Body Language Decoded (Psychology Documentary) | Only Human

Summary

The 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

• 🧠 Body language is an innate part of human communication that can convey emotions and intentions without the need for verbal expression.
• 🤔 Our bodies can communicate our true feelings even when we try to hide them, making it an essential tool for understanding nonverbal cues.
• 👁️‍🗨️ The face is a particularly expressive part of the body, with over 43 muscles capable of producing more than 10,000 expressions.
• 🎭 Some emotions are hardwired to specific facial expressions, which are universally recognized across different cultures and are present from birth.
• 🕺 The way we walk and move can reveal our intentions, state of mind, and physical health, much like how animals use body language.
• 🕴️ Power poses and body language can influence how we feel about ourselves, suggesting a connection between body posture and psychological states.
• 🔎 Experts in body language, such as former FBI agents, use detailed observation of facial expressions, gestures, and body movements to detect deception.
• 👀 Micro-expressions are fleeting facial expressions that can reveal a person's true emotions despite their attempts to conceal them.
• 🛂 Airport security personnel are trained in behavior detection to identify potential threats based on body language and behavioral cues.
• 🔬 Research in deception and body language suggests that liars may appear more confident and less nervous than commonly believed, challenging popular myths about lying.
• 💻 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

00:00

🔍 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.

05:01

😨 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.

10:03

🕵️‍♂️ 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.

15:06

👥 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.

20:08

🤔 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.

25:09

📚 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.

30:10

🕵️‍♀️ 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.

35:12

🛂 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.

40:12

🧐 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.

45:15

🚶‍♂️ 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.

50:17

💃 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.

🤖 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.

🌐 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.

Keywords

💡Body Language

Body language refers to the non-verbal cues, gestures, and movements that individuals use to communicate feelings and attitudes. In the video, it is the central theme, illustrating how body language is an innate part of human expression and interaction, often conveying more than words. For instance, the script mentions how people can 'display what we really feel at any moment' without needing verbal communication.

💡Microexpressions

Microexpressions are fleeting facial expressions that reveal a person's true emotions, despite their attempts to conceal them. The video explains that these expressions are 'quick, extremely quick fleeting facial expressions of emotion' that occur when a person is trying to control their expressions but is actually feeling something else, like when someone 'snarl[s]' automatically upon seeing a disliked person.

💡Deception

Deception, in the context of the video, pertains to the act of misleading or being dishonest, often through body language. The script discusses how most people are not adept at detecting lies through body language, 'no better than flipping a coin,' and how certain behaviors, such as 'covering of the super sternal notch,' can suggest that something is amiss.

💡Facial Action Coding System (FACS)

FACS is a system for analyzing and interpreting facial expressions by breaking down every anatomical movement the face can make. The video describes it as a method to 'identify which muscle is creating that appearance change,' such as in the example of recognizing a prototypic expression of fear by analyzing specific muscle movements.

💡Gestures

Gestures are purposeful movements of body parts, particularly the hands, used to emphasize or supplement speech. The video script notes that 'actions do speak louder than words,' and even when a person's hands are not visible, as in phone conversations, we still gesture, indicating the deep-seated nature of this form of body language.

💡Evolutionary Behavior

Evolutionary behavior refers to actions and reactions that have developed over time due to their survival value. The script connects certain body language cues, like facial expressions of fear, to our evolutionary history, explaining that they emerged 'to help us communicate with each other about these very basic needs and motives related to survival.'

💡Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication encompasses all forms of communication other than the spoken word, including facial expressions, body movements, and tones of voice. The video emphasizes its importance, stating that 'understanding nonverbal communication has become a valuable tool,' in various fields such as the justice system and marketing.

💡Behavior Detection

Behavior detection involves observing and interpreting nonverbal cues to identify potentially suspicious or deceptive behavior. The script mentions a program at Miami International Airport where 'all the airport employees... get training in behavior detection,' highlighting its application in security settings.

💡Power Poses

Power poses are postures that are believed to increase feelings of confidence and power. The video references Amy Cuddy's work on power poses, suggesting that by 'taking control' of our body language, we can influence our mind to feel 'safe and powerful,' which is the opposite of showing vulnerability.

💡Post-Traumatic Stress

Post-traumatic stress is a psychological condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. The video discusses how body-based therapies are being explored for treating post-traumatic stress, as these therapies can help individuals feel safe by using 'body-based interventions' that calm the nervous system.

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

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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

[Music]

[Music]

that

[Music]

[Music]

that