Tag Archive for Prolonged Periods

Eye Patterns In Lying

Eyes that wont make contact or seem to dart around as if they are fabricating stories can give liars away.

Eyes that wont make contact or seem to dart around as if they are fabricating stories can give liars away.

Shifty eyes, where the eyes dart all over the room to focus on anything but someone else’s eyes, is habitually associated with lying. However, as we learned previously, most practiced liars hold gaze even more strongly than in normal situations. In a study that looked at seventy-five countries, it was found that avoidance of eye contact was named as a lying trait in every single one of them. It is also frequently named first as a tell, and was named by old and young people alike. This trend exists cross culturally, despite any supportive scientific findings. People will stereotype liars as having shifty posture, self touching, appear nervous, have broken speech and so forth, but it is the belief that “they can’t look you in the eye” that is first and foremost on the tongue of all human lie detectors throughout the world! I suppose it would be less fascinating if that trait actually did predict lying, but it doesn’t. It’s simply a widespread belief that is passed down from generation to generation.

With regards to the general public who hold strong ideas about what a liar looks like, be sure to avoid gaze avoidance! Looking away for long periods of time, especially while talking, shifty eyes as mentioned, or using “stammering eyes”, which is the action of keeping the eyes closed for prolonged periods of time have all been noted as giving liars away. Despite widespread beliefs about how liars refuse to look other people in the eye, there is little empirical evidence to suggest its truth. Gaze avoidance might be more closely associated with the intent of appearing more subordinate, or to reduce anxiety and intensity so as to diffuse the situation.

Shutting out the outside world with stammering eyes can be a strong turn-off to other people, as can eye gaze avoidance which is probably why people universally attribute bad eye language to dishonesty. Negative impressions can stem from poor eye contact, even coming from the most honest and trustworthy people especially when it is the desire of others to label someone a liar for their own interest or purpose. It is a well known fact that when people hold specific beliefs they discount information that disproves their ideas, and actively seek out information that support it, some of which doesn’t exist in ready made form. To the more astute, it will come as obvious that reading bad eye language can help us reduce the creation of false impressions about others. Just because someone has unusual eye patterns does not mean that a person is lying, but chances are good that if you use bad eye language, or see someone else use bad eye language, you and they will be classified as untrustworthy.

The final aspect related to eye language worth mentioning is pupil dilation. Under stress or arousal of any kind, the pupils expand so as to allow more light in. This can include stress and fear due to lying, or any other fearful situations for that matter, but does not discount the stimulus of seeing something particularly attractive, as this too causes pupil dilation. By placing a suspect in the hot seat it is possible to gauge what level of fear he has with regards to accusations because it eliminates the confusion that outside stimulus creates larger pupils. However, like all lying language, pupil dilation is due to stress, which can result from being put in the hot seat! It is the gauging of pupil size from baseline that tells us something useful. Talking about something neutral like what they did last week on a random day, then switching to something more questionable like whether or not the stole office supplies is a great way to measure pupil differences as well as other lying language.

While we expect a liar to be more stressful overall, this isn’t always the case as has been one of the reoccurring themes in this chapter. However, if we wish to fool others, or maintain our innocence in their eyes, we should try to remain relaxed thereby giving off few or no negative cues.

Origins Of Laughs And Why Laughing Is Addictive

Some researchers conclude that laughs are a modification of the fear response which they theorize grew out of an historical warning that danger was near. By this theory, the laugh occurs because our brains are scared or frightened into laughing. This helps to explain why we often come to tears when laughing for prolonged periods, why we sometimes laugh when scared, or when we deal with horrific events such as a death by suddenly laughing, instead of a seemingly more appropriate response.

Strangely as it might sound, laughing is usual for people during periods of stress and uncertainty. We just laugh it off. Other theories say that laugh came about through a relaxed open play face which is similarly observed in other primates. Chimpanzees and Barbary macaques, for example, show a similar breathing sound “ahh ahh ahh.” Laughing in other primates comes from mock fighting, and social play and in humans, it first appears at one to two months of age and happens during tickling or sudden appearance of novel stimuli as in the peek-a-boo game. My son’s first laughs came about through fear. It was the only way we could get him to laugh. Even now, he laughs when startled such as in the peek-a-boo game.

Researcher Robert Provine describes the laugh as a series of short vowel-like notes or syllables, each being about seventy-five milliseconds in duration that repeat at regular intervals separated by about two hundred ten milliseconds. Laughs go something like “ha-ha-ha” or “ho-ho-ho” but never “ha-ho-ha-ho”. We can see other variations though like “cha-ha-ha” or “ha-ha-ho”. Laughs also tend to punctuate points or sentences and rarely find themselves mid sentence. His research outlines even more complexities in the laugh and if you are particularly interested in laugh structure I urge you to seek out his research, it is quite fascinating.

Laughing can become addictive too, since it releases natural pain killers called endorphins which give us a natural high. Thrill seekers such as sky divers, or race car drivers and even runners, and those who exercise regularly, also reap the rewards of the natural endorphin rushes. Endorphins have been shown to be stronger then morphine as a pain killer so activities like mentioned above can become habit forming. Being around people that make us laugh and smile gives us a positive outlook on the world. Similarly, being around people that are consistently frustrated, bring us down, as we empathize with their emotions. Our autonomic nervous system responds to our environments and the people in it which is why it is important to surround ourselves with people that make us feel good. Conversely, we can become the person others seek to initiate positive feelings, so taking the time to make someone laugh can have a huge payoff.

Eye Contact In Business

This isn't going well - she looks right through him.

This isn’t going well – she looks right through him.

Eye language is important in business as it can often be more indicative of intent then other body language. It can also significantly improve the chances of a sale at best, and at worst, can simply help convey better meaning and understanding. The most effective use of eye contact is in fleeting glances, which at first might seem counter-intuitive. However, prolonged eye contact can be seen as rude, untrustworthy, threatening or even aggressive. When seen in a client, it can mean that a sale is being resisted, where he or she is “staring” you down trying to find flaws in your sales pitch. Poor eye contact or prolonged periods of looking away can mean the reverse; indifference or outright disinterest. This is why brief glances followed by looking away, or at the material at hand, is most appropriate in a sale, and when done by a client, the best indication that a sales call is being well received.

The way eyes are positioned can give us indications of what a person is thinking. Generally, a person is passively receiving information if they are simply looking straight ahead and when conscientiously processing the information clients will look upward.

Here is a break-down for the complete set of eye movement patterns and what they mean as they relate to business:

1. Eyes focused straight ahead – passive receiving of information
2. Prolonged eye contact – threat and aggression or disinterest in sales pitch
3. Eyes to the right – message is being considered
4. Eyes to the left – person is relating to a past experience.
5. Eyes down – emotional concentration from an emotional thinker.
6. Extended looks away – desire to withdraw or vacate.
7. Eyes at ceiling – conscious analyzing.

By being aware of the manner in which the eyes focus, one can gauge the success or failure of the meeting, so as to either, remedy the pitch in the future or rework the meeting on the fly.