How to Fool an Empath?

[Deborah Dalton]

I'm starting on the fourth book in my series (All Things Impossible) and I've hit my first of many road-bumps.

I have a character who turns out to be the puppet master behind the whole plot, who is portrayed as the clumsy idiot who can't get his act together in order to feed the main cast the information/misinformation. Thing is, the main character can sense other people's emotions.

Can an actor actually fake his emotions on a mental level? I've gone over it in my head, and the puppet-master really can't just avoid the main character.

How would you deal with this situation? I appreciate your suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I would have the person be a sociopath or schizophrenia or someother disorder that could help make it so he had no discernable emotions.

 

[TWErvin2]

Is there a science behind how the empath reads or understands another person's emotions? Basically, the brain functions on chemically generated electrical impulses along and between nerves. Could he wear a hat, helmet or some device that would scramble or make unreadable such electrical impulses or networks? Kind of give static to the empath?

 

[Deborah Dalton]

Well, I'm still developing how the empath's powers work - it's new to the character. So, that does give me a little flexibility to come up with a solution. I like the idea of interrupting how the signal works.

Thing is, if the empath recognizes that her powers aren't working with this guy, she's going to know something is up. Dominic (character's name) really has to come across as the scorned weakling, either mimicking or faking those emotions associated with that somehow.

 

[invisibleturtle]

It's possible to pretend/act really hard and fool yourself. I've convinced myself that I love running (which I hate) during gym class, so I know it can happen. If he has to come across as weak, then it could be possible for him to get into the mindset of a weakling enough to fool an empath, but he would probably need some preparation beforehand to get into character. It just takes a decent amount of discipline to stay in character in your own head.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Another way of working around this is by taking a leaf out of JK Rowling's book (or soul piece out of a horcrux as the case maybe). By that I mean make it so the puppetmaster can divide his soul/emotions/whatever to project one thing while hiding the truth.

 

[BeigePalladin]

Can an actor actually fake his emotions on a mental level? I've gone over it in my head, and the puppet-master really can't just avoid the main character.

eventually, yes. enough effort and we can fake those emotions rather well. Just as InvisibleTurtle said, you can fool yourself. Eventually an actor can just switch on an emotion at will (I can do happy and confused, but I''m a sucky actor ), but it probably wouldn't fully mask the actual emotion...

which is good if some hint get;s through and you keep it suttle. No-one likes reading something where the author apparently (no matter how premeditated it actually is) pulls out of other ass that the big bad wasn't this guy it's the heroes freind that you've known for ages and has shown no signs whatsoever of being evil.

as it feels like a major cop-out to read

 

[Kelise]

If it's particularly strong emotion, it's achievable. It's just incredibly draining, so I'm not sure how long they could keep it up for. They'd basically have to convince themselves they want to feel that emotion - quite like how most people manage to make themselves cry on cue - thinking of incredibly sad things, adjusting their breath and getting themselves worked up.

Like I said though, I think it would be a little impossible to make yourself feel a certain way often. You'd probably eventually make yourself ill because you're working yourself so hard mentally, it would put you under quite a lot of stress.

 

[Deborah Dalton]

Thanks, guys! I wasn't planning on having this character joining the party. He just kinda slips around and bumps into them when it's convenient for him, but not in a way that's overly suspicious either.

And maybe his performance isn't perfect either, so that will drop a few red flags.

Okay, when I get a draft of this up, I'll post it and get your opinions? I'm still toying with either going with pure acting or hypnotizing himself - I guess I'll write both ways and see which one works better.

 

[legacyblade]

Ya, it's possible to fake emotions. Best way to do it is to concentrate on an event that triggers strong emotions in your mind. I'm a sociopath, so I do this to try and make myself have the proper emotions at the right time (like if someone punches one of my friends, I think of the guy who stole my girlfriend and it makes me angry enough to kill.) in an attempt to react like a normal person. So it's definitely possible, it just takes a lot of practice.

The problem would be feigning the emotion of confusion. You'd have to actively think about something really puzzling to you. And if this guy is a chessmaster genius, that'd be pretty hard. You could use that as foreshadowing though, when he's acting confused, the emotion that's coming through is smugness or something.

 

[Amanita]

It all depends on the way you're handling your magical abilites as well.
There might be ways of shielding yourself against empathic talents. (If they're not that rare but commonly used among politicans, businessmen, lawyers or whatever group there might be it wouldn't make him too suspicious.)
And it could depend on your main characters skills. Is he really able to tell every tiny bit of emotion, or does he have to learn to use it properly and only sees the most prominent things in the beginning?
I really doubt that it it's possible to completely fake emotions inside your own head over a longer period of time where you also have to focus on other things but I'm no expert on this kind of thing.

 

[Meg the Healer]

And it could depend on your main characters skills. Is he really able to tell every tiny bit of emotion, or does he have to learn to use it properly and only sees the most prominent things in the beginning?
I really doubt that it it's possible to completely fake emotions inside your own head over a longer period of time where you also have to focus on other things but I'm no expert on this kind of thing.

I quite agree. One of the issues with Empathy is the same issue that people have with Telepathy. We don't think in complete sentences, the mind is constantly firing thoughts whether you are actively aware of them all or not. So the likelihood that the MC can perceive every single emotion is feeling - is a little far-fetched to me. (Only because this was one of the issues I had with one of my supporting roles who was an empath. One of one - it's not difficult for him to get an "overall" read on a person, but when in a crowd there are too many emotions running around that he can't zero in on one person. And there is of course the ability to block "readings" both for my empathic and telepathic people. So that might be something to consider as well.)

Maybe the MC could pick up the strongest emotions with "hints" of underlying emotions. Not sure if that helps or not.

 

[Deborah Dalton]

Thanks again, guys!

You are also right. The empath's ability isn't like a calculator with exact numbers out to ten decimal places. It isn't a complete read on a person or people. So, he could muddy that by being near a crowd. Thanks for the idea!

Legacyblade - thank you for the tips. That really helps - and you're right about foreshadowing. There will be red flags, but also excuses for those red flags..

 

[legacyblade]

Glad to help I always like when people think through their magic and how it'll work like this rather than just saying "meh, it's magic. It doesn't need to make sense", so I'm happy to give a couple ideas. I hope your story works well, if u need an alpha reader down the road, send me a PM or something.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I don't want to be a jerk or anything but I would like to point out that though you can trick your conscious self into thinking a bunch of different things. Like liking various activities. You still can't trick the subconscious self. And often times that true feeling can manifest itself physically in the form of "micro-expressions." The science on this is new and I don't count my self an expert but still it seems at first brush to be something worth looking into. Also there have been studies, brain-scans no less, that show there are certain parts of the brain that light up like a Christmas tree when consciously lying.

 

[Hans]

Today at work one of our scientist gave an interesting talk about empathy. Of course most of what she said is not applicable in a world with magic empathy. But one or two things might be of interest.
First, the definition of empathy is not clear. Is it enough to know what the other person feels, or does the empath feel with him to a degree? If the latter, the empath might willfully decide to not use his ability on random people. This willful choice is possible. People react completely different to other peoples emotions when told to deal with them on a professional level.
Then it is important how close the other person is to the empath emotionally. It is completely possible that the empath ignores someone because he is not deemed important enough and shows no big emotions.

 

[JustSpiffy]

Maybe the person is exceptionally good at making up people... Maybe he's invented so many fake people and played them, for various reasons throughout his life, that he now has difficulty even remembering who he really is.

I've heard of actors who get so much into the character they're playing that they start to behave like them... There was an internet meme floating around not long ago, of Christian Bale yelling at a stagehand. Supposedly it was because he was acting in a scene where his character was particularly angry... I also heard, not sure if this is true, that while Heath Ledger was playing the Joker, he was getting so much into the character that he felt like he was going as crazy as the Joker was.

 

[Meg the Healer]

You still can't trick the subconscious self. And often times that true feeling can manifest itself physically in the form of "micro-expressions." The science on this is new and I don't count my self an expert but still it seems at first brush to be something worth looking into. Also there have been studies, brain-scans no less, that show there are certain parts of the brain that light up like a Christmas tree when consciously lying.

I first heard about "micro-expressions" from Lie to Me, but I think it's an interesting and fair concept (and an excellent point). But for magic and fantasy - this could be one of those things where an Empath would say something like, "even though I can feel that you're happy, your body language says differently" and those can be those "red flags" you've been talking about especially if the MC doesn't know anything about "micro-expressions" and is just a "natural" and picking up on body cues. Something to consider at least.

 

[Naomi Ningishzidda]

If they're an empath, not a mindreader, all the villain has to do is come up with an excuse for why he is feeling any particular alarming emotion. Memories can trigger emotions - sometimes just an "I don't know" is enough. This would only work if the character is not intended as faking some sort of angelic behavior or someone whom negative emotions would be unexpected.


You could also have the villain (if he knows about the empath) enter a meditative state. In Japan "mushin" (no mind) is a state of meditation you enter into in combat to act without hesitation. Or you could have them focus on something they love to cloak the emotion. One can easily do evil things with no emotion if they are detached.

 

[CicadaGrrl]

The acting style is method. Some actors, such as Daniel Day Lewis, decide to completely inhabit the character they are playing (he actually made the Crucible set guys pound in wood pegs for nails with him). Method also refers to extending your emotional experience to another. You evoke a hard core emotional experience and it reads on stage like an emotion you may have never felt. I read an example of a guy who had to do a scene where he kills himself. Having never been suicidal, he came up with the year he lived in a badly heated warehouse with no hot water and how it would feel to have to take one of those icy showers again. Method acting, since it draws on an actual emotion, might fool an empath.

I have a main character empath. He's really new to his abilities, so he can be fooled. He may read off someone that they are really happy. Really happy to hang out with him, or really happy about his imminent death, he might not be able to distinguish. He JUST reads emotion--not attached thoughts.

Sociopath is probably a bad idea. For one, it is done badly and often. For another, they really can't connect emotionally, and I would think that would send up immediate red flags to the empath. Schizophrenia, by the way, is an entirely diff. thing with generally very different symptoms and courses than a sociopath.