Evidence is reviewed which suggests that there may be little or no direct introspective access to higher order cognitive processes. Subjects are sometimes (a) unaware of the existence of a stimulus that importantly influenced a response, (b) unaware of the existence of the response, and (c) unaware that the stimulus has affected the response. It is proposed that when people attempt to report on their cognitive processes, that is, on the processes mediating the effects of a stimulus on a response, they do not do so on the basis of any true introspection. Instead, their reports are based on a priori, implicit causal theories, or judgments about the extent to which a particular stimulus is a plausible cause of a given response. This suggests that though people may not be able to observe directly their cognitive processes, they will sometimes be able to report accurately about them. Accurate reports will occur when influential stimuli are salient and are plausible causes of the responses they produce, and will not occur when stimuli are not salient or are not plausible causes.

/pdf/telling-more-than-we-can-know-verbal-reports-on-mental-57xv5dwuck.pdf

Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.

/pdf/feeling-and-thinking-preferences-need-no-inferences-q4mw2hj8rx.pdf

Feeling and thinking : Preferences need no inferences

Publisher Summary Lying and lie detection are the two components that, together, make up the exchange called as the “communication of deception.” Deception is an act that is intended to foster in another person a belief or understanding that the deceiver considers false. This chapter presents a primarily psychological point of view and a relatively microanalysis of the verbal and nonverbal exchange between the deceiver and the lie detector. The chapter discusses the definition of deception. It describes the deceiver's perspective in lie-detection, including the strategies of deception and behaviors associated with lie-telling. The lie-detector's perspective is also discussed in the chapter, and it has described behaviors associated with the judgments of deception and strategies of lie detection. The chapter discusses the outcomes of the deceptive communication process—that is, the accuracy of lie detection—and explores methodological issues, channel effects in the detection of deception, and other factors affecting the accuracy of lie detection.

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication of Deception

The vertical dimension of interpersonal relations (relating to dominance, power, and status) was examined in association with nonverbal behaviors that included facial behavior, gaze, interpersonal distance, body movement, touch, vocal behaviors, posed encoding skill, and others. Results were separately summarized for people's beliefs (perceptions) about the relation of verticality to nonverbal behavior and for actual relations between verticality and nonverbal behavior. Beliefs/perceptions were stronger and much more prevalent than were actual verticality effects. Perceived and actual relations were positively correlated across behaviors. Heterogeneity was great, suggesting that verticality is not a psychologically uniform construct in regard to nonverbal behavior. Finally, comparison of the verticality effects to those that have been documented for gender in relation to nonverbal behavior revealed only a limited degree of parallelism.

http://www.wisebrain.org/papers/NonverbCommVerticalRels.pdf

Nonverbal behavior and the vertical dimension of social relations: a meta-analysis.

Publisher Summary A thin slice is defined as “a brief excerpt of expressive behavior sampled from the behavioral stream.” Thin slices can be sampled from any available channel of communication—including the face, the body, speech, the voice, transcripts, or combinations of the above. The expressive behavior sampled is diagnostic of many affective, personalities, and interpersonal conditions. This chapter focuses on thin slices and illustrates the efficiency of thin slices in providing information about social and interpersonal relations. It discusses the cognitive and affective mechanisms that influence the processing of information from thin slices of the behavioral stream. Further, the chapter discusses the theoretical and methodological boundaries of thin-slice judgments. The chapter concludes with two newspaper accounts that illustrate the importance of the accurate communication and perception of thin slices. The ultimate goal of perception and judgment of thin slices of the behavioral stream is to understand the ways in which individuals come to know and negotiate their social environment.

Toward a histology of social behavior: Judgmental accuracy from thin slices of the behavioral stream

Ratings were made by 120 subjects of 18 video-tapes in which verbal and non-verbal cues for Inferior, Equal and Superior were varied and combined in a 3 times 3 design. The typed messages (verbal alone) were rated by further subjects, as were video-tapes of a performer reading numbers (non-verbal alone); the two sets of cues alone had identical effects on ratings. In combination, both kinds of cue had a reduced effect, but it was found that non-verbal cues now had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues on shifts of ratings, and accounted for 10.3 times as most variance; verbal cues were only able to act as multipliers of consistent nonverbal cues. There was little evidence of double-bind effects. Analysis of individual differences showed that females were relatively more responsive to non-verbal compared with verbal cues, and that more neurotic subjects found the combination of Superior (non-verbal) with Inferior (verbal) unpleasant, and responded more to verbal cues for Inferior-Superior.

Hilary Nicholson

Papers

The Communication of Inferior and Superior Attitudes by Verbal and Non‐verbal Signals*