I watch several criminology shows and some of the paranormal shows and movies now and then. “Getting into” the criminology shows sparked an interest in behavioral science and I’ve begun to dig deeper into the research. I know, it’s a part of psychology…but then again I’ve been researching quantum mechanics in relation to the paranormal. All related or interelated concepts.
When a paranormal investigator asks questions of unseen presences, when he/she asks who, what, where, when and why it is because they want to know the psychology of that presence. And they are generally attempting this without the use of all their senses. You rarely see the entity or feel it’s touch or even hear it at the time of questioning, but you just know it is there. You are picking up on some part of the psychology of that presence. When you lose one or more of your five physical senses then the others become more sensitive, including your sixth sense, and these levels of inner senses and instinct work harder to fill in the missing pieces.
Back to the tv shows.
Most of the time when one of these shows is recording on the DVR, I will have the volume muted and may be off in a daze thinking about something. But occasionally I have found myself watching the show muted only to watch it later with the sound and find that my perceptions and ideas were very close regarding what I believed to be happening in the show and what did actually happen.
Take any show that you watch with regularity, where you know the characters and their personalities and body language then apply this to new characters. Turn the sound off and watch the body language carefully. (You will pick up words anyway if you can read lips). See if you can work out what is going on based on what you can see only.
A bigger challenge lies in just how real it is…try this with things like the news or the weather channel shows, history and documentaries, shows where you don’t know the ‘history’ of the people involved…it’s all fair game in the quest to know why we behave the way we do.
Now watch it again with the volume. How close did you come? How close were your perceptions to what happened in the script and plot of the show?
You will get better at perceiving human psychology and behavior the more you practice this. This then makes you more empathic and sensitive to the people and situations around you all the time. Really look and listen to what is going on in your world. Use all of your senses and open your awareness to the psychology and behavior of others.
You will discover we really are not all that different from one another.
“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” ~ William Blake
Jazzi Ryan Ranes ~ The Sensuous Poetic 
Never thought about doing this! Question: Since college, I have been able to watch “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” muted and say almost every line perfectly. We used to watch it like once a week and turned it into our own little Rocky Horror. Does that make me smart or just a dork?! 🙂
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Just a dork, lol 😉 Teasing ya Patrick, but I had a boyfriend that could recite every line of Porky’s…in perfect imitation. Drove me entirely nuts! :-O I guess you can memorize anything if you study on it enough. Plus you are entirely OCD so that right there explains the dorkyness as well as your intelligence! 😛
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Ha! Thanks!! I’m just excited that it appears you may have described me as intelligent. 🙂 Maybe? I guess you never said how much intelligence I actually have. 🙂
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Lol, you crack me up 😀 You are definitely smarter than the average bear my friend. It comes with the territory when you have an insatiable need to learn, as you obviously do.
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I think your point of view here is right on the money. i can’t say whether or not I consciously do any of it, but i think some of it comes naturally for some reason. Regardless, there’s an attitude here that lends itself well to dealing with the other side, in my opinion. i think we actually have less to go on when it comes to dealing with a spirit as compared to dealing with one another, and therefore, any advantage we can gain toward better understanding is much needed. I’ve always believed the best piece of equipment an investigator has in his/her arsenal is themselves, but it’s not just about preparing yourself for the task so that you can succeed – its about preparing yourself to communicate with another creature. The more we understand about each other (regardless of where we’re from) the better the world, and the next, will be. Excellent post – really enjoyed it. And so insightful.
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Thank you, Randy 🙂 There are just some things you can’t learn from an electronic piece of equipment. Our instincts, our personal perceptions of reality play key roles in what we think we know about human behavior. It is up to us to pay attention to what is going on around us…in this plane of existence, or another.
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It is said that 55% of “communication” is body language (even for non-experts, we are all aware of it, even if we don’t realize). So that’s definitely something that we can develop and hone into a sharper skill. If we get really good at that, we can have a really good chance and knowing what people are trying to communicate without hearing words or even tone of voice. Maybe you already know, but the words themselves are only 7% of communication; the remaining 38% is tone of voice. So 93% of what we communicate has nothing to do with the words coming out of our mouth! I thought that was interesting when I learned it. You seem to have a naturally keen awareness of body language/facial expressions. 🙂
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I didn’t know the statistics on it but they make sense. I’ve studied people in this way every since I can remember and more recently have been studying the art of identifying micro expressions since discovering the show, “Lie To Me” on Netflix. Check it out if you can…you would probably love it 🙂
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Ah! It’s funny you mention that show; it’s one of my favorites!! LOL. I record every episode and watch in detail! 🙂
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LOL! Great minds think alike 🙂
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