Body Language Decoded (Psychology Documentary) | Only Human
Summary
TLDRThe script delves into the powerful world of nonverbal communication, emphasizing its role in conveying emotions and intentions more accurately than words. It discusses the innate nature of body language, its evolutionary significance for survival, and its application in modern contexts like security, marketing, and therapy. The script also highlights the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and the potential of technology to analyze and interpret human expressions, suggesting a future where machines understand and respond to our nonverbal cues.
Takeaways
- ๐ง Body language is an innate part of human communication that can convey emotions and intentions without the need for verbal expression.
- ๐ค Our bodies can communicate our true feelings even when we try to hide them, making it an essential tool for understanding nonverbal cues.
- ๐๏ธโ๐จ๏ธ The face is a particularly expressive part of the body, with over 43 muscles capable of producing more than 10,000 expressions.
- ๐ญ Some emotions are hardwired to specific facial expressions, which are universally recognized across different cultures and are present from birth.
- ๐บ The way we walk and move can reveal our intentions, state of mind, and physical health, much like how animals use body language.
- ๐ด๏ธ Power poses and body language can influence how we feel about ourselves, suggesting a connection between body posture and psychological states.
- ๐ Experts in body language, such as former FBI agents, use detailed observation of facial expressions, gestures, and body movements to detect deception.
- ๐ Micro-expressions are fleeting facial expressions that can reveal a person's true emotions despite their attempts to conceal them.
- ๐ Airport security personnel are trained in behavior detection to identify potential threats based on body language and behavioral cues.
- ๐ฌ Research in deception and body language suggests that liars may appear more confident and less nervous than commonly believed, challenging popular myths about lying.
- ๐ป Advances in technology are enabling computers and algorithms to analyze and understand human body language, with applications in advertising and human-computer interaction.
Q & A
What is the significance of body language in communication?
-Body language is an innate part of being human and plays a crucial role in communication as it can convey emotions and intentions without the need for words. Actions often speak louder than words, and body language can be a valuable tool in various fields such as justice, security, marketing, and therapy.
Why are some emotions closely tied to certain body expressions?
-Certain emotions are closely tied to specific body expressions because they are hardwired into our brains as a part of our evolutionary history. These expressions evolved to help us communicate basic needs and motives related to survival.
How many different facial expressions can be made with the human face muscles?
-There are 43 different muscles in the human face, which can create over 10,000 different facial expressions.
What is the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)?
-FACS is a system that breaks down every functional anatomical movement that the face can make and codifies each muscle movement with a specific number. It allows trained observers to identify which muscle is creating a particular facial expression.
How does the body language of the feet reveal a person's true intentions?
-The feet are often more accurate indicators of a person's intentions than the face because they are not influenced by social conventions. They automatically orient towards where the person wants to go, providing an honest signal of their intentions.
What is the role of the limbic system in our body language?
-The limbic system, an ancient part of the brain, is responsible for reacting to threats and keeping us safe. It affects the way we move our bodies and can transmit signals of comfort or discomfort, fear, or aggression through our posture and gestures.
How can observing a couple's body language provide insights into the state of their relationship?
-Observing a couple's body language, such as their proximity, toe pointing, and eye contact, can indicate the level of connection and affection between them. For example, couples who stand close and have their toes pointed towards each other are likely in a positive relationship.
What are micro-expressions and why are they significant in detecting deception?
-Micro-expressions are quick, fleeting facial expressions of emotion that occur when a person is trying to control their expressions despite feeling strong emotions. They are significant in detecting deception as they can reveal a person's true feelings despite their attempts to hide them.
How is body language analysis used in airport security?
-Airport security uses body language analysis to detect potential threats by training employees to observe passengers for signs of discomfort, unusual behavior, or signs of deception. This helps in identifying potentially dangerous individuals before they can cause harm.
What is the connection between body language and the treatment of psychological disorders?
-Body language can be used in the treatment of psychological disorders like post-traumatic stress by employing body-based therapies that teach patients to adopt postures and movements that communicate safety and power, which can help in calming the nervous system and reducing symptoms of trauma.
How is technology being used to understand and interpret human body language?
-Technology, such as imaging software and computer algorithms, is being developed to recognize and analyze facial expressions and body movements. This can be used in applications like market research to measure consumer reactions to advertisements or in human-computer and human-robot interactions for more natural communication.
Outlines
๐ The Power of Nonverbal Communication
This paragraph delves into the innate human ability to communicate nonverbally, emphasizing that body language often conveys more than words. It highlights the universality of certain expressions and the difficulty in masking genuine emotions, even for skilled actors. The text also underscores the importance of understanding nonverbal cues in various fields, such as law enforcement, marketing, and therapy, and touches on the complexity of reading facial expressions and body gestures.
๐จ Fear and Survival: Evolutionary Body Language
The second paragraph explores the evolutionary roots of non-verbal communication, particularly focusing on fear as a universal human response. It discusses how body language has been shaped by survival instincts, with examples such as chest expansion to prepare for fight or flight and visual field changes to adapt to threats. The paragraph also mentions the role of the limbic system in processing threats and the primal ability to communicate danger through facial expressions and body movements.
๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ Deciphering Deception and Body Language Expertise
This section examines the challenges and techniques used to detect deception through body language. It introduces Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent known for his expertise in reading body language to catch criminals. The text explains how feet can be more reliable indicators of a person's true intentions than facial expressions due to social conventions. It also discusses the role of the reptilian brain and the limbic system in involuntary responses that can reveal a person's comfort or discomfort.
๐ฅ Relationships and Interactions: Body Language Insights
The fourth paragraph discusses the role of body language in interpersonal relationships, with insights from Dr. Lillian Glass, a body language and communication expert. It illustrates how body language cues can reveal the dynamics of a relationship, such as affection, tension, and disconnection. The text also touches on the significance of spatial distance, toe pointing, and tactile interactions in gauging the nature of relationships.
๐ค The Unconscious Expression of Thoughts and Emotions
This paragraph explores how thoughts and emotions are expressed through body language involuntarily, even when we are unaware. It explains the neurological connection between thoughts and hand gestures, suggesting that our bodies naturally move in response to our mental state. The text also highlights the idea that our gestures are not just for communication but also serve as a reflection of our internal processes.
๐ The Science of Facial Expressions: FACS
The sixth paragraph introduces the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a method for analyzing and understanding facial expressions. It discusses the universality of certain facial expressions, such as joy, sadness, anger, and fear, and how these expressions are innate rather than learned. The text provides examples of how facial expressions were studied in various contexts, including the Olympics and interactions among blind athletes.
๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ Detecting Deception: Microexpressions and Behavioral Analysis
This section delves into the detection of deception through microexpressions and behavioral analysis. It explains that microexpressions are fleeting facial expressions that reveal a person's true emotions despite their attempts to conceal them. The text also discusses the role of body language in deception, including signs of discomfort and stress, and how experts use these cues to detect dishonesty.
๐ Airport Security and Behavior Detection
The eighth paragraph discusses the application of behavior detection in airport security, highlighting the training of airport employees to identify suspicious behaviors. It explains how the combination of technology and social psychology is used to prevent potential threats and how employees are taught to observe passengers for signs of nervousness or avoidance.
๐ง The Art of Deception: High Stakes Lies and Body Language
This section examines high stakes deception and how body language can reveal dishonesty. It discusses a study conducted by Dr. Steven Porter on videos of people pleading for the return of missing relatives, using the case of Carissa Buro to illustrate how body language can indicate deception. The text explains how certain facial expressions and gestures can betray a person's true emotions, even when they are attempting to appear sincere.
๐ถโโ๏ธ The Story Our Walk Tells: Gait and Body Language
The tenth paragraph explores the information conveyed by the way people walk, discussing how gait can reveal intentions, emotions, and physical state. It introduces Dr. Nicholas Troj's research on biological motion and how the human brain interprets movement. The text also touches on the idea that body language can be more honest than facial expressions and how humans are efficient in decoding the information contained in the way others move.
๐ The Power of Movement: Dance and Body Language
This paragraph discusses the expressive power of body language in dance, contrasting the traditional portrayal of fragility in female ballet characters with more contemporary representations of power and freedom. It also examines cultural displays of power, such as the Haka performed by the New Zealand All Blacks, and how these nonverbal displays prepare individuals for challenging situations.
๐ค The Future of Body Language Understanding: Technology and AI
The final paragraph explores the intersection of technology and body language understanding, discussing the work of Roberto Valente and his company's project to teach computers to recognize human body language. It highlights the potential applications of this technology in market research, advertising, and human-computer interaction, emphasizing the growing role of machines in interpreting nonverbal cues.
๐ The Ethical Considerations of Body Language Science
In the concluding paragraph, the speaker reflects on the ethical implications and societal benefits of studying body language. They express hope for the positive use of body language understanding to improve society, such as by enhancing security or aiding in psychological treatments. The text also acknowledges the potential burdens of being highly attuned to nonverbal cues and the importance of using this knowledge responsibly.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กBody Language
๐กMicroexpressions
๐กDeception
๐กFacial Action Coding System (FACS)
๐กGestures
๐กEvolutionary Behavior
๐กNonverbal Communication
๐กBehavior Detection
๐กPower Poses
๐กPost-Traumatic Stress
Highlights
Body language is an innate part of human communication that can convey emotions and thoughts without words.
Actions often speak louder than words, as demonstrated by the tendency to use hand gestures even when the other person cannot see them.
Certain emotions are closely tied to specific body expressions, and these are hardwired, making it difficult to deceive without exceptional acting skills.
Understanding nonverbal communication is valuable in various fields such as the justice system, security, marketing, and even as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress.
The human face, with its 43 muscles, can create over 10,000 expressions, which are universally recognized and hardwired to our brains.
Facial expressions of emotions, like fear or surprise, have evolved to serve specific survival functions, such as expanding the chest for oxygen intake or increasing visual fields.
The feet can be more accurate indicators of a person's true intentions than the face, as they are not bound by social conventions.
The human body, particularly the face, communicates fear involuntarily, as seen in the reaction of a couple who encountered a moose during a drive.
The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is a method to break down and codify every possible movement of the face, aiding in the study of emotional expressions.
Blind athletes display the same facial expressions as sighted athletes, suggesting an innate ability to produce these expressions from birth.
Tactile communication, such as touching or grooming, can indicate comfort and psychological closeness between individuals.
Deception can be detected through signs of discomfort, such as lip biting, furrowing of the forehead, and other nervous behaviors.
Micro-expressions are fleeting facial expressions that reveal a person's true emotions despite attempts to control their expressions.
Airport security personnel are trained in behavior detection to identify potential threats based on body language and other nonverbal cues.
Deception studies have debunked common myths about lying, showing that liars can appear convincing and sincere through controlled body language.
Biological motion research reveals that humans can instinctively interpret the intentions and emotions of others based on their walk and body movements.
Power poses, as demonstrated by Amy Cuddy, suggest that adopting expansive postures can actually make individuals feel more powerful and confident.
Body language in dance, such as the Haka, can be a powerful form of nonverbal communication that prepares individuals for challenging situations.
Emerging technologies are teaching computers to understand human body language for applications in market research, advertising, and human-computer interaction.
The study of body language has practical implications for improving society, from enhancing security to developing new treatments for psychological disorders.
Transcripts
[Music]
for many of us people watching is
endlessly fascinating even when we can't
hear or don't understand what's being
said we can often get the gist of it by
simply
looking our bodies are constantly
communicating we don't need a PowerPoint
presentation we don't need a stage we
don't need a projector or a screen we
can display what we really feel at any
moment at any time anywhere we are
[Music]
present body language is an innate part
of what it means to be alive and it
turns out that actions do speak louder
than words why else would we talk with
our hands when the person we're speaking
to can't even see
us what we know is that some emotions
are tied very closely to certain body
expressions and that that works in both
directions because it's
hardwired the body doesn't
lie you can't fool people unless you're
a phenomenal actor and there are very
few of them I did not have sexual
relations with that woman Miss Linsky
most people are no better than flipping
a coin in judging deception it's not
faces it's not by itself it's not
gestures by itself it's not a certain
word by itself it's not scratching my
nose or covering my mouth or being
fidgety
understanding nonverbal communication
has become a valuable tool in the
justice system an essential skill for
security
teams a high-tech commodity in the world
of
marketing and even a potential treatment
for post-traumatic
stress more than ever it's important to
know what is our body language really
saying
this is a place where stories are told
not just with words but with
images one of the essential skills here
is an intimate knowledge of the human
face how it's constructed how it works
and most importantly how it moves what
I'm doing is I'm bringing life to
something that has no life and one of
the easiest ways to do that is to bring
facial expressions and emotions into the
face as you can see I'm moving the
forehead here so when you you're angry
furrows very quickly and it can go up
and you're surprised it raises so there
are 43 different muscles in the face and
with those muscles you can make 10,000
plus Expressions so everybody knows a
smile is a smile and a frown is a frown
um which makes it easier to buy but it's
also you got to get it right
or something seems
off just by reading my face you can tell
if I'm happy or
angry or
disgusted these facial expressions are
hardwired to our brains and common to
every human being on the
planet why is
that the answer goes back to the very
beginnings of
humankind
[Music]
put yourself in the position of a human
100,000 years ago we'd be out there in
the wild worrying about who who's going
to come and attack
us and there were just non-verbal
[Music]
behaviors the reason why we have these
things in our evolutionary history is
because they had value to us in terms of
our
survival
[Music]
if we were walking around 100,000 years
ago and all of a sudden I see some
something that I think is a threat and I
went like this and you saw me do that
you probably would not start charging
over there and so you're getting signal
value from what I'm doing without even
talking about it without even expressing
the words and this is immediate and
automatic our faces communicate fear
involuntarily take this couple out for a
drive in the
country they struck a
moose both of them live to tell the Tale
But the look of fear etched on the
woman's face would be recognized
anywhere on the planet her body is
reacting this way for specific reasons
what that's doing for me is that it
allows me to expand my chest I can take
in oxygen because I'm my body is
preparing to fight or
flee um my eyes get a little larger so I
can in increase my visual uh my visual
Fields so I can see more things as
opposed to when I'm angry you bring your
brows down and you start doing this so
you're narrowing and restricting the
visual field so that I am starting to
Target non-verbal behaviors all emerged
in our evolutionary history to help us
communicate with each other about these
very basic needs and motives related to
survival so for example if we were
walking around here 100,000 years ago
and I happen to pick up something that I
thought maybe we would want to have for
dinner and I picked that thing up and I
put that in my mouth and I just went G
like this and I gave it to you you
probably wouldn't need
it well what's really interesting about
about facial expressions of emotion is
that the specific muscle configurations
on our faces occur for a specific reason
the research has shown that wrinkling
your nose actually cuts off some of the
nasal passages it helps me not ingest
all of this stuff together into my body
and so there's a function to that for
me when I was uh 23 I was approached by
the FBI to become a special agent uh how
they found me I don't
know Joe Navaro spent 25 years as an FBI
agent his specialty was reading body
language and by the time he retired he'd
earned the nickname the Spy
catcher I was involved in a program
called the behavioral analysis
program and we looked at the human
behavior so that we could understand it
so that we could interpret it so we
could decode it and uh and use it and uh
in our
investigations Navarro's success at
catching criminals is rooted in looking
at things that most of us wouldn't think
of one of the things that I noticed
immediately was how accurate the feet
were and that the feet were actually
more accurate often than the face
because by social convention you're
walking down the street somebody
smiles and you smile back but your feet
have no such association with social
convention you know the right foot or
the left foot will will automatically
Orient towards where the person wants to
go so we'll make facial contact but our
feet are not dedicated to that at at
all we have a very ancient part of the
brain The Reptilian Brain this has to
deal with breathing eating basic
survival things on top of that we have
this Exquisite system called the lyic
system it evolved to react and to keep
us safe and if it sees a threat and it
doesn't matter whether it's a lion or a
tiger or
words it says
stop our limic system is a bit like
software running in the background and
whether we like it or not it affects the
way we move our bodies
we certainly saw this with Prince
Charles and Princess D they would
literally eventually deny each other in
a way the the easiest way to teach this
is to is to say a belly away don't want
you to
stay when your limic system is
regulating all of this it's in the
moment the whole body is
transmitting this is a part of our
primate
[Music]
past our ancestors were really good at
reading people because if they didn't
know who his friend or who his foe they
would be dead it's as simple as
[Music]
that Dr Lillian glass is taking a stroll
on the Santa Monica Pier She's a Body
Language and Communications expert here
to do some people
watching
the body doesn't
lie you can't fool people unless you're
a phenomenal
actor body language can tell you so
much she absolutely Ador him and you
know he's not really giving her much
communication he's very much
[Music]
aloof and you can see she's really
cornered him literally she'd like a lot
more than he's
giving and she's pulling on a shirt she
really wants to get
attention they've disconnected she's
gone over to the side her head is down
and it's not
happening and
she's she's resigned herself to just
look at the ocean there's not a lot of
bonding there there's not touching
there's not communication
so there's some tension in that
relationship when I look at people I
look at the whole person I don't just
look at one thing one of the things I
look for is how close do the couple
stand to one another also how are their
toes pointed if your toes are pointed in
the direction of your partner chances
are that you're in good
shape they absolutely adore one another
it's such a a kind of a beautiful day
Dan to watch this couple they're really
connected they're absolutely in
[Music]
sync he kisses her forehead with such
love and affection and tenderness they
look right into each other's
eyes very very enamored with him and
vice
[Music]
versa how long have you two been
together a year a year and has it always
been this beautiful and and like a dance
yes how did you two meet uh in a company
a company you work together yes and you
just fell in love
yes I got interested in body language
because I started out as a speech
pathologist and I was working with
people from all walks of life because
they thought I look too feminine
something from the bar isn't that
amazing please could you get me a double
vodka right away first person I worked
with was Dustin Hoffman for the lady oh
how about a du with a Twist yes ma'am I
was the one that taught him how to sound
like a woman for Tootsie you're not
going to get away with this I got away
with it look around and then it kind of
grew and started doing a lot of media
and wrote 18 books on communication and
body language and dealing with toxic
people and here I
am what I'm doing is very systematic but
you may do it it automatically how many
times have you said nah I don't like
that person or you turn on the
television ah they're lying I can't
stand them I would build a great wall
and nobody builds walls better than me
believe me Donald Trump whether you love
him or you hate him the bottom line is
he is a great communicator are you
running are you not running his body
langu he doesn't care he makes facial
expressions but he's real what is our
country coming to and that's what's
coming across there's not phoniness that
we've seen so much in our politicians
where they're gesturing like this Trump
gestures like this I will
be the greatest jobs president that God
ever created I trust my guts I trust my
instincts and that emotion tells you
uh-uh that's not right uh he's full of
it oh he's telling the truth so that
emotion tells you and that's called your
gut level
[Music]
communication while our instincts help
us interpret other people's body
language what we do with our own bodies
can often happen for reasons beyond our
control once you have a thought before
it gets to the voice box it has to go
through the area of the brain that
controls my hands and this is
neurologically true for everybody once
I'm going to verbalize a thought it
makes me move my hands so doing this is
not just a communicative value it's not
just having signal value to you who's
who are watching this it's helping me
think the fact of the matter is our
gestures are not just communicative
because when you're on the phone and I'm
on the phone we're also
gesturing even though we know that the
person can't see
[Music]
us that's the way we are created the
body just expresses or embodies what's
going on in our
minds so so how can we decode the body
language of other people in a more
systemic way the most obvious place to
begin is the
face the body doesn't lie and neither
does the face because the face is
connected with a lot of facial nerves
and 12 cranial nerves and when you have
an emotion these nerves fire and muscles
start moving the resaurus muscle you
either smile or you're frowning the
master muscles if you're angry something
happens here in your jaw but once it's
triggered something in my mind says okay
I'm emotional our brains tell us to fire
a package of
components one set of components has to
do with our
physiology one set of components has to
do with our cognitions and one set of
components has to do with our expressive
behavior in our hands and our face and
all that so that one that goes along
that one facial nerve
that that lights up our faces I think
that's an interesting thing this one
piece will make 52 layers watch on
mobile devices or the big screen all for
free no subscription
required in the past 40 years all of the
movements our face muscles can make have
been meticulously studied analyzed and
codified it's a system known as
fax well fax is the acronym for the
facial action coding system it breaks
down every functional anatomical
movement that the face can can make and
it codifies each muscle movement by a
certain number so whenever a person is
moving their face for whatever reason a
trained Observer can learn how to
identify which muscle is creating that
appearance change let's say I there's an
an expression of fear that occurs I
could break down this prototypic
expression of fear as in facts K it
would be a one a two a four 5 7 20 with
26 researchers have identified seven
universally recognized facial
expressions there's joy
surprise
contempt
sadness
anger
disgust and finally
fear Professor Matsumoto has a black
belt in
Judo his passion for the sport took him
to the 2004 Olympic Games in
Athens there he conducted an experiment
photographing the faces of the Judo
competitors so here are some examples of
images that we selected for analysis we
then code the muscle movements in the
face using the facial action coding
system we know of course when the person
has one there's a very large expression
of joy that happiness the happiness
expression has the muscle around the eye
that's inovated it Puffs out the cheeks
it gives a little shine it's exactly the
same muscles that are inated right here
the prototypic expression of
Joy so we did the same kind of study
with the par Olympic games that happened
in since 2 weeks after the cited
Olympics the blind athletes did exactly
the same kinds of facial expressions as
the cited athletes did now why why is
this important it's important because
most of these blind athletes were blind
from birth there's no way they could
possibly have learned to produce these
Expressions by seeing anybody else that
means that the only rational explanation
is that we are all born with the ability
to produce these Expressions it's an
innate ability of
ours
so here we are a hotel lobby it's a
great place to uh people
watch here we have uh three women and
and we notice you know how often they
they either touch each other or signal
to each other and this is tells us
they've known each other for a while now
one of the ways that we can tell when
people are um are standing and talking
is uh how relaxed they are and we notice
that the the woman just crossed her leg
one in front of the other and this is a
high Comfort display we only do that
when we're comfortable uh around um uh
other
people we know that this family gets
along really well we know this just from
the amount of tacti St activity we're
observing that there's a lot of touching
between the the father and uh and the
son and this is always a good indicator
of a of a positive
relationship and so we see the the young
lady fixing the other girl's hair and we
think of it as this is merely for
aesthetic purposes that's only part of
it by grooming other people it
stimulates the hair follicles and it
send signals to the brain that add to uh
psychological
Comfort instinctively we can usually
tell if people are comfortable with each
other but the fact is that many of us
will sometimes try to disguise the
emotion we are
experiencing we do it when we're trying
to be polite or we could be trying to
deceive
someone detecting deception is where an
investig Ator expertise comes in
handy there is no Pinocchio effect there
is not one single Behavior indicative of
deception the Paradigm that I like to
use is comfort and discomfort that
humans are very
binary we are either crying as a baby or
we're uh quite uh quite
satisfied people are either very
comfortable or they're struggling with
something if you're not an expert on
body language it's a good place to at
least begin you will see everything from
lip biting
squinting lip compression furrowing of
the forehead displacement of the jaw
they might
go we might do a cleansing Behavior
where we wipe our hands on our on our
legs if we're really stressed you often
see people uh pull their socks up and
they're literally
ventilating uh their skin uh down by the
feet they may actually um dimple their
cheeks they put pressure on on
themselves or they may ring their hands
they literally ring their
hands the person may run his fingers
through his hair or women do it back
here even a light touching of the neck
is suggestive that something's wrong we
humans do that a lot um they may be
covering of the super sternal notch we
go oh my God that
happened so we look at all these
behaviors and say okay I asked a
question and this is their reaction now
the question is why
why are they behaving like
this discomfort can also trigger our
face muscles to move in ways that are
difficult to spot and even harder to
control they're known as micro
Expressions micro expressions are quick
extremely quick fleeting facial
expressions of emotion they happen when
you're emotional but you're in a
situation where you're trying to control
your Expressions if you can imagine
there's a neural tug OFW that's fighting
for control over your
face the concept of micro Expressions uh
started with Darwin in the book the
expression of emotion in man and animals
basically Darwin stated that sometimes
we are so overwhelmed with emotion that
despite our best attempts to control
them they leak
out let's say for example somebody walks
in the room and you can't stand them but
you're going to smile at them anyway
because it's your boss so you go hi you
automatically have that snarl but you
don't see that snarl it happens really
fast so the micro expressions are the
leakage that's occurring because of this
neurot tug of war in situations where
I'm emotional I'm emotional but I'm
trying to hide
it Miami International Airport is one of
the busiest in the United States every
year some 45 million passengers come and
go travel ERS and their luggage are
screened in a variety of ways but an
airport is a place where you can be sure
your body language is being
watched today the woman in charge of
airport Public Safety and Security is
walking the
terminal first of all we have to know
what are our threats and then what are
the behaviors associated with those
threats these are your bags excuse me
who the owner of the bags over here
back just to stay
with those are
yours the behavior of an individual
dropping a bag and walking away from it
should raise a red
flag behavior is more than just how a
person acts it's about their facial
expressions their body language and it's
something that we have to intuitively be
able to evaluate in a split second
here we actively scan the public looking
for something that is just not right how
they're dressed how they're acting are
they engaged are they disengaged are
they zoned out are they wanting to avoid
any kind of contact with other people
are they trying not to be
noticed 10 years ago Stover had a
radical idea what if everyone who worked
at the airport no matter what job they
did was trained in behavor havior
detection as long as we hire from the
human race there will always be threats
to deal with and I knew that I had
40,000 troops working here at this
airport that I could use to help me with
security and so now all the airport
employees check-in staff mechanics
baggage handlers everyone gets training
in Behavior
detection starting with a janitorial sty
a lot of behavior detection is intuitive
and we're just using the basic intuition
in all of us to just kind of tweak it
refine it and give the employees that
tool to be able to use it as they assist
the passengers you know we have a brown
uniform you may have a blue uniform the
fact is that our missions very similar
in sessions like this one Miami Airport
workers receive basic training and
behavior recognition you guys are most
important assets in the war against it's
not only terrorism but criminal activity
um the airport workers are instructed to
observe people in the terminal to look
out for anything outside the range of
normal
behavior is anyone loitering is anyone
making hand signals do passengers look
especially nervous as you know we have
to get it right every day cuz the
terrorists only need one
shot Miami International also uses more
conventional
methods
there's thousands of cameras here at
Miami International Airport that's the
marriage between Behavior detection and
Technology what's interesting is their
clothing and choice of clothing
somebody's going to go to the Bahamas
they're not going to be wearing bulky
clothing we can look for a person's
hands their hand movement is very
important we have to try to keep an eye
on everybody's hands we don't have the
large large canine teeth that other
Predators have and so we focus on the
hands we look for the hands to say are
they
welcoming or are they aggressive the two
suicide bombers in Brussels with the
glove on their hands that should have
stood out as an
anomaly okay okay I
go
airports typically try to stop
passengers from taking dangerous items
onto
airplanes the focus here is different to
stop potentially dangerous people from
getting onto
planes it's not as much about technology
as it is about social psychology
developing and sharing the ability to
read
people when I started in law enforcement
there was mostly anecdotal information
if you touch your nose you're lying if
if you touch your mouth you're lying
well you know that's just sheer
nonsense most people are no better than
flipping a coin in judging deception
when people are doing the Shifty eyes
thing uh whether their eyes up into the
left or down into the right or whatever
that is they're lying that's a big
myth here at the University of British
Columbia there's a small research group
focused on deception and Body
Language through Evolution it appear
that there's been an arms race between
reading other people and other people
controlling what they want us to see
first time you told a lie all day the
research is led by forensic psychologist
Dr Steven Porter his team studies the
way people interact and the different
ways we try to deceive each
other Liars or insincere individuals are
expected to fidget a lot uh they're
expected to look very nervous maybe
shift around in their seat and
scientifically the real ts are the
opposite of that I want you to listen to
me I'm going to say this again so if you
watch Bill Clinton for example and his
denial of having sex with Miss Lewinsky
he's burning holes through people in the
audience he's he's picking particular
individuals and he's just staring them
down I did not have sexual relations
with that woman if we look at his
non-verbal Behavior as well as his
verbal behavior during that claim he
comes across as extremely convinc ing as
extremely sincere I never told anybody
to lie whether he's a trained liar we
don't know but he certainly he's
certainly a very skilled liar not a
single time never he conveys anger and
hostility at at the idea that anybody
was thinking he was even lying these
allegations are false he's using this
thing we call an illustrator very very
effectively and I need to go back to
work for the American people it's an
intimidation tactic it's a power and
control thing and it's an attention
grabber thank you
human beings lie to one another on
average one to two times per day if you
have a pair of human strangers who
interact within 10 minutes they're lying
to each other on average three times and
so we see deception you know in everyday
life Little White Lies all the way up to
or high stakes lies but it's a really
fundamental aspect of social
interaction so our research group
decided to undertake the largest scale
study of high stakes deception ever
conducted and that entailed collecting
videos from all over the world of people
pleading for the return of a missing
relative so in 2008 Carissa Buro in Nova
Scotia went missing and her mother Penny
bu gave an impassioned plea to the
public to try to assist in finding her
missing daughter so uh please determine
if the individual in the following video
is being Hest the Buro video is used to
teach some fundamentals about body
language I'll leave the room throughout
your discussion and please let me know
when you're finished and I will return
and hear your
verdict your grandparents are looking
for
you all of us
are I don't know where you are but just
come home or call or something
please all your friends are looking for
you
and we're all worried we just want you
home safe thank you for coming
today she looked distressed clearly
yeah she was crying a lot but were they
real tears of course they were they were
think she was wiping them yeah you got a
point there she was wiping them right
off her voice was cracking yeah very
true was really sad exhausted I don't
think you would go on national TV if you
were lying like I just don't think he
would I don't know where you are but
just come up W recall or
something so the interesting thing about
the penny Buro video is that she shows a
classic sign of emotional deception
she's attempting to appear distressed
because her daughter is missing but
she's not showing an engagement of the
distressed muscles which are the
corrugators in between the eyes which
generally when somebody's distressed
they go together and up the deceptive
pleaders generally are unable to engage
those muscles and they end up looking
more like a deer in the headlights they
look surprised I took her for drive that
day just to try to have a heart to heart
with her in a place like in a car she
can't get away and slam her door which
she usually does to me in this Frame and
a couple frames uh after it Penny dis
displays hostility both in her facial
expression and in the word she uses and
her tone of voice indicating that she's
still very upset angry with Carissa for
one reason or another she doesn't want
the world to know that she's feeling
that but it's coming out
involuntarily can I ask you what this
has been like as a
mother Penny responds to the question
from the interviewer with a flash of
anger and
hostility she knows that her daughter is
dead the interviewer is asking questions
that are getting a little too close to
home Porter shared his team's insights
with police
investigators the police then switched
the focus of their investigation to
Penny budro
herself eventually they got information
that she had in fact murdered her
daughter because her boyfriend the
suspect had mentioned one day he didn't
think he was ready to be a father thank
[Music]
you one thing that I've learned that
that really surprised me was the extent
the magnitude of information that we're
conveying any moment uh via our body
language our facial expressions and what
we're saying even Psychopathic Liars who
are you know some of the best around us
aren't able to control quote unquote
leakage via at least one of these
different communication
channels it's not just the human face
that can reveal inner thoughts you can
tell a lot about a person from the way
they
walk imagine
we are in the savannah in Africa as
early man was and they're looking on the
horizon and they see people
walking what's their gate cuz that's
really what they can see are they
walking towards us away from us are they
walking
aggressively The Way We Walk can say a
lot it can reveal our intentions our
state of mind and our physical health at
Queen University in Canada they are
studying biological
motion the research is led by Dr
Nicholas troj he's interested in how the
human brain instinctively interprets the
way people
move people spend a lot of time watching
other people and we've become experts in
it when we talk about body language it's
a signal which is in a way much more
honest than facial expression because
it's much harder to fake and it's much
harder to
control the humans apparently are very
very efficient in decoding the
information which is contained in the
way humans move if you feel something is
odd or if you feel uncomfortable with
someone um who is moving a system kicks
in that knows if something is not quite
right what I'm showing you here is uh 15
dots on the screen and you might be able
to make out a um human behind those dots
but that changes dramatically if I set
it into motion so if this one moves you
can't help but um seeing a person here
um you see more than just a person you
can determine whether or you can at
least make a good guess whether this
here is a male so you see here this
lateral body wayway and you see the
shape of the male changing a little bit
with wider shoulders and narrower hips
on the other hand here you see there's
clearly a woman here um with a very
different movement so more uh vertical
movement here less lateral bodies way
more moving in the hips here you can see
more than the than the gender of the
Walker I can make it more um um relaxed
here um we can make the woman a little
more um happy here you see that vertical
bounciness and the swing and the um in
in the motion
here I've always been fascinated by how
much much information apparently there
is in the way people um appear and what
fascinates me most is really the
sophistication of the information that
we can retrieve from it the human visual
system does it without thinking or we
just do it so obviously the way we feel
affects the way we pose our body and
also the way we move but interestingly
um the way we move can also have effects
on the way um we feel
so we're really fascinated with body
language and we're particularly
interested in other people's body
language you know we're this is one of
the most watched TED talks of all time
with more than 36 million online views
the speaker is American social
psychologist Amy C us and what the
outcomes are we tend to forget those the
other audience that's influenced by our
nonverbals and that's ourselves cuy is
on the teaching staff at the Harvard
Business School she's renowned for her
work on so-called power poses the idea
that we can actually make ourselves feel
more powerful simply by the way we carry
ourselves your body and your mind are
constantly in conversation with each
other and your body is largely driving
that conversation why not take control
control of that why not have your body
tell your mind that you're safe and
Powerful rather than having your body
tell your mind you're not safe you're
not
powerful so if you take non-human
primates I mean you see them expand
their chests uh pound their chests they
do things to make themselves appear
bigger than the other individuals in
their
hierarchy you see this kind of body
language across the animal kingdom and
similarly when animals feel powerless
they do exactly the opposite they make
themselves tiny humans are animals as
well and we do the same kinds of
things some of the most expressive
examples of body language happen in the
world of dance in the classical ballets
the female lead character is usually
either dead or half dead she's fragile
and frail and by the end she's all you
know withered up on the floor like the
dying swan in more contemporary ballet
you see a lot more EXP expansiveness in
the female lead
characters so think of Alvin Dance
Theater where so many of the ballets are
about Liberation and freedom and power I
think it's a really dangerous message
that we send to our daughters that
femininity is tied to being fragile and
frail and and you know wrapping oneself
[Applause]
up the Haka is a really powerful dance
that's performed by the New Zealand
national rugby team called the All
Blacks they'll be facing the other team
and going through this series of really
powerful
postures it's kind of beautiful and
intimidating at the same
time the important thing to understand
about the Haka is that it's really not
primarily about intimidating the other
side it is primarily about preparing
themselves for a challenging
situation do we have those displays in
other cultures what we do in a sense
when a president uh or the head of state
arrives and they review the troops that
is a stationary Haka the troops are
usually very tall very resplendant in
their uniform and we look at them IM we
inspect them and we say okay you guys
look pretty
tough at Essence they are really a
displays of who we
are what we are and what we can do and
what's fascinating is it's all
nonverbal 31st
interal all of us display non-verbal
Communication in our daily lives and our
bodies often reveal to others how we
feel when we walk and we're sad we walk
in this slouched way and when we walk
and we're happy we're walking in a more
erect posture and we're you know
swinging our arms more you know our
stride is longer so getting people to
walk in a happy way makes them feel
happier even if they have no idea what
they're doing this is a really new area
of research that some people call
embodiment and I I don't think we know
exactly what the mechanism is I think
what we know is that some emotions are
tied very closely to certain body
expressions and that that works in both
directions because it's hardwired
where's it
at I think some of the most promising
applications of this work and we're just
at the beginning of this now uh but are
in the area of treating people with uh
things like post-traumatic stress come
on post-traumatic stress is the most
extreme form of powerlessness where we
at where we at where is it is people
feel that their bodies in some way
betrayed them by not getting them out of
an unsafe
situation they really carry trauma in
their bodies heads up they're shooting
the law combat veterans with
post-traumatic stress in particular are
maybe less likely to want to talk about
uh their situation and so these
body-based therapies are proving to be
really affected SM out teaching people
to sit upright and open their chests and
breathe more deeply is in fact calming
the nervous system it is communicating
with through the Vegas nerve um with the
mind right it's it's telling the Vegas
nerve that that you're not in a fight
ORF flight situation you're in a rest
and digest situation that you are
safe I'm really hopeful that we're going
to learn more about how to use
body-based interventions to treat
psychological disorders
and people can do these things so easily
they can change their breathing so
easily that it's really proving to be
quite
[Music]
effective in the heart of Amsterdam
you'll find the Nemo Science
Center one of the displays is designed
to help children learn about the meaning
behind different facial
expressions they learn that facial
expressions are Universal and are common
to all
cultures Roberto Valente and his
colleagues helped to design the science
center display their company is working
on a special project with the University
of
Amsterdam we're teaching computers to
understand the body language of
humans valente's company promises fast
accurate analysis of facial
expressions the analysis is done by
using imaging software and computer
algorithms so here when I deform them
out and erase my uh uh corners of the
mouth you will have an happiness
expression if I wrinkle my nose you
would have disgusted the focus of sorp
is mainly on recognizing the signals
that come from your face and of course
you can use this signal for many
different application and you can see
currently the a is all about market
research specifically how to measure a
consumer's reaction to an advertisement
positive or
negative imagine that you can Target
your advertisement depending on who is
in front of it that's a very uh
interesting return of investment for The
Advertiser and now we can really
fine-tune the the what ad is being
displayed depending on the target group
what this means is that not only are we
looking at the ad the ad is looking at
us and the ad can adjust itself
depending on who's
looking this is a demonstration of a
narrow casting application which will be
targeting advertisement to the group of
people that are in front of the
advertisement screen and you can see
here now we have a majority of of of
male uh in the in the camera when the
male get out of the
picture we can see that the commercial
switches to a female advertisement and
uh and we can go back in it switches
back to a male advertisement the
computer needs to understand the human
in order to be able to uh deliver to the
human so not only understand the human
on in terms of um you know voice
recognition but also gestures and and
facial
expressions the first one we can also
apply this into direct human computer
interaction but human robot interaction
for instance um a robot would be able to
understand the body language the
sensitive spots so to really establish a
a much more natural form of
communication so far computers have not
really tapped in this kind of
information
and when computer can learn like a human
and can interact to human like a human I
think that's where the interesting
consequences and Promises of human
computer interaction can appear left or
un looking
rights U I'm really excited about the
the developing Technologies but I also
believe that the old-fashioned
observation human observational approach
is is a critical component that being
able to closely observe holistically you
have an advantage that machines never
will
but there's no stopping the machines we
see them more and more in our daily
lives fingerprint scanners Palm printing
an iris recognition software it's all
becoming
routine and while gate recognition is
not yet a reality it's surely
coming I think that we've just scratched
the surface for understanding the
complexity of our bodies and all of the
expressive channels that we have whether
it's face face hands posture gate and we
are getting some glimpses of how
important it is and how interesting it
is but how complex it
is it's interesting once you explain
things or you begin to talk to people
about body language or they say oh you
know that's just uh common sense and
then when you say well how often in the
past did you notice uh neck
touching or ventilating
or you know the pinching of the corner
of the mouth to show
contempt people really reveal themselves
when you stop and look and decipher
what's really going on and we don't do
that
[Music]
enough I've learned that nonverbals are
more accurate than the spoken word
that's
true but
I think my family would tell you
it's there is a burden when you can read
people with
exactitude and you see things even
before they see them you see marriages
falling apart months in
advance that's
hard why are we doing this and I think
it behooves every scientist to have an
answer
I think the ultimate goal of a better
understanding of of human behavior is
the Improvement and betterment of
society for for the
ages the reason why I'm I'm going to be
watching these videos for the next 5
years of these studies that we've got is
so that we can give that information to
others so that somebody can improve our
society for some reason keep us safer
take the criminal off the street or do
something that that does us some good
the day will come when we will have a
much deeper understanding of U of of
body
[Music]
language the question is what will we do
with
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that
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that
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