"The basic emotional (facial) expressions are universal.", "There's no such thing as micro-expressions.", "93% of the human communication is nonverbal.", "Avoiding the eye direct contact indicates lying.", "People do lie...times a day." (You can fill the same blank space or three dots (...) with the same number that you've heard so far i. e. 10, 20, 30, 75, 100 or 1,000 e. g. People do lie 1,00 times a day.)
Without any doubt, such statements, opinions, claims and quotes do attract the attention of people who are interested in body language. However, these are over-generalizing opinions, claims and quotes. "There's no such thing as micro-expressions!" was the radical claim, publicly made by a globally renowned body language expert. It was made in Amsterdam (Netherlands). Did he include the FACIAL micro-expressions in them? Unfortunately, he didn't clarify it then and there. He should have but he didn't. Obviously, I felt extremely sorry for him.
Please let me share another incident on which I felt extremely shocked and perplexed about over-generalizing statement. A renowned Nobel laureate physicist made a blatant claim in a famous documentary on the climate change. He claimed that the existing level of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is much less in comparison to its level 200 million years ago. Although the situations are totally different in two different time periods or frames on planet Earth, his trivialization of the rapid growth in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is sending a dangerous message.
Such over-generalized statements, opinions, claims and quotes have misled the millions of people so far. They're not just related to body language but also almost every field of knowledge, reasoning, science or inquiry. It doesn't just end in misleading people but it goes beyond it, in many cases or situations. If such over-generalized statements, opinions, claims and quotes are publicly made by renowned experts in a speech, a lecture, an article or a book then people do tend to make decisions in their own lives by referring to them.
That's why researchers, scientists, specialists, educators, thinkers, trainers, analysts and experts should always provide the context in which they have arrived on their own conclusions. For example, if any researcher has arrived on a particular conclusion then he/she should provide the exact context, the (chosen) data or the evidence upon which the conclusion has been derived. However, if they don't do so then the listeners, audience or readers should ask them about it. Now, the responsibility lies on their shoulders.
Today's world is posing the greatest intellectual challenge to the entire human race. Exactly WHY? We're all witnessing the rapid growth in the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI), increasing cognitive offloading or outsourcing to Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and finally - the deludge of provocative, disturbing or meaningless content and narratives on social media platforms. It's the exact same age in which Critical Thinking has become super-critically important or even inevitable.
Among many other components, Contextualization or Contextual Reasoning is one key component of Critical Thinking. Contextualization has to be given a center-stage in the statements, opinions, claims and quotes. Researchers, scientists, specialists, educators, thinkers, trainers, analysts and experts should make putting an end to over-generalization their mission. If some of them already have then thanks to them.
[#Critical Thought : The word 'universal' or 'universally' is often used to replace the word 'cross-cultural' or 'cross-culturally', in the statements made about human beings. However, I sincerely think that usage of the word is massively misleading or utterly uncontextual while considering the unfathomable vastness of the (observable) universe and the very possibility of innumerable species of intelligent creatures (following cultures) living in the same.]
Related Articles:
1) CONTEXT is the KING 2) Context 3) Interpretation 4) Perceptual Bias 5) Being a Body Language Expert 6) Are you stuck with the same meaning? 7) Your Confirmation Bias vs. Context 8) Is Human Communication 93% Nonverbal? 9) Artificial Intelligence and Body Language 10) Body Language and Lie Detection
Without any doubt, such statements, opinions, claims and quotes do attract the attention of people who are interested in body language. However, these are over-generalizing opinions, claims and quotes. "There's no such thing as micro-expressions!" was the radical claim, publicly made by a globally renowned body language expert. It was made in Amsterdam (Netherlands). Did he include the FACIAL micro-expressions in them? Unfortunately, he didn't clarify it then and there. He should have but he didn't. Obviously, I felt extremely sorry for him.
Please let me share another incident on which I felt extremely shocked and perplexed about over-generalizing statement. A renowned Nobel laureate physicist made a blatant claim in a famous documentary on the climate change. He claimed that the existing level of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is much less in comparison to its level 200 million years ago. Although the situations are totally different in two different time periods or frames on planet Earth, his trivialization of the rapid growth in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is sending a dangerous message.
That's why researchers, scientists, specialists, educators, thinkers, trainers, analysts and experts should always provide the context in which they have arrived on their own conclusions. For example, if any researcher has arrived on a particular conclusion then he/she should provide the exact context, the (chosen) data or the evidence upon which the conclusion has been derived. However, if they don't do so then the listeners, audience or readers should ask them about it. Now, the responsibility lies on their shoulders.
Today's world is posing the greatest intellectual challenge to the entire human race. Exactly WHY? We're all witnessing the rapid growth in the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI), increasing cognitive offloading or outsourcing to Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and finally - the deludge of provocative, disturbing or meaningless content and narratives on social media platforms. It's the exact same age in which Critical Thinking has become super-critically important or even inevitable.
Among many other components, Contextualization or Contextual Reasoning is one key component of Critical Thinking. Contextualization has to be given a center-stage in the statements, opinions, claims and quotes. Researchers, scientists, specialists, educators, thinkers, trainers, analysts and experts should make putting an end to over-generalization their mission. If some of them already have then thanks to them.
[#Critical Thought : The word 'universal' or 'universally' is often used to replace the word 'cross-cultural' or 'cross-culturally', in the statements made about human beings. However, I sincerely think that usage of the word is massively misleading or utterly uncontextual while considering the unfathomable vastness of the (observable) universe and the very possibility of innumerable species of intelligent creatures (following cultures) living in the same.]
Related Articles:
1) CONTEXT is the KING 2) Context 3) Interpretation 4) Perceptual Bias 5) Being a Body Language Expert 6) Are you stuck with the same meaning? 7) Your Confirmation Bias vs. Context 8) Is Human Communication 93% Nonverbal? 9) Artificial Intelligence and Body Language 10) Body Language and Lie Detection
