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Showing posts with label credibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label credibility. Show all posts

How Do We Become More Sympathetic and Helpful? What Creates Good Character?

How Do We Become More Sympathetic and Helpful?
What Creates Good Character?

Relationship between sympathy, helping others could provide clues to development of altruism

Recently one of my book groups read David Brooks, “The Road to Character.” It was a fascinating book though I didn't feel the people he chose to write about had character in the way I define it, they did help others through good work. This research article shares insights into how helping others can build sympathy.

Research could help inform interventions to promote positive behaviors in adolescents

Date September 29, 2015
Source: University of Missouri-Columbia

Summary: Developmental psychologists long have debated whether individuals volunteer and help others because they are sympathetic or whether they are sympathetic because they are prosocial. Now, new research helps clarify some of the confusion.
Developmental psychologists long have debated whether individuals volunteer and help others because they are sympathetic or whether they are sympathetic because they are prosocial. Now, new research from the University of Missouri helps clarify some of the confusion, which could lead to better interventions to promote positive behaviors in adolescents and clues as to what makes some individuals altruistic.
"As researchers, we've known about the link between sympathy and prosocial behavior, such as volunteering and helping others, for a long time, but we didn't have much evidence about the nature of the relationship," said Gustavo Carlo, Millsap Professor of Diversity in MU's College of Human Environmental Sciences. "We demonstrated that a reciprocal relationship existed between prosocial behaviors and sympathy for adolescents from ages 12 to 16. Sympathy predicted prosocial behaviors, but also engaging in earlier prosocial behaviors positively predicted later sympathy."
Engaging in prosocial behaviors has a self-reinforcing quality that eventually may become incorporated into how adolescents view their moral selves; this may help explain how some individuals, over time, become more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors and become more sympathetic, Carlo said.
"This research has tremendous implications for understanding those individuals who we think of as moral exemplars, individuals who commit themselves to certain causes or other forms of generosity -- people such as Mahatma Ghandi, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr. and others," Carlo said. "We want to know which developmental processes led these individuals to eventually manifest altruistic behaviors that set them apart from other individuals. For every one of those individuals who became famous, thousands of others exist who are doing fantastic work and helping to improve our society on a day-to-day basis."
For the study, the researchers recruited 500 12-year-olds to answer questions about sympathy and prosocial behaviors. The researchers questioned the adolescents four more times, each about a year apart, to observe changes in the adolescents' behavior and sympathy over time. The researchers observed a decline in sympathy among boys in early adolescence, but a steady increase followed the dip as the boys matured. Girls had higher levels of sympathy and prosocial behaviors at all ages.
To increase prosocial behaviors among adolescents, and among boys in particular, attention should focus on changing the societal environment so it encourages boys and girls to express their prosociality, Carlo said.
"Unfortunately, in our society, the pressures for boys to act tough and to not express what's seen as a sign of weakness is suppressing prosocial behaviors," Carlo said. "We need to pay attention to adolescents' contexts and their socialization groups. Prosocial behaviors clearly are natural tendencies, and unfortunately, some cultural contexts make it difficult for adolescents to express those tendencies, which should be signs of strength and not weakness. We need to get that message across and make it easier for kids to express what's innately inside of them."

Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from 
materials provided by University of Missouri-ColumbiaNote: Materials may be edited for content and length

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Smell Can Help You Make a First Impression


You can "SNIFF out someone's personality in a SNAP.  The four first impression factors are credibility, likability, attractiveness and power. 

New research says that you can use your sense of smell to tell if someone isn't nice. A new study in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, reveals that self-centered or domineering people (those high on power) have higher levels of stress hormones --- and that those hormones emit a unique scent that is detected by your lymbic and subconsciously alerts us to their true personality!  Thus if you get a gut feeling that someone isn't nice, it may be our sense of smell that's identifying that personality trait for you. So don't leave your house if you have a cold. 

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Why Is It Important To Give Nonverbal Cues That Convey Confidence And Poise At Work?


First - How you hold your body, speak and move affects how you feel. If you are standing with your shoulders drooping and head bowed, the little pharmacy in your brain creates and sends chemicals into your bloodstream in less than a fortieth of a second - to make you feel the way you look. Not powerful.

Second - We form and use first impressions to access who and how to interact with each other.  The most current research says that we can form an accurate first impression 80% accurate or higher in 100 milliseconds — less than the time it takes to snap our finger.  The four first impression factors are credibility, likeability attractiveness and power. We need to make sure that we are communicating those four factors confidence and credibility so that others trust us, believe in us and want to do business.


Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Patti Weighs in on the Body Language of Casey Anthony on the Nancy Grace Show

I was a guest on the Nancy Grace show Tuesday, May 10th at 8 pm. Nancy asked me to weigh in on the body language of Casey Anthony during the jury selection for the upcoming murder trial of her 2 year old daughter Caylee which is scheduled to be held in Orlando, FL. Below are some of the videos that I reviewed before my appearance. I will be posting the actual video from the show in a later post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEWa6kgsOl0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyhbXdEbFMs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkdWEHknchQ


Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Charlie Sheen's Body Language, Melt Down or is He Winning, Kids

Here are my rough, unedited notes on Charlie Sheen's body language and paralanguage in various recent interviews. I used these notes as a guide for my interview this morning with AOL online. Please go to the link below for the full interview. Charlie Sheen, body language of latest interviews. One clip shows him before the interview officially begins. He thinks he is off camera. In ths "off stage" clip Charlie Sheen is rubbing the back of his neck. In fact rubbing it quite dramatically. This is a comfort cue typically done by men, the touch is to create comfort. Tactile stimulation effects the nerve endings in the skin and does comfort us. Rubbing the back of the neck is is actaully a cluster of cues. The rubbing is self touch a comfort cue. Rubbing the back of the neck, where the hair stands on end when we are frightened also shows clear fear, but the hard rubbing and or grasping at the back of the neck rather than a touch shows that the person wants to action and defend themselves, perhaps wishing the strike out at what or whoever is upsetting them. In another clip with his goodesses, notice how he is standing bent over the kitchen counter hiding his Pelvis (the sexual portion of the body) and leaning over awkwardly so his elbows rest on the counter, protecting his ventral front (the belly) from whatever media scrutiny he could get from living with two “goddesses” in his house to take care of his children. Also note that his hands are out in front placed in prayer position (prayer that this will go well) Then when the goddesses don't listen to Sheen's request to "Not go there" he uses a displacement behavior for his stress by odly getting up and going to eat an OREO cookie, taking it apart and licking it. Eating is also a displacement behavior used to deal with the stress of the day. Then same tape different interview Nothing “Broken” here “but the paralanguage delivery he actually broke the words. He shakes hands but then crosses his arms placing his hands in a fig leaf. This again protects him from sexual attack. You don’t see this fig leaf in celeb interviews (occasionally when speaking about sex scenes.) As Charlie Sheen says, "My assistant Regan (he does a tongue thrust) was putting the children to bed." The tongue thrust defies your judgment that the assistant is a former model and or porn star . When Charlie says, "I do not know where my children are." He looks suddenly frightened and lost, notice his unfocused eyes. He continues talking giving tongue erasing cues then rubbing his lips bouncing in his chair. The chair moves are odd as there are nice arms on the chairs. In the interviews where Charlie is wearing a brown shirt his face is white and drawn and he looks deschelved, his body language and voice are manic and to top it off he uses extreemly bizarre referances such War lock,tigers blood In the interivews with the blue shirt notice the manic moves and odd gesturing. Blue shirt sitting on the sidewalk drinking water As he says, "Drug tests don’t lie." " I don’t know don’t care." Charlie is choosing not to answer the question he was asked. His hand over his mouth as he talks about his dads concern for him show Charlie is blocking what he really wants to say. More rough notes. Holding a piece of paper.III and and and I I will not let you down. Agressively taking the paper with the negative comments from viewers who had seen his brown shirt interview. Charlie Sheen looks how he is sitting at the beginning.... feet out in a big..... feet pointing out. Brown shirt interview When was the last time you did drugs. “Look at me DUHHHH” pointing at himself, “ More about his goddesses, more on children. http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/03/experts-evaluate-charlie-sheens-body-language-is-he-lying/ Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://pattiwood.net/. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Recent Trip to Austin, Texas

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of Judges in the Austin, TX area on "Establishing the Credibility of a Witness." Their interest and enthusiasm for the topic of body language and deception detection was such a tremendous joy for me. One of the participants shared with my assistant today his appreciation for the program and told her that he had put photos from our meeting on his blog. He was also kind enough to put a link to my website on it too. On his blog, he covers all the political news in the San Antonio area. Below is a link to his blog which is called the "WalkerReport" covering the pulse of San Antonio.......check it out!

http://www.walkerreport.net/

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://pattiwood.net/. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Contest for "Best First Impression Story"

I am currently running a contest for the Best First Impression Story. Just email me a one or two paragraph story about a first impression you had about someone that illustrates credibility or the lack of credibility. Your story can be from your work experiences or your personal life. It doesn't need to be in fancy language, just a story from your great wealth of experience.

The prize for the best story is $100 dollars and a 30 minute phone coaching session with me.
The stories will be judged by three writers. Email your story to: Patti@pattiwood.net by Friday March 15, 2011. Or if it is easier, just give me a call and tell me the brief story over the phone. My cell number is 678-358-6160.

Story Example
As a circuit judge, I read first impressions in traffic court. One day in my traffic court I had some one ticketed for running a stop sign. I tend to asses someone immediately if the person appears 1. -Guilty, 2. - Guilty, but he or she won't tell a bold lie, they feel bad or 3. - Innocent. My gut tells me this guy is a 2 - Guilty but willing to learn a lesson. Sure enough, during testimony he said, "I don't FEEL I ran the stop sign." I interpreted the use of the word FEEL and his body language to mean he knew he might have run the stop sign. So I had him take a video camera and tape 10 to 15 cars going through that intersection with the stop sign then come back to court. He came back in after viewing the video and with his face and voice expressed a mixture of wonder at the facts and embarrassment at his mistake and said, " I watched those other cars run that stop sign, and I realized I had run it too." I feel it is my job not to merely punish people but ultimately to make them better citizens in the future. In his case, I was glad he learned something and admitted his guilt and I let him off with a warning.


Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

List of Top 50 Women to Admire

When I was a little girl, I loved to read. I still do. In fifth grade I discovered a children’s book series of biographies. I think it was called the “Famous American’s Biography series. I read every one in the library. Even at that young age I was disappointed there were not more women heroes to emulate. When I was 29, I spent a year reading biographies of famous women. Sadly, many of the women I read about had horrible childhoods and or disastrous romantic relationships and marriages. When I got cable, I watched the biography of every single woman they featured. I was looking at their body language and listening to their voices searching for clues to being a powerful woman. I still look for feisty brave women to look up to and admire. While working on my first impressions book today. I wanted to give examples in the book of powerful feisty women. That task inspired me to create a list of the top 50 women who I admire. I would love your suggestions. What women do you think show any or all of the four first impression factors of credibility, likeability, attractiveness and power?

List of top 50 Women to Admire
This list includes some of my personal heroes since I was a little girl. My list has lots of feisty women. I especially love women who have overcome adversity, physical pain and who have been the first woman to do something in their field.
1. Helen Keller - “Life is a daring adventure or nothing.’” That quote was on the wall of my teenage bedroom and later my college dorm room. She also said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” The story of Helen Keller has inspired millions: though she was deaf and blind after a childhood illness, with the support of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, she learned signing and Braille, graduated from Radcliffe, and helped change the world's perception of the disabled. I played Helen Keller in a play in Junior High. I studied all of the amazing work she did and watched tapes of her speeches. She had this amazing smile and energy and was so enthusiastic about life.
2. Laura Hillenbrand - she is the author of two non-fiction books, "Seabiscuit"and "Unbroken". If you haven’t read Seabiscut, go get it right now and when you're finished reading the book read about her life. For over twenty years, she has suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which at times interrupts her writing. She wrote much of Seabiscut lying flat on her back, as her illness often meant she couldn’t sit up at a desk.
3. Marie Curie - scientist
4. Jane Austen - extremely talented, Victorian author of "Pride and Prejudice" and other marvoulous books. She was also brave enough not to marry in a time when women had extreme pressure to do so.
5. Dr. Ruth Westheimer “Our way is not soft grass; it’s a mountain path with lots of rocks. but it goes upwards, forward, toward the sun.” I saw Dr. Ruth speak when I was in college. She sat on a small chair and hundreds of college kids sat on the floor at her feet. The audience was transfixed. She is wise, funny, warm and very very smart. I want to be like her when I grow up.
6. Annie Oakley - sharp shooter, feisty lady, part of Wild Bill Hickok's Wild West show.
7. Elizabeth Kulber-Ross - gave us great insights into Death, Dying, Grief and Care Giving. “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in; their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
8. Charlotte Brontë - was one of three brilliant sisters, writers of the 19th century, each of whom died early. Charlotte's best known work is the novel, "Jane Eyre", which drew from her own experience as a student in an inhumane school and as a governess
9. Temple Grandin - Animal Behaviorist. She was described as "An Anthropologist on Mars" by Oliver Sacks in the title of his book (1995). The title is derived from Grandin’s description of how she feels around neurotypical people. She first spoke in public about autism in the mid-1980s at the request of Ruth C. Sullivan, one of the founders of the Autism Society of America. Grandin is considered a philosophical leader of both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements. Both movements commonly cite her work regarding animal welfare, neurology, and philosophy. In 2004 she won a “Proggy” award, in the “visionary” category, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. One of her most important essays about animal welfare is “Animals are not Things”, in which she posits that animals are technically property in our society, but the law ultimately gives them ethical protections or rights.
10. Florence Nightingale - practically invented the profession of nursing, and also brought sanitary conditions to soldiers in wars -- at a time when more soldiers typically died of disease than of injuries in battle.
11. Erma Bombeck - columnist and humorist of wit and warmth “If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it.” I use to read her column every day in the newspaper. My mom even sent her columns to me when I went off to college. If you are aware of the physical pain and suffering she lived and worked through in her last years, all the while still writing and being a wonderful wife and mom you would admire her even more. Erma Bombeck's humor helped document the life of women in the 20th century as wives and mothers in suburban homes.
12. Clara Barton - nurse and founder of the Red Cross. I read her biography in fifth grade and I have admired her ever since.
13. Eleanor Roosevelt- not just the wife of the former president. Wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was his "eyes and ears" when he could not travel freely due to his disability. Her positions on issues like civil rights were often ahead of her husband and the rest of the country. She helped establish the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. If you have not read it look it up and read it right now. Powerful feisty woman. You must look on Net flicks for her autobiographical movie starring “Edith” from the Archie Bunker series. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
14. Julia Childs - she is known as the author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her popular books, television cooking shows and videos kept her in the public eye. Less well known: her brief spy career. If you have read her cook book, or any of her biographies and can remember her TV series you know this woman has spunk. I love her as a model for lust for life. She was an excellent chef, and a pioneer of the TV cooking show. She shows us that you don’t have to have your life all figured out the second you leave high school. Julia didn’t meet her husband until she was 35. She was always a hard worker and did some amazing work during World War II. She kept working on her book, believing in its importance for so many years and yet she was not recognized for her accomplishment until she was in her 50’s. She succeeded in a male dominated industry, and is definitely one of my heroes.
15. Pearl S. Buck - “To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.” Read all her books.
16. Rachel Carson - Pioneer environmentalist wrote the book, “Silent Spring” that helped create the environmentalist movement in the late 20th century.
17. Margaret Sanger - After seeing the suffering caused by unwanted and unplanned pregnancies among the poor women she served as a nurse, Margaret Sanger took up a lifetime cause: the availability of birth control information and devices.
18. Jane Addams - a pioneer in social work founded Hull-House in the 19th century and led it well into the 20th. She was also active in peace and feminist work.
19. Elizabeth Blackwell - was the first woman in the world to graduate from medical school. Blackwell was also a pioneer in the education of women in medicine.
20. Maria Montessori - was the first woman to earn a medical degree from the University of Rome; she applied learning methods she developed for mentally retarded children to children with intelligence in the normal range. The Montessori method, still popular today, is child-centered and experience-centered
21. Ida Tarbell - muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell was one of the few women to succeed in that circle. She exposed the predatory pricing practices of John D. Rockefeller and her articles about his company helped bring the downfall of Standard Oil of New Jersey.
22. Barbara Walters - first female evening news caster
23. Ellen DeGeneres - comedian, actress, talk show host. “You have to have funny faces and words, you can’t just have words. It is a powerful thing, and I think that’s why it’s hard for people to imagine that women can do that, be that powerful.”
24. Betty Friedan - “When she stopped conforming to the conventional picture of femininity she finally began to enjoy being a woman”
25. Martha Graham - “There is vitality, a life-force, energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.”
26. Gertrude Stein - was a writer and associate of many of the 20th century's writers and artists. Her salon in Paris was a center of modern culture. She's known for her stream-of-consciousness style.
27. Audrey Hepburn - “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”
28. Nina Simone -an extraordinary singer with a unique vocal quality. Buy her music and be blown away. “I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.”
29. Katharine Hepburn - “As for me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.” a twentieth century film actress, often played strong women at a time when conventional wisdom said that traditional roles were all that would sell movie tickets.
30. Margaret Thatcher - “I’ve got a woman’s ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it.”
31. Annie Leibowitz - “I didn’t want to let women down. One of the stereotypes I see breaking is the idea of aging and older women not being beautiful.”
32. Ayn Rand - “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
33. Alice Waters - “Every change ultimately is one for the better. You don’t know how it is going to be. It is just shuffling the cards, and people who haven’t revealed themselves might reveal themselves.”
34. Emily Dickinson - “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”
35. Anne Sexton - “Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.”
36. Gilda Radner - “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.”
37. Tina Fey - “I like to crack the jokes now and again, but it’s only because I struggle with math.”
38. Elizabeth Cady Stanton – American abolitionist and women’s rights pioneer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton
39. Mary Shelley - author of "Frankenstein" - feminist.
40. Emelia Earhardt - pioneering aviator.
41. Jane Goodall - she observed and documented the life of chimps in the wild from 1970 into the 1990s, and has tirelessly worked for the better treatment of chimpanzees.
42. Maya Angelou - autobiographical author and poet
43. Simone de Beauvoir - Philosopher and feminist. “I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.”
44. Anne Frank - autobiographer a young Jewish girl in the Netherlands, kept a diary during the time she and her family were hiding from the Nazis. She did not survive her time in a concentration camp, but her diary still speaks of hope in the midst of war and persecution.
45. Ursula K. LeGuin - science fiction author.
46. Susan B. Anthony - women’s rights pioneer.
47. J.K. Rowling - author.
48. Candice Bergen - Years ago I spent a year reading biographies of famous women. Candice Bergen was the only woman who was very aware in her life. She dated Doris Day’s son and stayed with him through some hellish times in his life. She has had healthy relationships with friends. And she has married kind and in many other ways remarkable men. If you look at Bergen's early life, she was an unlikely candidate for this list. Homecoming Queen, Beauty Queen, Model. She also chose groundbreaking roles when she was younger. I personally love that she is an accomplished dramatic actress who also has brilliant comedic timing. I also love women who were “firsts” Bergan was the first woman to host Saturday Night Live, and also the first host to be invited back again.
49. Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey - a pharmacologist who had just been hired by the FDA as a drug reviewer. (1960), The drug Thalidomide was marketed to pregnant women in several countries. It was never approved in the United States thanks to her efforts. This was her very first file. The drug company put enormous pressure on her, but she was extremely concerned about side effects on the unborn babies. Many babies were later born severely deformed because of Thalidomide, though none in the US, thanks to the work of Dr. Kelsey. The full story can be found here: http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Hy-Kr/Kelsey-Frances-Kathleen-Oldham.htmll article:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_182.html
50. Arundhati Roy - (born November 24, 1961) is an Indian novelist, activist and a world citizen. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her first novel, "The God of Small Things" and has since devoted her life to helping the people of India. Really an amazing woman. Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya to a Keralite Syrian Christian mother and a Bengali Hindu father, a tea planter by profession. She spent her childhood in Aymanam, in Kerala, schooling in Corpus Christi. She left Kerala for Delhi at age 16, and embarked on a homeless lifestyle, staying in a small hut with a tin roof within the walls of Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla and making a living selling empty bottles. She then proceeded to study architecture at the Delhi School of Architecture, where she met her first husband, the architect Gerard Da Cunha. "The God of Small Things" is the only novel written by Roy. Since winning the Booker Prize, she has concentrated her writing on political issues. These include the Narmada Dam project, India’s Nuclear Weapons, corrupt power company Enron’s activities in India. She is a figure-head of the anti-globalization/alter-globalization movement and a vehement critic of neo-imperialism. In response to India’s testing of nuclear weapons in Pokhran, Rajasthan, Roy wrote,"The End of Imagination" a critique of the Indian government’s nuclear policies. It was published in her collection, "The Cost of Living" in which she also crusaded against India’s massive hydroelectric dam projects in the central and western states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. She has since devoted herself solely to nonfiction and politics, publishing two more collections of essays as well as working for social causes. Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May 2004 for her work in social campaigns and advocacy of non-violence. In June 2005 she took part in the World Tribunal on Iraq. In January 2006 she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for her collection of essays, ‘The Algebra of Infinite Justice’, but declined to accept it. To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get use to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget. (Arundhati Roy)

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Eye Contact's Effect on Credibility and Trustworthiness.

"He didn't look me in the eye. I just couldn't trust him." What makes someone credible? According to the research, competence, trustworthiness and dynamism are the three main components that make up credibility. Competence is defined as the communicator's knowledge and expertise about the communication. Trustworthiness is a measure of the communicator's honesty and sincerity. Dynamism is a person's energy and confidence in communicating. Nonverbal communication is vital to competence, trustworthiness and dynamism because these qualities are rarely stated directly. For example, people rarely say, "I am competent" or "I am trustworthy."
THE IMPORTANCE OF EYE BEHAVIOR AND EYE CONTACT
The most noticeable nonverbal behavior that affects credibility is eye behavior and eye contact. Like the old saying, "Eyes are your window to the world," eyes can be the window to credibility. Studies on eye contact and its effect on communication and credibility find that maintaining a steady gaze while communicating is beneficial to credibility, and conversely, averting eye contact is detrimental to credibility. Eye contact studies have produced information about the effect of eye contact on the three components of credibility. In tests where these three components were isolated, eye behaviors had little effect on dynamism. The competence and trustworthiness categories, however, produced a significant link.
When volunteers were asked to rate the competence of communicators with low eye contact and with high eye contact, the competence ratings were significantly higher for the subjects who exhibited high eye contact with the audience. The same test produced the same results in measuring trustworthiness of those with low eye contact and high eye contact.