Truth

I can't read non-verbal cues to save the life of me either.

But here's an interesting problem with body language. Can you assume that everyone shows the exact same non-verbal behaviour? And if so, how?

I once had a sitdown with a psychologist and I threw him so off by my body language, he had to guess what I meant (and as such that was stated in the final report). This was before autism was in the picture as a diagnosis for me even. After talking through the final report with him he told me my body language was strange and it didn't match up "regular" profiles. To where I told him "have you ever considered the option that some people do not understand the application of body language and it just is not hardwired in their brain?"

Later in life, I ran into another therapist about this same issue and that's where my diagnosis on the spectrum got in the picture. It made perfect sense to him. Not being able to read it, can also mean that you're not applying of the same non-verbal behaviour, which makes it an infinite times more difficult to recognize it on others.

This also makes me believe that there's more complexity to it, since you don't know everyones interpretation (and application), as well as not knowing everyones "psych"-records. Some people, and probably a significant number on the autism spectrum, aren't that in touch with non-verbal cues. That's when you can't read these people. It gets even more interesting if they're total strangers and you know nothing about them, and thus do not know if they're on any kind of spectrum that limits their non-verbal cues (both reading and showing them themselves).

Along those lines I also remember a run in with cops years ago. The thought I acted "suspicious" and therefore I was stopped, questioned and frisked, for what they perceived as "suspicious body language". How can something as fluid and "unwritten" as body language be a reason to take... well.. legal action? The thought still worries me that at any time I can be stopped by authorities because they think I act strange, while I'm just myself.

I suppose the extra pressure on girls to learn social acting skills makes us better at it, if not more comfortable. I think this is what Spinning Compass was referring to in a recent comment.

I think at least there can be a relation between a person's words and body language that can be interpreted analytically to know how honest the person is being. I have noticed that NTs do this when they evaluate actors on-screen. The difference between good actors and bad actors is what they convey with the relationship between the words in their actual lines, their tones of voice and their body language/facial expressions. It is really quite interesting.

Of course, people won't normally behave like actors, but the principle ought to be the same.

I suppose the extra pressure on girls to learn social acting skills makes us better at it, if not more comfortable. I think this is what Spinning Compass was referring to in a recent comment.

I think at least there can be a relation between a person's words and body language that can be interpreted analytically to know how honest the person is being. I have noticed that NTs do this when they evaluate actors on-screen. The difference between good actors and bad actors is what they convey with the relationship between the words in their actual lines, their tones of voice and their body language/facial expressions. It is really quite interesting.

Of course, people won't normally behave like actors, but the principle ought to be the same.

Forgive me for not being completely on topic, but I found the thing you said about good on-screen actors' ability to convey the coherency of body language and verbal language quite interesting. Indeed, I think some of the better actors who are in a completely different league than most other 'good' actors, are very well aware of this connection, and play with this notion in order to both surprise, and confuse their (NT) audience.

This is a very good example of an actor I assume is acutely aware of this, maybe more so than any other:
[video=youtube;NOgrLiD4Qo8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOgrLiD4Qo8[/video]

I mean, who in their "sane" NT-mind would express themselves like that about their attraction preference. He sums it all up pretty good too: "Ferocious, aren't I? When I think of asses - a woman's ass - something comes out of me!"

Actually, this book is really good You Say More Than You Think: A 7-Day Plan for Using the New Body Language to Get What You Want: Janine Driver, Mariska van Aalst: 9780307453983: Amazon.com: Books
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