comey Testimony
James Comey testified today in a very highly anticipated senate hearing.
What did you think when you watched it?
Do you believe Comey?
Please share your vote.
[polldaddy poll=9764592]
Melania Trump’s Body Language
Here is an interesting video of Donald Trump and Melania after landing in Israel.
In the first clip, see if you catch their body language exchange.
What did you see?
It’s played in slow motion, if you missed it, a second time.
Many people are saying that Melanie swatted Trump’s hand away. The reality is, he reached half-way out for her to grab his hand. He didn’t reach for her hand. She tried to meet his hand half-way in the middle, but he already pulled his away in his typical insecure fashion, and what you see is Melania attempting to reach for him, but realizing he’s already pulled away–she makes that frustrated movement with her hand.
I don’t think these two have a great relationship, but I don’t think Melania is swatting Trump’s hand here as a rejection by itself. The one who rejects is Trump. He puts his hand out and then takes it away. Look at .29 seconds in. She extends her hand and he doesn’t grab it.
