Body language experts assess nonverbal communication in situations where a professional’s opinion is required. Many people can assess body language to some extent, and some are even adept at inferring a person’s thoughts based on body language. A person with advanced formal education in psychology or another discipline that focuses on body language is typically considered an expert in this field. Body language experts’ opinions can be useful in legal situations, hiring decisions, and even therapy. Different experts may follow different schools of thought, but because this discipline focuses on getting results rather than proving theories, it’s usually easy to figure out who’s the best.
Body language experts operate in a variety of ways, depending on the expert and his or her theories about the science, but most rely on small involuntary movements and body positioning to determine what the subject says or believes. It is critical to recognize that the movements themselves say nothing unless in relation to the individual’s history, personal psychology, and the current situation. These cues, as well as information about the individual, are used by an expert to help identify the individual’s internal states. The majority of the time, body language reveals the individual’s emotions and feelings rather than any factual information about the questions being asked.
Experts in this field are usually advanced-degreed psychologists, though certain aspects of anthropology and other humanities studies can provide valuable insight into body language. An individual must have a high degree of accuracy that can be empirically documented in order to be considered an expert. To be an expert in practice, you need to know more than just the theories of body language. It’s also critical to apply theories quickly and deliver results.
One of the most important applications of body language experts is in the legal field. This type of expert can be useful in examining testimony for signs of deception, as well as in witness preparation to create an appearance of truthfulness that most jury members will be unable to detect but will intuitively understand. Experts in body language can also assist in the selection of jury members. The admissibility of this type of expert’s testimony in court is not always guaranteed, and body language experts are often regarded as less convincing than polygraphs and other lie-detection methods.
Experts in body language can be useful in other fields where a person may be concealing an emotion. Experts of this type, for example, can be very useful in determining why a politician does not appear genuine and may be able to assist him or her in changing the problematic body language. When trying to weed out dishonest potential employees, employers may turn to this type of expert. The range of possible applications for this discipline is quite broad, and acceptance is more important than any flaws in the science.