Study of Honesty

If you want to be good at deception, you have to be good at spotting the truth as well. Both are equally important.

In the news this week, a woman survives a brutal shark attack, losing her arm to the shark.

Watch her tell her story. Her response is unusual, but we know the story is absolutely true due to her injuries.

Ask yourself, if you didn’t know she was telling the truth and you couldn’t see the injury, would you believe her?

If not, why? What behaviors does she have that might set you off?

And what behaviors does she have that supports her story?

9 replies
  1. Jennifer Kindschi
    Jennifer Kindschi says:

    I do think the lady’s response seems atypical. She has mostly positive expressions on her face. Obviously she is being honest about losing her arm, but I personally would be languishing on the sofa waiting for my arm to come back.

    • Eyes for Lies
      Eyes for Lies says:

      I see her responses as very atypically–totally acceptance of her lost limb, incredible joy she survived and has her life. Most victims are afraid, scared, have flashbacks of the horror, can’t talk about it or accept their loss. She’s in the 1% of victims, I’d say, though I see her honesty clearly.

      • RideAWildHorse
        RideAWildHorse says:

        My sincerest apologies for going off topic here, Eyes. I know no other way to make this request. I just saw Otto Warmbier’s “press conference” in North Korea on LiveLeak and wonder if you’d be interested in commenting about it. Here’s the link:
        https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5c8_1497622177

        Since we know for a fact this is propaganda, is it easier to detect lies, truth, hidden messages? Is this something you could use in your work?

  2. Doux
    Doux says:

    (Ohhhh, dude. She is HORRIBLE at pointing out the love of god. …but that’s a personal opinion and a criticism!) However, I would attribute her “calm” to “being in shock;” shock would explain calm at a time like that. Her hand gestures matched her words and her facial expressions and intonations rang true with what she was saying and the underlying emotions that you would expect to be there were flashing across her face. I don’t find her to be deceptive. She should be thankful to be alive, and I think she is. Thank goodness that this isn’t going to make the rest of her life miserable. That’s always a heart warming thing to see.

    • Eyes for Lies
      Eyes for Lies says:

      Shock is usually an inability to accept it. She’s showing acceptance…gratefulness. Not that it won’t all sink in later. It still absolutely could…

      • sirschy
        sirschy says:

        I think Doux was talking about the calm she described while the attack was happening. I have to agree that it was shock.

  3. p3cop
    p3cop says:

    I have been in several life-threatening incidents and I assure you that faith can keep you calm in the midst of horrible circumstances. Maybe what she said is simply true-God gave her peace in a terrible situation.

  4. clownfish
    clownfish says:

    I wonder if there is anything chemical that happened at the moment. she describes feeling peace in the water. maybe she thought she would die. so it’s just being alive that for now is delaying the grief

  5. Sally Staples
    Sally Staples says:

    How interesting that her only emotional break is when she reflects on the impact she believes her story will have on others: the shark doesn’t make her cry, but her belief in god does.

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