{"id":22168,"date":"2020-12-30T09:49:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T13:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=22168"},"modified":"2021-01-02T00:57:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T04:57:43","slug":"illusion-of-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"The Illusion of Transparency Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the illusion of transparency? How does it affect our interactions with people, in particular, strangers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The illusion of transparency is an assumption that people project their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-find-your-true-self\/\">true self<\/a> through their outward behavior and demeanor. However, people are far from transparent, which can make us misinterpret others&#8217; intentions and fall prey to deceit, especially with strangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for more about the illusion of transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is Transparency?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Meeting a stranger can make it more challenging to make sense of that person than <em>not<\/em> meeting him. That\u2019s because people are prone to the so-called illusion of transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transparency refers to the assumption that the way people present themselves outwardly (through behavior and demeanor) is an accurate and reliable representation of their inner feelings and intentions<\/strong>. But that\u2019s an unrealistic assumption to make when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-talk-to-strangers\/\">dealing with strangers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before we explore why we can\u2019t assume others will be transparent, let\u2019s look at how transparency works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Illusion of <strong>Transparency and How It Works<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facial expressions are one of the primary ways that we interpret a stranger\u2019s feelings<\/strong> (because we mistakenly assume that a person\u2019s demeanor is an accurate representation of his feelings).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Coded Facial Actions<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Psychologist Jennifer Fugate is an expert in the system of coding facial actions (referred to here as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ekman-facs-facial-action-coding-system\/\">FACS<\/a>). FACS assigns a name, or \u201caction unit,\u201d to each of the 43 possible muscle movements of the face. This action unit is used to notate and score people\u2019s facial expressions like music is scored by notes on a page. For example:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The kind of soft, insincere-<em>seeming <\/em>smile you would get from a flight attendant has a score of AU 12, based on the facial motions used to create that expression: Pulling up the corners of the lips, and leaving the rest of the face still.&nbsp;<\/li><li>A genuine-<em>seeming <\/em>smile has a score of AU 12 plus<em> <\/em>AU 6. The corners of the lips pull up <em>and <\/em>the cheeks raise to crinkle the eyes.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important to note that these smiles only <em>seem <\/em>to be insincere or genuine based on how they look. People\u2019s expressions are not always transparent, as discussed below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>Transparency and <\/strong><strong><em>Friends<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Friends <\/em>is one of the most successful and recognizable shows of all time\u2014in part because the characters are completely transparent. To prove the connection between transparency and the success of <em>Friends, <\/em>Jennifer Fugate watched the first scene of season five, episode 15 and performed a FACS analysis of each character\u2019s expressions throughout.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the beginning of the episode, Ross sees Chandler and Monica in a romantic moment. This is significant because Chandler is Ross\u2019s best friend and Monica is Ross\u2019s sister. Ross rushes to Monica\u2019s apartment to bust in and stop them. He is frantic. Joey and Rachel come into the scene, while Chandler hides behind Monica to stay out of Ross\u2019s warpath. Monica and Chandler announce that they are in love. Slowly, Ross comes around to being happy for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That might seem like a lot to keep up with, but <em>Friends <\/em>is incredibly easy to follow. <em>Why is that? <\/em>Because the characters are transparent, as Jennifer Fugate proved with her FACS reading of the scene.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Results<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In the moment that Ross sees Chandler and Monica embrace, his face reads: upper-lip raise, lower-lip depress, lips part, and jaw drop\u2014all at the highest intensity rating. This is the stereotypical look of anger and disgust.<\/li><li>In the moment that Monica tells Ross she\u2019s sorry for surprising him but that she\u2019s in love with Chandler, her face reads: 1 + 2, which communicates classic sadness, then eyebrow raise, then the AU 12 flight attendant smile. This combines to express that she is sad to upset Ross, but happy to be with Chandler.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>In that same moment, Ross\u2019s face reads: 1 + 2, classic sadness, then 1 + 12, the beginnings of happiness. His sadness has shifted into joy when he sees that Monica is happy.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Fugate\u2019s FACS reading proves that the actors in <em>Friends <\/em><strong>portray every emotion their character goes through inwardly directly through their facial expressions\u2014the characters are completely transparent<\/strong>. The show\u2019s popularity is evidence that people <em>like <\/em>dealing with transparent people (and characters). Transparency makes people and their stories easier to understand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we meet strangers, we tend to believe that they\u2019ll be as transparent as the characters on <em>Friends<\/em>. This is the \u201c<em>Friends<\/em> Fallacy.\u201d It\u2019s a fallacy because real life isn\u2019t like an episode of <em>Friends<\/em>. In reality, strangers often aren\u2019t transparent. So why do we assume they are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Is the Illusion of Transparency Beneficial?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals<\/em> by Charles Darwin, Darwin argues that <strong>it is beneficial to human survival that people are able to quickly and accurately communicate emotions to one another.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ability to smile, frown, and wrinkle the nose in disgust are some examples of how the human face evolved as a tool to represent internal feelings. This will probably strike you as a relatively obvious principle. After all, children everywhere naturally smile when they\u2019re happy and frown when they\u2019re sad, and that helps them get what they need to survive. So it seems reasonable to assume transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you should be careful not to assume that every stranger you come across will be transparent. <strong>That assumption requires everyone you meet to express themselves in the same predictable ways<\/strong>. Unfortunately, that is not the case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">People are Not Transparent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Transparency is an illusion. Because we have all watched the same TV shows, like <em>Friends<\/em>, and read the same novels where a character\u2019s \u201cjaw drops in surprise,\u201d we have been conditioned to believe that there is only one expression associated with any particular emotion. But that is unrealistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In reality, it takes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/getting-to-know-someone\/\">getting to know someone<\/a> well to be able to read their outward demeanor accurately. With a close friend, you come to understand their idiosyncratic expressions and what they mean to express. <strong>But when you encounter a stranger, you often have to make assumptions based on their expressions because you don\u2019t have any personal experience with that person.<\/strong> But your assumptions are based on stereotypes, like Ross\u2019s exaggerated facial expressions in <em>Friends<\/em>, that are usually wrong.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Example:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One day, George goes to take a shower. Suddenly, from the bathroom, he hears his wife scream. George runs to the kitchen and sees a man holding a knife to his wife\u2019s throat. George is naked and wet from the shower, but he intimidatingly yells at the assailant, \u201cGet out of here NOW.\u201d The young man gets scared and flees the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the inside, George was absolutely terrified for his wife\u2019s safety in that moment. But he didn\u2019t show it on the outside. Maybe someone who knew him well would have been able to tell that George\u2019s intimidating demeanor was his natural <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/fear-response\/\">reaction to fear<\/a>, but the assailant (a stranger) had no way to know that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What did the assailant assume about George based on his intimidating expression\u2014that he was dangerous, violent, cold, or something else completely? The intruder mistakenly assumed transparency (which was lucky for George and his wife).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Illusion of  Transparency Can Be Dangerous<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The bail hearings described in the section <em>Judges vs. Artificial Intelligence<\/em> are another exercise in transparency. Judges who look at their defendants make more mistakes in judging character than a computer that never sees the defendants at all. <strong>Watching someone\u2019s facial expressions is not a fail-proof way to see how that person is feeling.<\/strong> Someone who is surprised might not show it, and someone who is dangerous might come across as stereotypically demure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Patrick Dale Walker<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>A man named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/patrick-dale-walker\/\">Patrick Dale Walker<\/a> was arrested in Texas for trying to kill his girlfriend. The only reason he didn\u2019t succeed in murdering her was that the gun jammed when he pulled the trigger. The judge presiding over the case set bail at $1 million, and Walker went to prison. But four days later, the judge lowered the bail to $25,000 and Walker was released.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judge reasoned that four days in jail would be enough for Walker to \u201ccool off.\u201d He saw Walker as a polite young man with a clean record. Most important, he <em>saw <\/em>that Walker was remorseful for what he had done. <em>But could he really see something like remorse in a stranger?<\/em> Apparently not. Walker shot his girlfriend to death four months later.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this case, seeing Walker made the judge worse at interpreting his intentions. <strong>The information the judge thought he gleaned from observing Walker\u2019s <\/strong><strong><em>seemingly <\/em><\/strong><strong>remorseful behavior was actually misinformation, because Walker was not transparent.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the illusion of transparency? How does it affect our interactions with people, in particular, strangers? The illusion of transparency is an assumption that people project their true self through their outward behavior and demeanor. However, people are far from transparent, which can make us misinterpret others&#8217; intentions and fall prey to deceit, especially with strangers. Keep reading for more about the illusion of transparency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,9,160],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-22168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-psychology","category-science","tag-talking-to-strangers","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Illusion of Transparency Explained - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The illusion of transparency is the tendency to take others&#039; behavior at face value. But assuming transparency in a stanger can be dangerous.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Illusion of Transparency Explained\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The illusion of transparency is the tendency to take others&#039; behavior at face value. But assuming transparency in a stanger can be dangerous.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-30T13:49:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-02T04:57:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/glasses-reflection-transparency.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1220\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The Illusion of Transparency Explained\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-30T13:49:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-02T04:57:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/\"},\"wordCount\":1467,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/glasses-reflection-transparency.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Talking to Strangers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Psychology\",\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/\",\"name\":\"The Illusion of Transparency Explained - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/illusion-of-transparency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/glasses-reflection-transparency.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-30T13:49:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-02T04:57:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"The illusion of transparency is the tendency to take others' behavior at face value. 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