Tag Archive for No Doubt

How We Really Detect Lies

by  • March 6, 2013 • 0 Comments

It is traditionally assumed that deception detection occurs simultaneously to the telling of a lie. Meaning, as people speak, lie detectors were able to pick up on nonverbal and verbal cues to ‘read’ people. Most of the research to date suggests that we can’t use any body language cue, or collection of cues in a comprehensive manner to read liars, but this might just be a limitation or flaw in the design of the studies. In 2002 research by Hee Sun Park working out of the University of California in Santa Barbara it was found that success in real-world lie detection happens gradually, over time and not on one chance encounter. Her research found that the most often reported method of disseminating lies included third party information, confessions and physical evidence, none of which the studies thus far have provided. Therefore, with respect to how people really read lies, the scientific investigations to date, haven’t provided people with information necessary to accurately detect lies.

Reading lies in real life is an active comparison from information we know for certain, and information told to us. No doubt, nonverbal language can provide clues to us as a full package, but it doesn’t permit us to ascertain conclusive evidence. We should therefore use untrustworthy or nervous body language as motivation to spark further investigation.

Liars Freeze Up But Master Poker Players Become Dynamic?

by  • March 6, 2013 • 0 Comments

Lying is so pervasive in life that it is no doubt that poker, a game that celebrates and rewards lying, is so popular. Over the course of a poker game each player will gain access to the same good and bad hands on average, but it is what is done with these hands that bring in more or less money. Even weak hands can win by bluffing, or lying about the strength of the hand, by fooling a competing player into fold. Poker is a game that rewards those that actively lie about strong hands by betting when weak and also holding back or “slow playing” strong hands to milk as much money from opponents. As poker players develop, they work through steps or stages on their way to becoming masters. One of the first skills learned is feigned disinterest which is useful when dealt a great hand. If a player can not convince others that they hold a weaker hand and instead show confident body language and consistently raise, the remaining players will simply fold. This invariably reduces their contribution to your pot and reduces your earnings. It will have been said that you haven’t played the hand to its full potential so even if you have won, you will have still lost.

Once feigned disinterest is mastered, a poker player begins what is called “acting.” That is, they will act weak when they have a strong hand, and act strong when dealt a weak hand. In poker, this becomes very tiresome (but simple) because a player must constantly show signs of strength when they aren’t and show signs of weakness when they are strong. Doing the opposite to what comes naturally consumes mental resources and distracts from other tasks such as reading other people’s body language and calculating the strength of their hands. The next level in a poker player’s development is to do what most poker players conclude their learning with, especially casual home players, and this is to clam up and show no signs at all ever. This is what we call the “poker face” and is the primary topic at hand in this discussion. While not important in general life, it might behoove you to know the final stage to becoming a master poker player which is the ability to move from just the poker face (expressionless, or nearly so!) to all levels perpetually, so you can never quite be figured out with any degree of certainty. Of course, different styles exist between players, where some are constantly chatting, while others are constantly frozen, but the gist of it that they don’t have to be stuck in a frozen pipeline. As with good liars, good poker players possess the skills to act natural and honest, even when they aren’t.

Liars have been shown to freeze up in this “poker face” too. Acting naturally is difficult when under stress, or if we are particularly motivated to get away with a lie. Motivation can be due to receiving a reward, keeping our job, or avoiding severe punishment. The greater is the motivation, the greater the likelihood of freezing up. Someone that hits a monster hand in poker can suddenly stop all movement altogether, but as we see with all lying body language, a liar can also show opposite behaviour and begin to shake or vibrate uncontrollably usually with their feet, but sometimes even their hands. I’ve seen it happen and it tells me it’s time to fold! When playing poker it is usually impossible to see the feet so instead watch the person’s shirt and shoulders, as they will seem to bounce along with their legs. Surprisingly, even while the feet are practically running off, the faces of poker players often remain stoic as if frozen. Bouncing feet are called “happy feet” and is a high confidence ‘tell’, indicating that a person is about to gain something important. It is very reliable and happens as a direct result of having heard or seen something significant that is positive to the person displaying the signal. While high affect happy feet make the entire body bounce, happy feet can be display in a more subdued way by just wiggling the feet. Watching for these cues in poker can be a very important tell and save a pile of money, so be careful to watch for it.

To avoid detection, under the ‘freeze-up’ premise, we expect people to decrease their overall nonverbal behaviour. Scientists have dubbed this the “motivational impairment effect.” Someone who is “acting”, might also appear more deliberate in their performance and this relates back to fluidity of movement. Truth tellers take the trust of others for granted, whereas liars must work for it. This can become evident through their “act” as they struggle to piece their story and body language together and make it appear congruent.

If when questioning, we notice that someone immediately freezes up, becomes rigid or less fluid these can be indicators of lying or at minimum stress. Freezing can happen in terms of facial expressions, foot and leg movements, head movements or even changes in posture. The overall movement of a person can become less fluid and their speech may become less spontaneous or they may stop speaking altogether. It will still be up to you to figure out why a person has become stressed and frozen. Not only this, but you must develop a baseline to compare freezing up versus normal behaviour. Perhaps this person always freezes up when people pry into their lives. Wouldn’t you, especially if you were innocent? Some people naturally use fewer gestures while speaking, and had freezing been a rule rather than a guide would lead us to assume something that is in fact incorrect. Along similar lines, using fewer illustrators in speech has been tied to lying through the research, so is also something to watch for. Just like a novice poker player who holds rigid postures all the time, or a poker face, we’ll never truly know what kind of hand they have through any outward indicators like body language. This is what makes freezing a good default skill to liars.

The Legs and Feet Tell About Where The Mind Thinks

by  • March 5, 2013 • 0 Comments

Or toes point to where our mind thinks. Extending our foot in the direction of another person shows we're thinking that way.

Our toes point to where our mind thinks. Extending our foot in the direction of another person shows we’re thinking that way.

The legs and feet are excellent predictors about what our minds and bodies wish to do, but haven’t yet had the motivation to implement. Just like fingers can and do point when directing the attention of others, so too, can the feet. As it applies to the feet, however, the signal is leaked by accident, rather than on purpose. Our feet lead us everywhere we go, but even while seated they tell others the direction we plan to head once the right circumstances or opportunity presents itself. If you want to know if someone really likes you and is interested in fully inviting you in for discussion, just watch their feet. While seated, if they just swivel their hips in your direction, but keep their feet planted facing away from you, then you know that they aren’t totally immersed. This is likely so because we’ve been programmed by our culture to be polite, so we do our best to engage other people, even if we do it in jest. How rude would it be to point our bodies away from someone who wishes to speak with us? No doubt, this too happens, but is much more obvious and so requires less skill in reading.

This sort of orientation is universal across interactions, the hips up will orient to face whoever is speaking with us, but what happens below, is subject of true interest. Studies covering courtroom behaviour has shown that when juries don’t like a particular witness they will orient their feet toward the door or nearest exit, while the rest of their bodies politely face the witness. As the strength of conversations wax and wane, feet will engage and disengage. This is why we say that interested people put their “whole body into the conversation.” If you can engage them in interesting dialogue then you’ll be able to have them reorient their feet toward you and perhaps even extend a foot in your direction. If you notice feet being moved toward an exit or away from you, try to decipher the cause, as this will tell you why they’ve become disinterested. Disinterest can be for any number of factors, including hearing something offensive, disinterest in the topic or conversation as a whole, or even being late for an engagement. The feet won’t tell you why someone is disinterested, only that someone is disinterested.

His ventral display says that he's ready to leave.

His ventral display says that he’s ready to leave.

As we saw in the previous section, leg crossing predicts relationships since we tend to cross towards our spouses, and our dates, but legs and feet can also cross toward someone we feel is attractive. While we might not physically take steps in the direction of our interest due to shyness, or perhaps because we are already committed, our feet are permitted to do so because it is less obvious to others. Besides, feet pointing does not always guarantee that anything proactive will ever take place. In other words, the feet just point to where we wish to be, but won’t necessarily ever get to.

Feet are honest - these feet want to take action.

Feet are honest – these feet want to take action.

In stressful situations that people wish to avoid like waiting to see the dentist or doctor, we’ll see toes pointing to the exit. Other times we see prominent toe pointing is when someone wants to end a conversation. It can be annoying to have to do multiple good-bye sequences with someone who seems to have nothing better to do than to ramble on. So instead of reorienting your body toward them, instead aim your feet and shoulders toward the exit. If that doesn’t speed things up or send a clear message, make it more obvious by widening the gap by stepping away.

Legs and feet can also become jittery and fidget when a person is bored and wants to leave. Jittery though can also be due to nervous energy or even the result of happiness such as “happy feet.” It is the context that will help decide what feet and legs are telling in this type of body language.