Quickie: Can You Fake Remorse With Your Partner?
You can lie, but you can’t hide
You can fake an orgasm. You may even be able to fake love. But can you fake remorse with your partner? According to research, no matter how skilled you may think you are at lying to your partner, remorse is too difficult to fake.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Memorial University explains that the key to showing remorse is in how we shift from positive to negative emotions. During the study, researchers videotaped subjects talking about something they did wrong as they exhibited either genuine or manufactured remorse. The researchers then analyzed the subjects’ verbal and nonverbal communication, paying close attention to which of the seven universal emotions — happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise, and contempt — that the subjects displayed as they spoke.
“Those who were lying about feeling remorse quickly shifted from positive to negative emotions in a nonstop mood swing….”
The study found that when volunteers were truly sorry for what they had done, they went through the spectrum of emotions slowly — beginning with positive emotions, and then going through a series of neutral emotions before…
