Body Language - Lying Eyes?
Kevin Hogan
Almost every "popular article" I read about body language and nonverbal
communication contains so many inaccuracies that to correct them
all would be impossible.
Today, I want to give you a little information about deception and the eyes. You'll discover some cues that you maybe never would have noticed before.
Before we begin, it's important to remember a few things that no one ever mentions. Like some important ground rules.
Factors of Body Language Analysis
- The context is the most important factor in body language and
nonverbal communication. Context is location, environment, crowding,
group or other expectations.
- Lying is not cut and dried. You can lie and tell the truth in
the same sentence. A lie is rarely 100% a lie. And the truth is
rarely 100% the truth. In other words, rarely is lying, "light switch
on" or "light switch off."
- Behavior in the context of deception can run the gamut from
"low stakes," where nothing happens by having a lie made public,
to "high stakes," where the earth will quake and hell will pay
when the lie is made public.
The manifestation of low stakes deception in someone's body
language, in general, is very different than someone's body language
in a high stakes situation.
With all of the above in mind,...
When A President Deceives
People still ask me about how I knew President Clinton did indeed
have an affair with an office intern, now almost 14 years ago.
Fewer people remember the apology speech he made much later,
after the initial denial. THAT short speech was one of the
most fascinating from a body language perspective I've ever seen.
The media put me on the spot with specifics about where The
President was telling the truth and where he wasn't.
It's a fascinating thing when Presidents can spend trillions of
future dollars, put a nation into a self destruct sequence and no
one cares whether they are telling the truth or not. Instead, the
attention always falls to the irrelevant gossip of life. It is a statement
about human behavior and how people prioritize.
There are several cues I am immediately interested in when analyzing
deception.
Deception Cues
- I look at facial and hand color change.
- I look at posture changes.
- I look at position of feet.
- I look at the muscular shifts in the face.
- There are several other immediate cues, of which one is
"Eye Blinking."
Watching hundreds of hours of video of people telling the truth
vs. telling lies in high stakes situations reveals some interesting
factors.
I'll show you some video in a minute that provides an example
of how I use "eye blinking behavior," to analyze the possibility
of deception.
The context is fascinating itself.
Cues Can Be Misinterpreted
You're taken to the police station and interrogated. The Sergeant
says, "Isn't it true Mr. Johnson that on the night of February 17,
you robbed the store...."
And it wasn't true...not at all and MANY of the person's
nonverbal behaviors replicate those of someone in the exact
situation... who is lying.
MANY of the cues that people look for and talk about are
identical whether lying or telling the truth.
"Eye Blinking" generally is NOT one of those cues.
Analyze with me...: Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 
Kevin Hogan
Network 3000 Publishing
16526 W. 78th St. #138
Eden Prairie, MN 55346
(612) 616-0732
Photo appears under license with istockphoto/selimaksan.
