Babydarling - there are non visual cues too, that's only one sense.
Springisallaround - I didn't mean ALL tics etc indicate a dangerous person but that particular types are indicative, and our brains compile the information from multiple indicators quickly. Sometimes it's a combination of eg a tic and the way someone moves their arm.
Have you ever seen the tv show lie to me? It's fictional but based on the real life research and experience of psychologist Paul ekman on microexpressions. You may find it interesting. And as pps have said he's not the only one, there's quite a lot of research on the subject.
I remember watching an episode of Oprah years ago before I knew about anything like this but had experienced it. It was an episode about staying safe - particularly as a woman - and was an ex special victims police officer and the main thing he was saying was "trust your gut" he gave some examples he knew of where potential victims had escaped later convicted prolific predators due to "sensing" something being "off" - that was the first time that I learned that people who'd previously been victims of attacks/abuse (as I have) are believed to be even more tuned in to these things.
Children of addicts (which I also am) are believed by experts in the field to be very tuned in too.
However as you raised it, people who are good at reading people in terms of danger signals are good at reading people generally.
I'm an ex nurse and I found I picked up on patients about to have a stroke, seizure, heart attack, faint etc more quickly than other hcps who were admittedly less skilled at reading people generally. Many nurses and other hcps do learn these cues through their medical experience but I noticed myself and others with similar backgrounds (addicted and/or abusive parents/family) either could do it "naturally" or learned to do it more quickly than others with different backgrounds. It was a rather odd thing as it meant I was learning which other hcps had a similar background to myself before we really knew each other or had discussed our backgrounds.
I mentioned it to an older nurse while training when I first noticed it naively expecting her to be surprised or find it interesting. She was completely nonplussed and said something along the lines of "well think about the reasons why people might choose healthcare as a profession. Many are subconsciously trying to "fix" their past or protect others from going through what they went through, plus they're often compassionate, empathic people who are interested in others" at that point - again naively - I hadn't even considered the former (fixing our past) perhaps a touch of denial on my part. By the time I finished training I'd learned half my cohort were children or grandchildren of addicts.
"I think it's more to do with growing go witha violent narcissistic mother. You recognised the micro-aggressions/behaviour changes from a young age" exactly
"As we get older I think we lose this capacity." Perhaps partly but it's also socialisation - look how much pressure there is on women and girls to be "nice" and never be seen as "awkward" or "impolite".
Yoyonomore - I've a friend who can ALWAYS tell when someone is pregnant inc before they know. She's not a believer in "woo" she thinks it's likely a change in odour, temperature etc.
"Thinking about it - how many minute danger signals could a person potentially miss because they're completely focussed on their phone? One more reason not to walk around plugged in!" Absolutely, at the time of the Oprah episode it was pre mobile phones but women often wore Walkmans as a way to "signal" non interest in males while walking/as a distraction to calm nerves, the ex policeman warned this was a bad idea as you need to be aware of your surroundings.
"but considering this guy was on tv and was not physically present I am at a loss to explain it" microexpressions, body language, tone of voice... There's some research that suggests that the pattern of muscle tension in the faces of certain types of predator is different to the rest of the population.
Justaboy - your posts are shockingly racist. Research shows that while there are certain cultural differences with certain behaviours facial expressions relating to emotion are mostly universal - ie not culturally influenced.
"but looks like the boy next door- like Ted Bundy." Yes we REALLY as a society need to get away from the misconception that good looking people can't be a threat! If you look up the most prolific and/or shocking murderers/rapists/paedos they're often good looking, charming, successful people.
MulticolourMophead - please don't automatically equate mental illness with criminal/evil. Most of us that are mentally ill are actually more vulnerable to harm from others than a risk to others, and many of us are mentally ill as a result of being victimised.
"Mostly I can tell when a man is thinking negative things about women > they screw up their eyes slightly and make a smirking sneer. Can be gone in a fraction of a second but it always makes me wary." You're likely picking up on microexpressions of disgust and anger.
Re Jimmy Savile my brother wanted to write in so my parents made it an activity for all 3 of us to do and as the eldest I was sent to post the letters - I didn't I threw them away. Couldn't explain it at the time and never told anyone till now funnily enough. Just really didn't want to meet him. Bro was fix it mad but me and sis didn't like watching.
In terms of celebs that caught people out - I never liked the one that used to be on the daytime tv show? Loads of people I knew at the time were and many still are sceptical of the claims against him, I'm not. I wasn't surprised at all.
There's a couple others popular at the moment I won't be at all surprised if certain things come out about them.
I mentioned to some long prior to it being public knowledge my dislike of Max Clifford too. They all bar one dismissed it as me disliking him because he was "just" smarmy and represented dodgy people so I was tarring him with the same brush. The one friend who agreed with me has a similar history to myself (csa, addict parents) - soon as the news broke we were both like "I bloody knew it!"
"Sometimes I feel like Arnie in the Terminator films, when they show the rapid fire information that's occurring to the machine. That's how it appears to me." That makes so much sense to me too!
Rolf harris for me is an odd one, I've always sensed he was more aggressive than pervy. Even though he's now been convicted of certain offences I still feel that there's likely to be worse that comes out about him, possibly after he dies. As is fitting for the thread I can't explain why.
to all who've been assaulted and otherwise victimised by these people