Reading Students

In our profession, it is safe to assume that many of us are better as reading texts than we are at reading people. The job of non-directive tutoring, however, requires exactly that. A tutor must be alert for signs of anxiety, frustration, surprise, and happiness in clients, yet I believe few of us are taught exactly what these emotions look like.
The reason for this is simple: diversity. In a tutoring environment populated by students of different races, it seems

Are there universal patterns in nonverbal communication?
What are they?
Is it possible to use these patterns to read students?

Is reading students ethical?
Do tutors already do this, consciously or unconsciously?
Does reading students offer potential benefits to tutors?
Can tutors read students accurately without training?
Can tutors be trained to read students accurately? What kind of training might help?
What happens when a tutor is trying to read someone from another culture?

Signs of Truthfullness

Signs of Truthfulness is Witness Accounts
From Derren Brown's book, Tricks of the Mind, p246-249

1. Unstructured production- Truthful, unrehearsed stories, tend to jump forward and backward in time.
2. Quantity of details- the richer the details, the more likely it is true
3. Contextual embedding- If the story takes place within the context of daily life rather than within a vaccuum.
4. Descriptions of Interactions- True stories are more likely to involve interactions between the characters. (A reacting to B)
5. Reproduction of speech- few liars will reproduce parts of a dialogue in their stories
6. Unexpected complications during the incident. -If the story doesn't have them, it is less likely to be true.
7. Unusual details- Often superfluous to the main thrust of the story.
8. Accurately reported details misunderstood- Reporting facts where the meaning is lost on the teller.
9. Accounts of subjective mental state- Reference to feelings or thoughts during the story.
10. Attribution of the perpetrator's mental state.- For example, "he was clearly annoyed because of XXX..."
11. Spontaneous corrections- little corrections or dropped in additions
12. Admitting a lack of memory. - "I cant remember where we ate..."
13. Raising doubts about one's own testimony. - "I might have this wrong. My memory is hazy."
14. Self-deprecation- Referring to details that might incriminate himself or make him feel foolish.

Thinking in 3rd person...

In grammar terms, person goes like this
I is first person
you is second person
he/she/it is third person.

And most professional writing only includes the third person pronouns. We tell our students not to write about how "I feel" or what "you should do."

When they complain, I simply tell them that we do this to make their papers sound more convincing. I say, "it puts the focus on your ideas, rather than you as a person." I say that it makes the writing more convincing.

but that's not the truth.

The truth is that we make people write in the way we do, because we want to change the way people think.

We make people write in the third person because we want them to think in the third person.

We want students to wonder what evidence they have for their beliefs. We want them to think about the opinions of those that disagree. We want students to think objectively, apart from emotions, feelings, hunches, and intuitions.

Unfortunately, we cant do that. So we settle for teaching them to write in the third person.