Body language.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

Really? Because you only been just around. This guy has been banned the past 2 years lots of times because of all his BS nonsense.

Because once due primarily to mod abuse qualifies as "lots of times." If you're going to result to ad hominem to argue, at least try to get the facts correct. Simply put: two years ago, I would've been banned in this thread already for the same exact posts. Context matters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

Why is he talking shit now? Well mostly because he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. The simple fact is that I couldn't do my job without reading body language, I couldn't maintain my friendships etc.

Ad hominem #2, and the construction of a straw man. I never said body language does not exist. Don't construct arguments for me, especially ones I disagree with, just because they're easier to refute than what I've actually said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

Some people, like him, are absolutely blind to body language, they cannot see what some people truly mean and because they do not see it, they just assume it's not there.

Re-affirms straw man, ad hominem #3.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

Don't get me wrong, it would be better if more people tell you what they are feeling, but they don't, and even I don't, I'm great at expressing myself verbally, yet sometimes I just prefer keeping things to myself, and that's fine, but it's also good that there are some people that can read you like a book, because as scary or uncomfortable it might be sometimes to talk about your feelings, it needs to be done and if they can read you well, then you won't need to tell them what you are feeling exactly either.

Pointless anecdote. To respond to this anecdote: people don't verbalize their feelings for various reasons, however if we're talking about friendships or relationships, a lack of verbalization is generally a failure in communication, which more often than not leads to a failed relationship. And the science demonstrates very consistently that this doesn't mean you can discern what they internalize from body language alone, or even a tiny percentage of it. If this were the case, our intelligence agencies would be able to do far better than they have in the past. Further, even if you were able to infer much from someone via body language, you make a fairly big mistake by assuming everyone is the same or that your reading is accurate, which can actually complicate things more (such as the strong anecdotal evidence that people "reading" their significant other leads to unnecessary, baseless fights that are more often the result of a lack of communication, but not what they are accused of).

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

Last year I observed a man for 3 weeks for an assignment, now this man was the subject in our team pretty much every day (heavily underwaged, alcoholic etc he died because of it), now I had been working with this man for months already. But now I started to truly observe him, not just what he said and did, but his facial expression, the way his body talked really. 8 pages later I found out things that I had not seen before, yet made perfect sense. My colleagues had the same, while my assignment was purely for school, within a week they all read. This wasn't because I'm so amazing at my job, or that we never paid attention or that these were such special weeks, but this was because even though we are trained to read people, what they say, what they do, how they behave, basically everything that they express, but even then we were missing so much, because you quickly start to listen to what they say and only pay attention to their major expression.

Pointless anecdote #2. As an interesting fact, what you're doing here sounds more like a psychological evaluation than it does "reading" any sort of nonverbal communication. Here's an interesting read: Psychological sleuths--Criminal profiling: the reality behind the myth

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

This is actually why a proper team is really interested in what new colleagues have to say, because you know so little about the people you are working with, that you observe much more then you normally do, you pick up the little things that your colleagues are missing.

Another pointless anecdote, but I'll respond in kind with a contradictory anecdote. I have gone through a job change recently, and very little of the integration process was nonverbal, it was very much just getting to know people by actually talking to them. That includes a significant amount over chat-only protocols that completely preclude the possibility of any nonverbal cues at all. The face-to-face interaction serves more as a way of expressing common nonverbal communications (laughter, smiling, etc) and becoming comfortable with other peoples' mannerisms, which makes bonding and becoming comfortable with others much easier, which makes it significantly easier to trust others. None of this, though, has to do with anything that isn't extremely well understood and confirmed in science.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

In the end, any person who thinks body language is unimportant or mostly nonsense, has absolutely no idea about human interaction.

Ad hominem #4. I'm professionally successful in a career that requires me to successfully communicate and interact with other individuals, constantly. I'd say that contradicts the insult you attempted to make quite well, but also serves to demonstrate how incorrect your assumption is, as you're still arguing towards the straw man you constructed.

If you'd like to actually make a point, or refute anything I've said, feel free. In the mean time, I will continue to enjoy your personal insults. I'm almost out of popcorn though, so do hurry along. I really don't feel like going to the store.