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A difference in language
Standing on uncertain moral ground?
Take heart. University of Lethbridge sociologist Reginald Bibby, who’s studied social trends for three decades, says Canadians’ sense of right and wrong is as strong as ever. It’s the way we talk about it that’s changed.
Younger generations don’t like to use words like ‘immoral’ and ‘evil’, he reasons.
“Morality language, I just don’t think it resonates,” he says. “We’ve just gotten so euphemistic about it.”
Bibby explains, if two Canadians were discussing an increase in panhandlers: “We’d find ourselves saying, ‘How do you think we got into this? How do you think these conditions have come into being?’
“We’d use this ... general, analytical language without coming right out and saying, ‘who screwed up here?”
Lie to me
The makers of that Flab-Blaster-6000 did it on that infomercial when they promised abs of steel in seven minutes a day.
Your boss did it when he told you you’re his number one go-to person.
And former U.S. President Bill Clinton did it about “that woman.”
But it turns out — according to one of the world’s leading experts — most humans are pretty lousy at lying.
And, says Dr. Paul Ekman, the inspiration behind the TV crime series Lie To Me and a legendary human truth detector, most of us are just as bad at recognizing deceit.
“In evolution ... there’s been no real advantage to lie makers and lie catchers,” Ekman, named by Time Magazine earlier this year as one of the 100 most influential psychologists, tells Sun Media.
In traditional communities, people relied on the truth of others to survive, and most neighbors knew your business, the 75-year-old retired California professor explains.
Today, identities can be recreated and reinvented, Ekman acknowledges, adding he’s always amazed at the way people still believe what others tell them over the Internet.
Yet he — and the people he teaches — can still easily catch most liars face-to-face.
While we all believe we can do the same, Ekman says we’re as bad at detecting as concocting.
“We assume ... without feedback,” he says. “If you think your best friend is lying, you’re just not going to continue the friendship. But you may not be really sure, because rarely do we get (correct) feedback.”
His system is based on spotting micro expressions that dart across the face faster than one 25th of a second and subtle shifts that may only affect a tiny part of the face.
And it’s true that Ekman — since his daughter was born almost 30 years ago — tells very few lies. Perhaps a half dozen a year, he calculates.
Honest.
