19 de septiembre de 2011

Lie to me

Lie to me
es una serie de televisión policial basada en la teoría de que las mentiras se pueden leer en los gestos corporales... bien interesante

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbOgHa34Ec8

18 de septiembre de 2011

Performatividad en Psycology Today

La prestigiosa revista Psycology Today publica un artículo que básicamente dice: nos convertimos en lo que pretendemos ser. Incluso las expresiones faciales tienen influencia sobre nuestras emociones, y realizar un acto "mecánicamente" puede transformar dicho acto en algo "real".


Este artículo explora la forma en la que la psicología humana puede ser manipulada a través de actitudes para establecer comportamientos duraderos. El artículo sugiere que, consciente o inconscientemente, todos somos actores que nos transformamos en los papeles que representamos.
Podemos programar nuestras actitudes para convertirnos voluntariamente en algo que queremos –pero si no lo hacemos de cualquier forma nos volvemos como aquello que vemos.
Observando los rostros, gestos y voces de otros inconscientemente mimetizamos sus reacciones. Sin darnos cuenta empezamos a sincronizar nuestros movimientos, posturas y tonos (¿quién no se ha sorprendido viajando a alguna ciudad o país, donde hablan el mismo idioma pero con otro acento, inadvertidamente copiando ese acento?)
El artículo también destaca una investigacion conducida por la CIA  con el fin de desarrollar técnicas para leer la expresión facial de las personas. Durante un experimento un investigador notó que al simular una serie de expresiones faciales había paralelamente una serie de reacciones emocionales, tal que las expresiones faciales de enojo y angustia provocaban una caída en su estado de ánimo. Esto los llevó a monitorear las respuestas fisiológicas de hacer caras de enojo y tristeza –midiendo la presión sanguínea, la temperatura corporal, el ritmo cardiaco– y descubrir que que fingir sentir provocaba la misma emoción que sentir. En un estudio subsecuente pideron a personas que recordaran las experiencias más tristes de sus vidas y a otro grupo que simplemente hiceran los gestos representativos de la tristeza. De manera sobresaliente, el segundo grupo mostró también las mismos afectaciones fisiológicas.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201108/top-10-august/you-become-what-you-pretend-be



You Become What You Pretend To Be

Attitude influences behavior and behavior influences your attitude.

Our attitudes influence our behavior. Michelangelo believed he was the greatest artist in the world and could create masterpieces using any medium. His rivals persuaded Junius II to hire him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, because they knew Michelangelo had rarely used color and had never painted in fresco. They were sure he would turn down the commission due to his inexperience. They planned to use his refusal as proof of his lack of talent. If he did accept it, they were convinced the result would be clownish and planned to use the result to point out his inadequacies to the art world.
Michelangelo accepted the commission. Because he had the attitude of a great artist, his behavior followed. Going through the motions and practicing with colors and painting in fresco, endlessly, he became an expert in the technique.  He executed the frescos in great discomfort, having to work with his face looking upwards, which impaired his sight so badly that he could not read save with his head turned backwards for months. By acting upon his belief that he could create anything, he created the masterpiece that established him as the artist of the age. 
BEHAVIOR INFLUENCES ATTITUDES 
And it's also true that our behavior influences our attitudes. Tibetan monks say their prayers by whirling their prayer wheels on which their prayers are inscribed. The whirling wheels spin the prayers into divine space. Sometimes, a monk will keep a dozen or so prayer wheels rotating like some juggling act in which whirling plates are balanced on top of long thin sticks.
Many novice monks are not that all emotionally or spiritually involved at first. It may be that the novice is thinking about his family, his doubts about a religious vocation or something else while he is going through the motions of spinning his prayer wheel. When the novice adopts the pose of a monk and makes it obvious to themselves and others by playing a role, their brain will soon follow the role they are playing. It is not enough for the novice to have the intention of becoming a monk: the novice must act like a monk and rotate the prayer wheels. If one has the intention of becoming a monk and goes through the motions of acting like a monk, one will become a monk.
The great surrealist artist Salvador Dali was described by his fellow students at the Madrid art academy as "morbidly" shy according to his biographer Ian Gibson. He had a great fear of blushing and his shame about being ashamed drove him into solitude. It was his uncle who gave him the sage advice to become an actor in his relations with the people around him. He instructed him to pretend he was an extrovert and to act like an extrovert with everyone including your closest companions. Dali did just that to disguise his mortification. Every day he went through the motions of being an extrovert and, eventually, he became celebrated as the most extroverted, fearless, uninhibited and gregarious personalities of his time. He became what he pretended to be.
The Greek philosopher Diogenes was once noticed begging from a statue. His friends were puzzled and alarmed at this behavior. Asked the reason for this pointless behavior, Diogenes replied, "I am practicing the art of being rejected." By pretending to be rejected continually by the statue, Diogenes was beginning to understand the mind of a beggar. Every time we pretend to have an attitude and go through the motions, we trigger the emotions we create and strengthen the attitude we wish to cultivate.
If you want to become an artist and go through the motions of being an artist by painting a picture every day, you will become an artist. You may not become another Vincent Van Gogh, but you will create the attitude of an artist and you will become more of an artist than someone who has never tried.