So, I'm watching an interview between a well known interviewer asking fairly intelligent and specific questions of a well known subject who is extremely intelligent, well spoken and knowledgeable about all the subject matter.
His responses consistently began with a brief bit of what would appear to be, nervous laughter. This was an hour long interview with easily 20 or more questions of a very serious nature and I'd say easily more than a dozen of the questions were responded to like this.
I dont mean laughter like he found the question funny or insulting or beneath him or any of the reasons one might suspect someone's laughter might imply.
But it was consistent and fairly obviously "a tell" of some type that I find really interesting.
Was it a nervous response?
A calculated attempt to prepare a response? (I'm talking about a literal 1 second heh heh heh laugh)
Is it a sign of intended deception?
Just curious what people with experience in this type of thing might think.
Joe Judge says "obviously" a lot. I think that's his filler.
I had a total harpy corporate boss that laughed at what we deemed 'inappropriate times', even talking about finances and budgets.
Consensus among co-workers was that is was a type of social autism.
Combined with her bi-polar tendencies, she was a fking mess, and a perfect example of a company promoting someone based on their degrees, rather than management skills.
It was so annoying, especially when he was presenting to the group. It made him sound unprepared. So, I've tried to stop doing that myself. If I do it I try to stretch it too another word ("uuu.....nother thing to consider is...").
I notice I say "well" a lot at the beginning of sentences.
It was the 11th Hour Brian Williams interview of Edward Snowden. If you're familiar with it or watch it now I think you can't help but notice how virtually every response of his begins with that little laugh.
I took every response of his seriously and I'm fairly certain he did as well. But i couldn't help wanting to grab him by the shirt collar a few times and shout "what's so funny?" even though i know he wasn't laughing out of amusement.
Or at least I'm pretty sure he wasn't.
One brilliant engineer I worked with would *machine gun* "LIKE" through every fucking sentence. Another would *overblink* excessively.
But my favorite was this engineer who ALWAYS sounds extremely nervous, shaky and dishonest, even if talking about something as innocuous as the weather.
So - yeah - some people simply have a LOT of trouble with public speaking. Don't immediately presume someone is being dishonest because of what appears to be a 'tell' - often, it's simple weird nervousness.
One event we were presenting at in NYC I recorded a portion of it and played it back to him - he was shocked - he had no idea. He is from Wisconsin, so it may have been something he grew up hearing but it was awful to anyone paying attention.
He corrected it after seeing himself do it on video.
I hear it a lot.
Then again, I had a witness in a serious case, who would laugh when she got nervous. The laugh helped he handle her nerves and she often had trouble controlling it. It did not help her testimony.
The laughter brings out an instantaneous skepticism in me. But all the rest of what he says seems very plausible and believable.
I was able to correct this, but I would not have been inclined to practice and apply the lessons of this course unless I saw myself on camera.
On a sidenote, I feel we participate in these habits more so because we are often looking to react, instead of think. It seems like we are trying to beat an imaginary clock with a full proof answer instead of slowing down and answering with perhaps what we really think instead of what we have been trained to say/think. Just my opinion.
On a sidenote, I feel we participate in these habits more so because we are often looking to react, instead of think. It seems like we are trying to beat an imaginary clock with a full proof answer instead of slowing down and answering with perhaps what we really think instead of what we have been trained to say/think. Just my opinion.
There is an important element of communication that involves clearly separating facts from opinions. This distinction seems to have become very nuanced in contemporary media (for several reasons), but it's critical in areas like public safety and where public confidence (finance, industry, law enforcement, justice, governance, etc.) is required.
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Of our behaviors (habits are a behavior) isn't always comfortable, although, I'm not sure why we are uncomfortable when every single person has behaviors that could be seen as something worth correcting. All in all, taking the time to pay attention to how we react to different types of situations is a good thing.
On a sidenote, I feel we participate in these habits more so because we are often looking to react, instead of think. It seems like we are trying to beat an imaginary clock with a full proof answer instead of slowing down and answering with perhaps what we really think instead of what we have been trained to say/think. Just my opinion.
There is an important element of communication that involves clearly separating facts from opinions. This distinction seems to have become very nuanced in contemporary media (for several reasons), but it's critical in areas like public safety and where public confidence (finance, industry, law enforcement, justice, governance, etc.) is required.
Yes, the decision to not clearly separate what we believe to be true versus what is true is a part of the reason that conversation has become difficult, if not hostile to me. Even if it's obvious that we are stating a belief, but it's done in a way that points to it being fact, our audience can get turned off quite quickly. Slowing down to communicate our beliefs as beliefs can resolve many miscommunications.
As for facts, if we don't have the facts, a simple "I don't know" is quite valuable at least in my view instead of trying to B.S. our way through some explanation.