Group items tagged

Language describes reality. That is its primary, most self-evident function. We use words to define for ourselves, and communicate to others, what's going on out there. Less evident, but almost as potent, is language's role in shaping reality. The meaning of what is out there changes with the words we choose to describe it.

"A small band of linguists, engineers and computer scientists, among others, are busy training computers to recognize hallmarks of what they call emotional speech - talk that reflects deception, anger, friendliness and even flirtation. ... Algorithms developed by Dr. Hirschberg and colleagues have been able to spot a liar 70 percent of the time in test situations, while people confronted with the same evidence had only 57 percent accuracy ... His lab has also found ways to use vocal cues to spot inebriation, though it hasn't yet had luck in making its computers detect humor - a hard task for the machines, he said."

Essay/study by Deborah Tannen: "So the key to why having sisters makes people happier - men as well as women - may lie not in the kind of talk they exchange but in the fact of talk. If men, like women, talk more often to their sisters than to their brothers, that could explain why sisters make them happier." See also discussion on Language Log: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2739 (they advise us to be wary of overstating the significance of the results)

Most Christians are Christianized enough to not tell big bold lies. We know better. It is morally wrong to not tell the truth. To willfully alter the truth to something that is not the truth should not be part of any Christian's game. The difference between truth-telling and lying is easy to discern.

As Christmas draws near, I often find myself pondering with disappointment during the holiday season as to why our Western civilization continues to poison kids with the belief that Santa Claus exists as an actual, mystical individual. What are your takes on instilling this tradition as current or future parents? Do you believe that it's morally sane or unjustified that most parents are untruthful to their children for the sake of imagination and creativity? Does this issue do more harm than good for a child or vice versa? As a child, did you feel that the telling of the truth was of a great disturbance to you? Please feel free to comment on this post as it will help everyone in the Words R Us community know your thoughts and stances, as well as the pros and cons to this controversial issue.

Good find, Kathryn--thanks!

The priming effect occurs when one is exposed to words or images that subconsciously influence decision-making. For example, seeing pictures of a shower would likely influence you to fill in so__p as "soap." But, seeing pictures of bread, you would probably say "soup." A somewhat controversial study has shown that subjects who were unknowingly exposed to elderly words (like bald, gray, and wrinkle) walked more slowly toward the next experiment than the control group. Another study asked participants to lie via email and another group of participants to lie via voicemail. Those who lied on the email were more likely to purchase soap, whereas the group who lied via voicemail were more likely to buy mouthwash. This wasn't included in the article, but I suspect the reason it's easy to come up with puns is because our brains are primed to think of words within a certain theme. The article mentioned that you can use priming to help you come up with new ideas around a central idea by writing related words in a list, until you think of something appropriate.

This article by Candice Jalili on Time discusses the body language people tend to have when lying. Everyone can lie, in fact, the average American tells one to two lies each day. It explains how to detect honesty in a conversation, including where their eyes go and how their voice sounds. When someone is lying, they are likely uncomfortable, so they may fidget or have frequent voice cracks. Doctors from the healthcare community provide input on signs people display when lying. The main sections of this article are body cues, facial cues, tone of voice, and content of speech. Body cues include hand movement and itching/fidgeting. Facial cues are eye movement, mouth position, change in complexion, and sweating. The section on tone of voice consists of a high pitched voice and changes in volume while speaking. Lastly, content of speech includes phrases people use, filler words, and slip-ups.

This article discusses how both verbal and body language can indicate deceit in conversation. Although there is no established method of lie detection, many psychologists are working towards creating a more accurate system to do so using a combination of technology that analyzes facial expression, speech patterns, and more.

Examples of psychologist experiments where fruedian slips occur

more detail from Harvard about how to use N-gram

Parents teach their children to lie. The teaching process is subtle but just as effective as if they had sent their children to formal classes in deception. How many times have parents told their kids "Look me in the eye and then tell me what you did?"

Research demonstrates that liars maintain more deliberate eye contact than do truthful people.

By analyzing linguistic texts, experts have observed four common patterns in the way people use language when they lie. Liars tend to employ devices such as speaking in third person, using negative terms, referring to others more than themselves, and over-complicating their stories.

This article started off talking about research that was done on people lying in a foreign languages and their own native language. There were two contradicting theories found, but when an experiment was conducted, it was found that lying is easier in a foreign language. This was due to the theory that a foreign language is less emotionally arousing, therefore making it a little easier to tell a lie.

You only use 10 percent of your brain. Eating carrots improves your eyesight. Vitamin C cures the common cold. Crime in the United States is at an all-time high. None of those things are true. But the facts don't actually matter: People repeat them so often that you believe them. Welcome to the "illusory truth effect," a glitch in the human psyche that equates repetition with truth. Marketers and politicians are masters of manipulating this particular cognitive bias. "Repetition makes things seem more plausible," says Lynn Hasher, a psychologist at the University of Toronto whose research team first noticed the effect in the 1970s. "And the effect is likely more powerful when people are tired or distracted by other information."