Spying for Lying: Erik Coats

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Classic Case of Answering a Question with a Question

Fox News' Jesse Watters speaks to ThinkProgress about his Ambush Interviews.

My first thought was this was a worthless piece of unprofessional interview footage... but then I'm thinking here is a guy who makes his living getting other people to answer questions when they do not want to; he must have some tricks up his sleeve and has learned a few things over the years, and he has.

Notice how he doesn't directly answer the questions. "Called her office twice" is not her directly refusing to appear on the show...

Questions answered with a question- means it is a sensitive question and the person may be stalling for time to come up with an answer.

He effectively stalled for three minutes, what he did correctly:
- Unemotional.
- Friendly.
- Appeared to want to answer the questions (even though he didn't).
- Never overacted, when he asked can you repeat the question, neutral.
Because he did all these things he appeared professional.

It still doesn't have any journalistic qualities but it is interesting to view from a interviewing technique perspective.◦

Friday, May 1, 2009

Science behind 'Lie to Me' - Nonverbal deception abilities and adolescents' social competence: Adolescents

You may remember a particular episode where they stated that the higher a teenager is in social status, the better they are at lying.

For more about the science of deception:
Nonverbal deception abilities and adolescents' social competence: Adolescents
with higher social skills are better liars. Feldman, Robert S.; Tomasian, Jason
C.; Coats, Erik J.; Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Vol 23(3), Fal 1999. pp. 237-
249. [Journal Article]◦

Be Like Me

A great man who knows everything about this topic warns everybody to be sure you really want to learn this, because once you learn it you cannot unlearn it, says Dr. Paul Ekman.

I also have a couple of warnings: (1) Don't read people and tell people what you're seeing in them. People hate it- and you become instantly creepy; (2) Be careful, if all of a sudden you are looking at everything more clearly you can become super sensitive. This can be very dangerous to yourself and all of your relationships. Recognize if at least 70% of our communication is not the words that are used- all of a sudden you could be seeing 3 times more information it can be scary- so chill out a little.

Starting to Learn: With a little investment of money and many hours of study you to will see the world differently.

Step 1:

Get a good body language book. I can recommend this book because it covers all the bases.

Step 2:

Practice, Practice, Practice. I find airports and sandwich shops (on weekday lunches) are the best places to read people. There always a electic mix of people- sometimes they are there for business, other times it is catching up with friends. Do it at least once a week, if not more. Go to parties and different events to expose yourself to different reads, notice the differences. Learn.

Step 3:

Get advanced micro expression training at Humintell. Get certified in microexpressions, then do it until you get a perfect score. There is no sense learning to recognize what is going on but getting it wrong. Once your perfect, keep up your skills to maintain your score by going back every so often.

Step 4:

Get yourself a good pair of dark or mirrored sunglasses because when you are outside you do not want to be caught starring at someone, and then stare at everyone. Think Secret Service.

Step 5:

The best book on lying I have come across for the non professional is this one. Memorize it. Read and skim it every so often. If you know and understand the concepts presented in this book, it is like you’ve been working as a police detective for 20+ years.

Step 6:

Get Subtle Expression Recognition Training at Humintell. This training examines how the core emotions can be shown on only part of the face. They occur when an emotion is first beginning. They also occur when someone is trying to suppress any sign of how they are feeling. Recognizing true feelings is important to the craft.

Step 7:

Detecting Deception Through Statement Analysis

People's words betray their true thoughts, and they will provide you with more information than they realize. This book will show you what to look for in verbal and written statements to determine if they are telling the truth. If you are a fan of "Lie to Me" the stuff in this book is their secret weapon that they never explain the science of, but use in every episode.

Step 8:

More books. These I can recommend because they are really interesting. Sure they will cover some of the concepts you already learned from the first body language book, but they have something to add, and it becomes a refresher now that you have some experience under your belt.

Step 9 (Become Advanced):

Branch out. Get more technical books. Read FBI profiler books. Check out some NLP stuff. Watch the news show that feature interrogations like 48 hours and Dateline. Watch some reality shows like the Bachelor. Read scientific articles on the latest research in the area. Play poker. Offer to interview candidates for job openings at work. Watch the news. Pay attention in meetings. Sell something to someone. Watch Lie to Me and some of the non technical crime shows are pretty good. Meet someone at a meeting or social setting. Make sure your family and friends know you care about them by using what you learned here to show them.

Some of the other items in my tool kit are:

I buy my books in pdf format, that way I can search across all the pdfs with Adobe Reader. I also have a pdf print driver so if I see something on the web I print it to a pdf file and it is part of my library. I probably have twenty books and hundreds of articles that I have collected over the years.

I have a Namesysco voice stress analyzer. It is a powerful tool but it is only one tool in the whole toolbox.

I also have several programs that help me analyze written copy.

Then for fun I have this...

and now for MORE FUN, season 2 is now available for ordering...

Fact

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I try to answer all questions to the best of my ability-due to the huge demand,
DECISIONS WILL BE MADE ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS-I AM UNABLE TO RESPOND TO ALL REQUESTS.

To book me for a speaking engagement, training, or consulting projects, please contact me using the below link.

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Please contact me with your inquiry using the below link.

Spying for Lying

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Classic Case of Answering a Question with a Question

Friday, May 1, 2009

Science behind 'Lie to Me' - Nonverbal deception abilities and adolescents' social competence: Adolescents

Be Like Me

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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Classic Case of Answering a Question with a Question

Friday, May 1, 2009

Science behind 'Lie to Me' - Nonverbal deception abilities and adolescents' social competence: Adolescents

Be Like Me

Are you a Natural Lie Detector?

Search this Blog

Issue Index

Quote

Links

Researchers

Research Sites

Non-academic deception sites

Psychology Blogs

Quote

Fact

Spying for Lying Bookstore

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