Decoding Deceptive Body Language

Summary

This engaging presentation delves into the art of detecting deception through body language, drawing on expert research by Carol Goman. It guides viewers on how to spot lies by analyzing facial expressions, hand gestures, and foot movements. The speakers humorously challenge the audience to identify a liar among them while teaching valuable cues like pupil dilation, hand placements, and foot positioning. The presentation concludes with practical advice on applying these insights in various settings, leaving viewers with a sharper eye for non-verbal deception.

Takeaways

• 😀 The presenters aim to improve the audience's ability to detect deception through body language, focusing on non-verbal cues.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Drawing on Carol Goman's research, they emphasize that over half of message impact is non-verbal, making it crucial for deception detection.
• 👀 Eyes are a key indicator of deception; pupils dilate with excitement and retract when uninterested, and eye contact avoidance or rapid blinking can signal lying.
• 😐 Facial expressions, while universal, can be faked; emotions that appear simultaneously with speech or last longer than a second are likely insincere.
• 👅 The tongue may flick under pressure, which can be a sign of deception, as seen in the example of John Kerry's testimony.
• 🤲 Hands can reveal lies through gestures; covering the mouth, scratching the nose, or rubbing the neck can indicate discomfort or dishonesty.
• 🗣️ Timing of gestures is significant; truthful gestures typically precede speech, while deceitful ones follow.
• 🤲 The position of the palms is important; liars often hide palms or keep them away from the person they're deceiving.
• 🦶 According to Joe Navarro, feet are the most honest body part in deception, often overlooked in body control.
• 🧍‍♂️ Standing posture, movement of feet, direction they point, and ankle locking are key foot-related signs of deception.
• 🔍 It's advised to look for clusters of three or more signs before suspecting deception and to consider the individual's normal behavior.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the presentation?

The main focus of the presentation is to educate the audience on the body language of deception, drawing heavily on research by body language expert Carol Goman.

Why do poker players wear sunglasses during games?

Poker players wear sunglasses to conceal the dilation or constriction of their pupils, which can be a telltale sign of excitement or disinterest, respectively.

What are the common cues of deception that the presenters discuss?

The presenters discuss cues of deception starting from the face, moving to the hands, and ending with the feet.

How can eye contact help in detecting deception?

In detecting deception, eye contact can be observed for signs such as frenetic blinking, avoidance of eye contact, or pupils dilating or constricting.

What advice is given to detect faked emotions?

To detect faked emotions, one should look for emotions that appear simultaneously with speech or last longer than a second, as these are signs of dissimulation.

Why might someone flick their tongue during a high-pressure situation?

Someone might flick their tongue during high-pressure situations due to increased stress, which can cause involuntary physical reactions.

What are the three things to pay attention to when observing hands for deception?

When observing hands for deception, one should pay attention to where the hands are going, the timing of the movements, and the positioning of the palms.

How does the timing of gestures relate to deception?

In truthful communication, gestures usually occur before speech. However, when lying, people often speak the words first and then make the gesture.

Why are feet considered the most honest part of the body according to Joe Navarro?

Feet are considered the most honest part of the body because people tend to focus on controlling their facial expressions and hand gestures when lying, often neglecting their feet.

What are the four signs of lying to look for in feet according to the presentation?

The four signs of lying in feet include an unbalanced stance, a lot of feet movement, feet pointing away from the conversation partner, and ankle locking.

What is the importance of viewing behaviors in clusters when detecting deception?

Viewing behaviors in clusters is important when detecting deception because it helps to ensure that the observed signs are not isolated incidents but part of a pattern indicative of lying.

Outlines

00:00

🕵️‍♂️ Deceptive Body Language: Face and Eyes

The paragraph introduces the concept of body language as a tool for detecting deception, focusing on facial cues. It mentions the speaker's diverse background and sets the stage for a presentation on deception. The main theme revolves around the idea that over half of communication is non-verbal, making body language a key indicator of lying. Specific facial cues include pupil dilation and constriction, eye blinking rates, and avoidance of eye contact. The paragraph humorously suggests wearing sunglasses to hide these tells, like poker players do, and emphasizes the importance of eye cues in deception.

05:03

🤲 Hand Gestures and Feet: Unconscious Truths

This paragraph delves into the nuances of hand gestures and feet movements as indicators of dishonesty. It explains how hands might cover the mouth, scratch the nose, or rub the neck when lying, due to nervousness and the body's involuntary responses. The timing of gestures is highlighted, noting that truthful gestures typically precede speech, while lies often have speech followed by gestures. Palm positioning is also discussed, with open palms being more trustworthy than hidden palms. The paragraph concludes with advice on observing these non-verbal cues to detect lies.

10:07

👣 Reading Deception Through Feet: The Honest Signal

The final paragraph discusses the feet's role in conveying honesty, suggesting they are often overlooked in deception. It outlines four key observations: stance balance, foot movement, foot direction, and ankle locking. These cues can indicate discomfort, nervousness, a desire to exit a conversation, or withholding of information. The paragraph reinforces the importance of considering these cues in the context of overall body language and advises looking for clusters of signs before concluding deception. It ends with an invitation for questions and a playful nod to the initial lie detection challenge presented in the script.

Keywords

💡Body Language

Body language refers to the non-verbal cues and signals we communicate through our bodies, such as facial expressions, gestures, and posture. In the video, body language is central to the theme of deception detection. The presenters discuss how body language can reveal whether someone is lying, emphasizing that over half of the total impact of a message is communicated non-verbally, making it a crucial aspect in identifying deception.

💡Deception

Deception in this context refers to the act of deliberately misleading or concealing the truth. The video's main theme revolves around detecting deception through body language. The presenters provide various cues, such as eye movements and hand gestures, that can indicate when someone may be lying, which is essential for understanding the video's message on deception detection.

💡Pupils

Pupils are the black, circular opening in the center of the eye that regulates the amount of light entering the eye. The video explains that pupils dilate when a person is excited and constrict when they are disinterested, serving as involuntary indicators of a person's emotional state. Poker players, for example, are mentioned to wear sunglasses to hide their pupils' reactions, which can betray their true feelings about their hand.

💡Emotion

Emotion refers to a person's affective state or feeling. In the video, the presenters discuss how emotions are often displayed on the face and can be faked. They provide tips on detecting genuine emotions, such as looking for the timing of emotional expressions in relation to speech and the duration of the expression, which should be less than a second to be considered genuine.

💡Gestures

Gestures are purposeful movements of the body, particularly the hands, that communicate non-verbal information. The video emphasizes the importance of observing hand gestures to detect deception. It mentions that when lying, people may cover their mouths, scratch their noses, or rub their necks, which are involuntary actions that can reveal dishonesty.

💡Timing

Timing in the context of the video refers to the synchronization between verbal and non-verbal communication. The presenters explain that when people lie, there is often a mismatch in timing between their words and gestures. For instance, in truthful communication, gestures typically precede speech, while in deception, speech may come before the gesture.

💡Palms

Palms are the inner surfaces of the hands. The video suggests that the positioning of palms can indicate honesty or deception. When lying, people tend to hide their palms, either by putting them in their pockets or behind objects, as a subconscious attempt to conceal dishonesty. This is contrasted with open palm gestures, which are typically associated with honesty and openness.

💡Feet

Feet are considered the most honest part of the body in terms of non-verbal communication, as they are often overlooked when people try to control their body language. The video outlines four signs to look for in feet to detect deception: unbalanced stance, excessive movement, feet pointing away, and ankle locking. These cues can indicate discomfort, nervousness, or a desire to leave the conversation.

💡Clusters

Clusters in this context refer to the grouping of multiple non-verbal cues together. The video advises viewers to look for clusters of at least three signs of lying before concluding that someone is being dishonest. This approach helps to ensure that the observations are not based on isolated incidents but rather a pattern of behavior.

💡Context

Context is the setting or environment in which communication occurs. The video emphasizes the importance of considering the context when analyzing body language for deception. Understanding what is normal for an individual in a given situation can help distinguish between genuine and deceptive behaviors, making the context a critical factor in deception detection.

Highlights

The importance of non-verbal cues in detecting deception, as over half of the total impact of a message is communicated non-verbally.

The significance of eye movements and pupil dilation in revealing one's emotional state and potential deception.

The use of sunglasses by poker players to conceal their eye cues, highlighting the tell-tale signs eyes can provide.

The role of facial expressions in deception and how to spot fake emotions by timing and duration.

The tongue's behavior under pressure, such as flicking, as an indicator of potential dishonesty.

The unconscious hand gestures that can reveal deception, including hand placement and scratching.

The timing of gestures in relation to speech as a clue to whether someone is being truthful.

The significance of palm positioning in indicating honesty or deception during communication.

The feet's honesty as an indicator of deception, often overlooked compared to facial expressions and hand gestures.

How the stance and movement of feet can signal discomfort or nervousness, potentially indicating deception.

The direction of feet as a non-verbal cue reflecting interest level and engagement in a conversation.

Ankle locking as a sign of withholding information or emotions, a common foot gesture in deceptive situations.

The advice to look for clusters of deceptive behaviors rather than relying on a single cue.

The suggestion to consider the context and normal behavior of an individual when evaluating non-verbal cues.

The practical application of these non-verbal cues in high-stakes situations like poker, negotiations, and interviews.

The interactive presentation style that engages the audience in detecting lies through a 'Two Truths and a Lie' game.

The conclusion that encourages the audience to apply the knowledge of non-verbal cues to their own behaviors.

Transcripts

[MUSIC]

When I was in fifth grade,

I won an eating contest by eating five chicken-fried steaks.

>> [LAUGH] >> I used to volunteer at

the Palo Alto VA Hospital to help them perform autopsies.

When I lived in Australia I used to work night shifts as a bartender,

as a professional mover as well.

>> I dropped bakery school to come to Stanford.

>> One of us is lying, and

we hope by the end of our presentation you have a better idea of who that was.

Today we are going to make you into the best Two Truths and

a Lie players that GSB has ever seen.

Because today, we're here to talk to you about the body language of deception.

We're going to be drawing heavily on research by body language expert

Carol Goman.

And with this knowledge, you should be able to spot liars in games,

in interviews, in negotiations, and even presentations.

We communicate a lot with our bodies.

We learned earlier in the quarter that over half of the total impact of a message

is communicated non-verbally.

The same is true with lying.

So nonverbals can be important and reliable tells.

In our presentation today we're going to start from the top and

work down, detailing common cues of deception.

We're going to start with the face, move to the hands, and end with the feet.

>> Have you ever thought of wearing sunglasses for a business meeting?

For a tough negotiation?

For a date?

Probably not.

>> [LAUGH] >> That will sound weird.

However, sorry.

However, some people do it.

Poker players do it.

Why do they do it?

Because they didn't go to Stanford?

No.

They do it because they know that your eyes talk more than you want them to do.

One thing, the pupils.

The pupils are directly wired to your brain.

And because that directly wired to your brain,

there's not much you can do about it.

When you're excited, they're going to dilate.

If you dissimilate, not interested, they're going to retract.

Pokers player don't want you to see their hands through their eyes.

There's other ways by which you can deceive through your eyes.

When you dissimilate typically, your eyes gonna start blinking frenetically.

Much faster than they usually do.

Or you're gonna avoid eye contact altogether.

Police know these cues very well.

Luckily for you, in Silicon Valley, and the US generally, when you go to work,

people don't wear sunglasses, even though in California you never know.

Another way where you can read people's mind, through the face.

Because you're a good mammal, you know the expressions of the six major emotion.

Smiling associated with happiness, sadness,

anger, disgust, but the problem is everybody knows that.

They're universal, so people are gonna try to fake it.

Let me give you two advice, two hint how to detect it.

The first one is the emotion shows first on the face.

The first thing that's gonna come.

If your emotion come at the same time as you speak, then it is a dissimulation.

It's fake.

So second one is an emotion actually lasts less than a second.

So any manifestation, demonstration of this emotion,

if it lasts more than one second, you're probably faking it as well.

One last thing, it's on your tongue.

In a recent poll by a great newspaper, 4% of American say that they believe that

lesser people were among the US and were trying to take over the US government.

I cannot comment on the veracity of that, but I can give you two things.

First, being called lizard is not a compliment on your honesty.

Second is your tongue is gonna start under pressure to flick phonetically.

And that short gif John Kerry in a 90 minutes,

90 second testimony flicks his tongue like a snake eight times.

>> [LAUGH] >> I'll let you make up your mind about

what he says, but I'll tell you one thing, keep your tongue in.

>> [LAUGH] >> Looking at the eyes and

the face, is that an actor?

You also wanna pay attention to the hands and the gestures.

In particular, you wanna pay attention to three things.

The first is where the hands are going.

When we lie, we tend to do movements with our hands that we wouldn't otherwise.

Some of these include, covering your mouth, as if the brain was

telling the body, you're lying, you might get caught, and there's consequences.

So cover yourself.

The second is we scratch our nose.

And we do that because we release more adrenaline when we're nervous,

when we're lying and therefore our skin becomes itchy.

We also tend to rub our neck or

our ear in a reassuring reflex that we have had since we were little kids.

The second part is timing.

Just as Rodolphe mentioned with the facial expressions, with gestures,

timing is also of the essence.

Every time we speak and we're gesturing at the same time, we always gesture first and

then say the words.

But when we lie, we usually say the words first and then do the gesture.

In this video, hopefully you'll be able to see the differences.

And see how whenever [CROSSTALK].

>> But I wanna say one thing to the American people.

I want you to listen to me.

I'm gonna say this again.

I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

Miss Lew- >> Do you believe him?

Even if you didn't know, if you didn't know that he was lying,

you would be able to tell that something's off.

There's a difference between I did not and I did not.

Hopefully by now you'll be able to tell that that difference usually implies that

someone is not being completely honest.

The third thing to look for is the positioning of the palms.

Will you believe me more if I'm talking to you like this, or

if I'm talking to you like this?

Our palms are a part of our body that we use to connect with other people a lot.

That's why we handshake, that's why we wave whenever we greet people.

Therefore, whenever someone is lying, it's very hard to do so

with their palms exposed.

So, what we do is we either put them in our pockets, or just put them,

facing down, or we put them behind an object that may be in between us and

the people that we're lying to, such as a desk.

Gesturing is the most primitive way of communication that humans have.

And for that reason, we tend to do the movements instantaneously.

Even when we can rehearse the words that we say when we lie,

the gestures have a mind of their own.

So they're more involuntary.

By now, hopefully you'll be able to see that if you pay attention to where

the hands go, the timing of the movement and also, where the palms are facing.

We'd say a lot without saying nothing.

>> Well, Daniel just showed us the importance of

looking at the hand gestures to detect lies.

And Rodolphe had mentioned the facial expression.

Joe Navarro who's been an FBI behavioral analyst for

the past 20 years and author of What Everybody Is Saying,

claims that the most honest part of our body is actually our feet.

And this is because when we try to control our body we focus on our facial

expressions and our hands but we often don't rehearse our feet.

So there's really four main things that you should look out for with the feet.

The first is how you stand.

So I'm standing here with my weight equally distributed between both my legs.

This shows that I'm much more comfortable about what I'm saying.

And I'm taking a firm stand on the subject, but if I were to cross my legs,

this is a much more closed and defensive position.

I'm much more uncomfortable about what I'm saying and

I'm likely to be more nervous about it.

And I were to shift my weight from side to side.

Or rock back and forth.

This is a sign that I'm trying to calm myself.

And again, I'm likely nervous about what I'm saying to you.

The second thing to look out for, is how often the feet are moving.

So, if I'm fidgeting my feet, if I'm tapping them,

if I'm winding them around things.

It's likely another sign that I'm uncomfortable with what I'm saying to you.

The third thing to look out for is the direction of where my feet are pointing.

This is an indication of my interest level and

my liking towards the person that I'm talking to.

So if we were to have a conversation and my feet were pointing toward the door but

my torso is still pointed towards you, it likely means that I wanna exit this

conversation because I'm not interested in talking to you.

[LAUGH] And the fourth and final thing to look out for

is this concept of ankle locking and this is where one ankle crosses the other.

And this is a sign that somebody is likely withholding information from you.

For example, in therapy sessions,

a lot of patients will lock their ankles as they're withholding their emotions.

And in negotiations, if the person across from the table from you is

locking their ankles, it likely means that they're withholding valuable concessions.

So for all these reasons, remember that one of the most honest,

non-verbal communicators are actually your feet.

So take a glance down at somebody's feet when you're talking to them.

And look out for the four signs of lying.

Unbalanced stance,

lot of feet movement, the feet pointing away from you, and ankle locking.

>> So at this point we've really picked apart the nonverbals of deception.

We've talked to you about the face, we've talked to you about the hands, and

we've talked to you about the feet.

Just to bring it back together,

it's important to remember to view behaviors in clusters.

So look for at least three signs of lying before calling foul.

And if you can, think about the context of what's normal for

the individual that you're observing.

Now, we don't condone lying per se, but we would encourage you to use this knowledge,

not only for others, but for yourself.

So the next time you're at the World Series of Poker,

don't forget your sunglasses to cover up those dilated pupils.

Or if that's not in the cards,

consider your next tough negotiation, or interview situation.

We'd love now to turn to questions,

would love to hear anything that you would like to ask us,

but first we want to answer what might be the most burning question in the room.

Who was lying?

>> [LAUGH]

[MUSIC]