Too often our society discounts hunches, intuition and that little voice in your head. A recent story in the New York Times highlights a study investigating why certain soldiers sense danger before others. Is it a sixth sense? Is it their intuition? The article includes this gem:
"The study complements a growing body of work suggesting that the speed with which the brain reads and interprets sensations like the feelings in one's own body and emotions in the body language of others is central to avoiding imminent treats."
Our conventional thinking is that no connection exists between emotions and rational decision making. And yet there are some who are better than others at, say, sensing roadside bombs or realizing that their coworker says yes but is saying "No" with their body. Is it something innate, or can it be learned? There are at least two components at work: noticing details and interpreting body language.
Are you good at "one of these things is not like the other" games? Can you find Waldo before anyone else? Anyone who has seen an episode of USA Network's Psych knows that certain people are excellent at noticing and piecing together overlooked details. While Shawn may be fraudulently passing off his skills as psychic, he performs the expected duties of a psychic - seeing what's not there. In fact, it's well-known that psychics and other diviners 'read' their audience to gauge whether their random guesses have hit the mark. A recent episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit! pairs astrologers and random clients with amusing results proving that those who claim to know a stranger's past, present and future are merely tossing out facts that may or may not apply, then reacting based on small details and body language.
Some people are naturally good at sussing out such details - and some of these people become journalists for good reason. Journalism at its best cobbles together small facts to form a larger view, looking to the past, present and future. Likewise, some people are very good at reading body language. Tim Roth's television series Lie To Me centers on his ability to read body language to determine truth or deception. Would such people call their ability a gut feeling, or a trained eye? We can look to the two of the most popular television series for our answer: CSI and Law & Order, shows built upon forensic investigation combining the details of the crime lab techs with the body language-reading ability of the cops.
Pop culture may have the answer - the majority of these skills are learned. They're learned though life experiences or training that heighten our senses and trigger our stress response. For example, my father was an angry man during my childhood, and I quickly learned to read his mood. It wasn't the most positive experience, granted, but through this I picked up a keep perception of body language and small details. In college, I studied communication as a journalism major didn't exist; so my classes included argument, evidence and interpersonal communication. No doubt I learned even more about reading body language and details.
I'm known as someone who trusts her hunches, and now it's clear why. While I can't be sure that my intuition is 100% trustworthy, 100% of the time, at least now I can legitimately understand the rational source of those feelings formerly dismissed as irrational.
