why do people say body language is more reliable than words?

Post Reply New Topic

I think that people with Aspergers also show body language, they just can't read it on others,

They show it but theirs is different than NTs so they may have a hard time reading them and misreading their feelings and emotions.

Not entirely true of all Aspies. I can read body language quite well, but I've learned to read body language. That said, it gets harder and harder to do as stress levels increase.

What I've attempted to do is go through the context and the possibilities
and then match them up,
this used to work.
NT interaction is so speedy, it's like watching an F1 race.
I often have to ask them to slow down or explain it to me,
this is embarrassing though.

The body doesn´t lie.
In a method acting class, I had to radiate hate, so I was asked to think about someone, I hated.
It was rather difficult, but at last I found one person, I presumed, that I hated.
The instructor said, "That wasn´t hate. That was fear!"
You can´t lie on stage. In real life we are just distracted by words and presumptions.

Reading body language is not something you are suppose to learn (At least 99% of it that is. The other 1% "learned" part is for cultural adaptation.). It's mostly an instinct. An instinct that the aspie mind doesn't have. Because of that instinct, NT's are able to read body language without consciously thinking about it. Thus, a "passive" process. Aspies on the other hand have to learn it. Because it a "learned" skill. Your brain has to "consciously" think about what it's doing( an "active" process.), thus adding more thing to your mind to think about and cause stress levels to go up as well as causing delays in response.

The best analogy I can use to describe this would be like building a gaming PC but using a crappy video card. Not only does the performance suffer. But the CPU had to work harder as well and even if you go out and buy the fastest CPU out there. The performance will still suffer because the CPU is still having to do work that it wasn't intended to do.

Also because it can't do the graphics cards job.
You couldn't play (let's pick a new game) Titanfall on a PC with a Nvidia GTX 450 on max settings even with an 15 4670 k overclocked. I know that isn't an amazing processor but it is still decent.

Good analogy, I agree with you. Body language can be learned to a certain extent, but it isn't ever something (with me anyway) that becomes natural or instinctive. It can be well practised, but prone to error when under stress or when I'm multitasking.

In the spirit of extending your analogy, I would rather have lower resolution graphics, slower frame-rates, and tearing, than having no games at all.

Yes but what if you go to a lan party with that so called "better then nothing" machine. You'll get you a$$ creamed.

The fact is. We have to still be able to socialize and compete with NT's and are always held up to there standards.

Last edited by LupaLuna on 05 Mar 2014, 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

But who would go to a LAN party.
Too many people, too much noise.
Yuck. But it depends on the size of the LAN party I guess, which size do you mean?
Also at some LAN parties, PCs are provided.

I've changed my mind, the analogy sucks.
(can you tell I'm a console gamer, heh)

What do you propose we should do as Aspies then, give up? I'd rather keep trying, keep learning.

No not at all. but it is important to know that we are more limited in this area and to be more cautious! After all, there is a cost to it and it's way more expensive for us.