A forum for users of any of my texts but really for anyone interested in interpersonal communication, the fundamentals of human communication, and public speaking.
5.04.2014
Deception Detection at Airports
Here is a New York Times article on deception detection at airports or, rather, the lack of it. And after a $1 billion plus investment! There is also a great interactive link within the article that will prove interesting in a class discussion.
Detecting when someone is lying is quite a challenge; not only for law enforcement but also for everyday encounters with family and friends. One might deduce: the bigger the lie the more obvious the body language, but I think that depends on the view you hold about lying. Utilitarian Carl Wellman believes that ”Lying is wrong except to save a human life or to spare hurt feelings over unimportant matters.” (Richard L. Johannesen, 2008, p. 103) It seems to me, people who agree with Wellman’s perspective could easily justify a lie as an “unimportant matter” or done only to spare ones feelings.
And then there’s the perspective surrounding intentional ambiguity or vagueness as viewed by Lee Williams and Blaine Goss: “We must remember that all words contain some degree of vagueness, and instead of being inherently bad, vagueness, like rhetoric, appears to be amoral means which can be applied to produce many different ends.” (Richard L. Johannesen, 2008, p. 106) Seriously?
Do we really think we can detect a lie through body language when we have this kind of justification for its use in ethical communication?
Reference: Richard L. Johannesen, K. S. (2008). Ethics in Human Communication (6th ed.). Long Grove, IL, USA: Waveland.
2 comments:
You have an interesting blog. thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your posts.
Detecting when someone is lying is quite a challenge; not only for law enforcement but also for everyday encounters with family and friends. One might deduce: the bigger the lie the more obvious the body language, but I think that depends on the view you hold about lying. Utilitarian Carl Wellman believes that ”Lying is wrong except to save a human life or to spare hurt feelings over unimportant matters.” (Richard L. Johannesen, 2008, p. 103) It seems to me, people who agree with Wellman’s perspective could easily justify a lie as an “unimportant matter” or done only to spare ones feelings.
And then there’s the perspective surrounding intentional ambiguity or vagueness as viewed by Lee Williams and Blaine Goss: “We must remember that all words contain some degree of vagueness, and instead of being inherently bad, vagueness, like rhetoric, appears to be amoral means which can be applied to produce many different ends.” (Richard L. Johannesen, 2008, p. 106) Seriously?
Do we really think we can detect a lie through body language when we have this kind of justification for its use in ethical communication?
Reference:
Richard L. Johannesen, K. S. (2008). Ethics in Human Communication
(6th ed.). Long Grove, IL, USA: Waveland.
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