Purpose. This study used statistical text analysis to examine the features of crime narratives provided by psychopathic homicide offenders. Psychopathic speech was predicted to reflect an instrumental/predatory world view, unique socioemotional needs, and a poverty of affect.
Methods. Two text analysis tools were used to examine the crime narratives of 14 psychopathic and 38 non-psychopathic homicide offenders. Psychopathy was determined using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The Wmatrix linguistic analysis tool (Rayson, 2008) was used to examine parts of speech and semantic content while the Dictionary of Affect and Language (DAL) tool (Whissell & Dewson, 1986) was used to examine the emotional characteristics of the narratives.
Results. Psychopaths (relative to their counterparts) included more rational cause-and-effect descriptors (e.g., ‘because’, ‘since’), focused on material needs (food, drink, money), and contained fewer references to social needs (family, religion/spirituality). Psychopaths’ speech contained a higher frequency of disfluencies (‘uh’, ‘um’) indicating that describing such a powerful, ‘emotional’ event to another person was relatively difficult for them. Finally, psychopaths used more past tense and less present tense verbs in their narrative, indicating a greater psychological detachment from the incident, and their language was less emotionally intense and pleasant.
Conclusions. These language differences, presumably beyond conscious control, support the notion that psychopaths operate on a primitive but rational level.
An IUPUI student told campus police Monday he was attacked while inside the University Library bathroom and commanded to perform a sex act.
Let's take a look at a couple of the statements made by the victim to a local TV news reporter.
"I kinda got really scare and I was really nervous, I was like 'oh, you know, oh my God what am I going to do?,'" said the student.
The student said he gathered up his courage and shoved the man off him and against a sink. Then he ran out of the bathroom and got help.
"I'm very nervous. Like today earlier, I called campus police to walk me over to my car. I'm really scared to go to the bathroom," said the student. "I don't feel safe anymore. You know what I mean. It's just so scary."
As you know, I do not like to comment on ongoing investigations where there is a clear victim. I'm commenting on this story because I see glaring grammatical and misplaced emotional hot spots with the victims statements.
This statement is odd, "I kinda got really scare and I was really nervous..." The victim was either scared or not, not kinda. You would not expect this type of noncommittal language from someone that suffered a traumatic event. This is a clear sign where his words betray his level of confidence.
Next is the following statement, "I'm very nervous. Like today earlier, I called campus police to walk me over to my car. I'm really scared to go to the bathroom," said the student. "I don't feel safe anymore. You know what I mean. It's just so scary."
This statement does not match up logically: ...campus police to walk me over to my car... does not match up with ...I'm really scared to go to the bathroom...
"You know what I mean." This is really a question, and we know when someone is asking for reassurance to their statement, it is less likely to be a truthful statement.
But she does not deny misleading George W. Bush about Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea.
I love when polished politicians say things that are completely the truth, yet do it in a way that spins it, making it seem that they are denying the claim.
She actually is supporting Cheney's claim...◦
Condoleezza Rice: Cheney's book "an attack on my integrity"
Tiger Woods announced Wednesday that he and caddie Steve Williams will not be working together in the future on his website.
"I want to express my deepest gratitude to Stevie for all his help, but I think it's time for a change," Woods said. "Stevie is an outstanding caddie and a friend and has been instrumental in many of my accomplishments. I wish him great success in the future."
One thing that I find interesting that relates to statementanalysis- Order means everything. Notice this part of the statement, "outstanding caddie and a friend," this clearly defines the relationship as a employee/employer relationship before their friendship.
◦
Tiger Woods and Steve Williams: Friends or Employee/er First?
Listen to the small clip from the 911 call. During the 911 call if the person calling is adding items that begin to establish an alibi or deflect the focus from them it is a hotspot. For more information about 911 calls, I have written about this subject several times in the past and you can use the search box to find the other articles.◦
I'm a frequent reader of your blog, and the "be like me" part on your site is very good. It gave me a good base where to start.
I've been reading a lot of books about body language and tried to put them in practice, it's amazing what you normally would miss.
But now I was about to start the book "I know you are lying", but does this also apply to other languages?
Great question!
Yes and no. Love getting the ultimate non answer?!?!
This is what I found in my years researching deception. Whenever I clearly hear someone lie, it is like I can trace it back to the origins of lying.
We all learn to lie- and the benefits and consequences of lying- at a very early age. These lessons carry forward into adulthood.
Remember when confronted by a parent about eating a cookie? Instinctively (and through trial and error) we knew we would not get away with the lie but we go ahead and deny it. Somewhere along the way we also learned, because it was only a cookie, so we might say 'no' but with a slightly playful and mischievous smile because it is unlikely we will receive a severe punishment. We also know if we vehemently deny eating the cookie we risk making our parent even more angry, so we do not to scream that we did not eat the cookie.
I see differnent 'lying styles' in many of the lies I detect, and if you understand a couple of things about lying, being able to use statement analysis in other language works. Here are a few:
People who have done something wrong have a hard time confidently denying their actions.
People will attempt to misdirect and often will leave critical sections out of their explanations. Text bridges are in every language (a text bridge is key words that signal there may be a gap in a their story. My clearest example I use all the time is a statement, "I saw him standing there, then the next thing I know he is laying on the ground with blood coming out of his chest." The text bridge is the 'then' and this shows us something happened between the two parts of the statement; in the above statement the man did not include that he shot the man- a fully truthful statement would have been, "I saw him standing there, I shot him and he fell down, and he was laying on the ground with blood coming out of his chest."
If people are given simple yes and no questions- in any language- and they do not answer with a simple yes or no, it is a signal that more follow questions may be necessary.
Lying takes more thought than simply stating the truth. When we are thinking of what really happened and what we are willing to say about what happened, we often make mistakes and those trained in detecting deception can see the subtle differences in word choices and the pace that the words are delivered.
There are many more (feel free to insert others in the comment section of the post so others can see more examples).
Now onto the your future work in statement analysis. My advice to you is: go ahead and learn about statement analysis in English, then write your own book using specific examples using your own language. The exercise will make you much better at detecting deception, and you may be a successful author and lecturer in your own country. Good luck.◦
A spokesman for troubled teen idol Demi Lovato on Wednesday denied the Disney actress was being treated for drug or alcohol addiction.
Here is what was said:
"Demi Lovato is not in treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. As we have said since she entered treatment last week, Demi decided to seek help for emotional and physical issues she has battled throughout her life," Lovato's spokesman Jesse Derris said in a statement.
"She has taken this step in order to get her life in order. While we know many are interested in Demi and her life, we do ask for a modicum of privacy during this difficult time,"
What really stands out to me is the word choice of "emotional and physical issues" and we know word choice is all important, especially to a spokesman.
It is curious he does not say what she is actually suffering from, perhaps stress or depression? Instead choosing to use the unspecific words, is this because he (or they) feel by being more honest may affect her popularity? Is it because they are hiding something?
We also have to be aware of the order chosen, if he had said "physical and emotional issues" it would have a slightly different meaning.
Now the most interesting thing, is not what was said, but what wasn't said. The Spokesman never directly denies that she does not have a drug or alcohol problem, he simply says she is not in treatment for addictions to drug or alcohol. People who speak on behalf of their clients very craftily choose their words in the statements that are released. They are paid to diffuse the situation, and by using the above language it is clear we are not getting the whole story- they are giving just enough to attempt to dispel the rumors and help their client.◦
Demi Lovato Spokesman Speaks, But What is Said and Not Said?
If you have purchased and enjoyed the insight that the book I Know You Are Lying
gave you, then this book ups everything one notch.
Many books in this area are written by English professors and quickly become boring and too dry to be read, not this one- I found a bio of the author online, "John R. Schafer, Ph.D. is a retired FBI Special Agent. He was assigned to the FBI’s National Security Behavioral Analysis Program. Dr. Schafer’s investigative experience includes foreign counterintelligence, civil rights, and crimes against children."
Learn about
Tag Qualifiers
Text Bridges
Push-Pull Words
Word Qualifiers
I know this likely means nothing to most people, so let me leave you with this question, "If a person starts a sentence with the word 'well' is it more or less likely there is deception?
I could give you another 20+ of these types of questions, and if you read the book, you'd know the answer, and you'd be leaps and bounds above the average in detecting deception.◦
Advanced Statement Analysis Book- Psychological Narrative Analysis: A Professional Method to Detect Deception in Written and Oral Communications
For those of you that are interested in Statement Analysis and/or those of us that use the LIWC2007 software program to analyze and conduct research in the area of word choice (and deception) this is a great article to check out.
"Executives who fudge the truth can be given away by the words they choose, new research suggests..."
For the actual paper search on the following: Detecting Deceptive Discussions in Conference Calls
David F. Larcker Stanford University - Graduate School of Business
Anastasia A. Zakolyukina Stanford Graduate School of Business
July 29, 2010
Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper No. 83
Abstract: We estimate classification models of deceptive discussions during quarterly earnings conference calls. Using data on subsequent financial restatements (and a set of criteria to identify especially serious accounting problems), we label the Question and Answer section of each call as "truthful" or "deceptive". Our models are developed with the word categories that have been shown by previous psychological and linguistic research to be related to deception. Using conservative statistical tests, we find that the out-of-sample performance of the models that are based on CEO or CFO narratives is significantly better than random by 4%- 6% (with 50% - 65% accuracy) and provides a significant improvement to a model based on discretionary accruals and traditional controls. We find that answers of deceptive executives have more references to general knowledge, fewer non-extreme positive emotions, and fewer references to shareholders value and value creation. In addition, deceptive CEOs use significantly fewer self-references, more third person plural and impersonal pronouns, more extreme positive emotions, fewer extreme negative emotions, and fewer certainty and hesitation words.
Keywords: Deception, Restatements, Linguistic Analysis◦
An Article You Should Check Out: The language of lying
"The search for Kyron Horman entered its fifth day Wednesday as searchers continued to work to find the 7-year-old boy who disappeared after a science fair at his elementary school in a rural area of Portland, Ore." -ABC News
One thing is clear there is real emotion coming through their voices and body language.
From a statement analysis perspective it is clear what is going on here...
The police have asked the family to give these statements. It is also clear the FBI is working with closely with them and is guiding what is being said.
There was a similar case that occurred some 30 years ago in Ohio in a community about 15 miles from Lake Erie; it was a small community and it was clear at the time to the FBI the Perpetrator was someone who was a volunteer and had inserted himself into the investigation and search efforts so he could learn how close they were to determining he had kidnapped the girl.
The investigators are attempting to personalize this by having the family read a statement/note TO Kyron. They have likely told the family it is possible that Kyron may actually hear what they say, if he is still alive. The investigators want to show some of the emotional pain the family is experiencing because if the perpetrator is feeling guilty- adding to it will help them find him. They are looking for changes in behavior and appearances. They are contacting employers to see who has been absent from work since Kyron disappeared.
They also suspect the perpetrator is someone they have already interviewed, this is why they are thanking those that have been interviewed countless times- It allows and explains the need for more and more interviews with the same people. It is interesting he specifically mentions the bus driver, if the bus driver was seen in the school before the science fair in the morning it is very significant. If he was not, this could be a strategy to deflect the direction of their true 'person of interest' such as someone else who worked at the school.
It is likely the perpetrator is someone whom the family members come into contact with on a regular basis, but he is not close to the family, and the family may not even know his actual name. The investigators have probably told the family to carry on with their normal routines (as much as possible) and keep a log of everyone they speak with and come in contact with; it is likely the perpetrator will offer support. It may even be the first time this person has actually spoken with them, but they likely recognize them as someone 'familiar.' When this person speaks with them there will be genuine concern and emotion in his voice, gestures, and message- this is the only time the perpetrator can let his emotion and feelings be shown.
The Prayer Vigil was video taped and investigators were in attendance.
If they do not 'find' him in the next several weeks, they will look closely at anyone who moves away from the community (known to the investigation) in the coming months and years.
This was a crime of opportunity, made possible by the science fair. This does not necessarily mean that the perpetrator was not an employee of the school... it is just as likely- that because of the many visitors to the school that morning- he felt he would not automatically become a suspect.
It is likely the perpetrator was himself a victim of childhood sexual abuse. It is unlikely that the perpetrator has a record. It is likely the perpetrator exercises and takes pride in his appearance.
If Kyron is dead, the perpetrator is bothered and feels guilty about the way he disposed of the body and he wants him to have a proper burial. This will be the largest part of his remorse and guilt and he will think of this often and it will hard for him to accept.
This person has not appeared in interviews or on camera.
The final chilling thought... the person who did this will likely read this post. In the same way he has inserted himself into the investigation, made contact with the family, and has been interviewed... he will seek out any information that may tell him how close they are to finding him. As he reads these sentences he will become agitated and extremely nervous. He will think what mistakes?!?! We will have his IP address, location, Internet service provider, search words used in search engines, etc. and this can be cross referenced with the large database of people that has been created for this case.
Keywords inserted to increase the odds that search engines will lead the perpetrator to this post: babysitter, elementary, nurse, doctor, psychologist, principal, librarian, shop, cook, janitor, secretary, teacher, custodians, substitute, delivery, assistant, driver, coach, student, student teacher, friend, police, security, parents, paper, gym, work, scouts, sports, peer, friend, work, bus, home, apartment, house, volunteer, clerk, store, dad, mom, family, hobbies, gifted, camping, camp, prayer vigil, waitress, restaurant, neighbor, worker, construction, car, media, newspaper, truck, store room, basement, locker room, cafeteria, music room, stage, theater, library, shop, audio, visual, computer, education, office, conference room, study hall, detection, playground, woods, road, interstate, shallow grave, body, decomposing, rape, molest, brutalized, abuse, sexual offenders, psychology, anal, antisocial, sadist, bondage, arrest, genetic, evidence, closer, grand jury, FBI, Federal, Behavioral Science Unit, cruel, exhibition, pedophiles, hebephiles, personality disorders, photography, trophy, profile, profiler, behavioral, closing in, surveillance, testing, lab, results, suspect, person of interest, surveillance.
NO MEDIA INQUIRIES WILL BE RETURNED. NO PART OF THIS POST CAN BE COPIED, DISTRIBUTED, OR QUOTED UNDER COPYRIGHT LAW. WE ASK IF YOU ARE A MEDIA OUTLET TO NOT MAKE ANY REFERENCE TO THIS POST FOR A PERIOD OF TWO WEEKS FROM THE POSTING DATE.◦
Kyron Horman Family Speaks: Why the person who did this will not get away with it! Mistakes were made!
Drew, Thank you very much for find these videos; I could only find news stories where she was not speaking.
From a statement analysis perspective I was bothered by the fact she never directly denies the allegations, instead less forcefully she says no matter what the jury decides it doesn't change the fact about her innocence. Innocence and guilt are legal terms, and it would have been more honest- from a statement analysis perspective- if she had said she did not molest/touch these girls in an inappropriate manner.
When a person makes statements where the expectation is that they will be found guilty, before they are convicted can be a sign they have intellectually realized they are not going to get away with the crime; while a totally innocent person would always believe there could be no way they could be convicted of something they did not do.
When seeing it again, I am also bothered that she shows more emotion talking about the impact to her family. When entrenched in a legal battle concerning a criminal act that could result in spending the rest of your life in prison, you tend to ignore family and concentrate on yourself- your total energy is focused on making sure you are not going to wind up in jail for something you did not do. The heightened emotion could be for other reasons, like guilt, but there is no way to truly know.
When asked about why she considered becoming a lawyer it is the most telling part of the interview that could easily be missed. She states she wants to change the laws to protect her children- presumably children who are taken away from their mother when charged with a crime. This obviously is the biggest impact to her in this whole ordeal. Wouldn't the biggest impact be, being wrongly accused of a crime. She is a smart person, that is clear. She worked in education where there are very clear laws and rules designed to protect the children she comes in contact with as a teacher. If she see signs of abuse with any of the children she teaches, by law she would have to report what she sees. She has to understand that the laws are designed to protect the children from harm. At some level, wouldn't it be more genuine if she would have said I want to make sure what is happening to me doesn't happen to someone else- being falsely accused; and/or to make sure the laws protect the children; make sure everyone is more educated about the possibility of child memories (all she stated is very true in regard to statements made by children and this will likely be her defense, especially given the fact one was an actress portraying sexual abuse making false memories even more of a possibility) as it relates to legal proceedings.
I can also tell you why everyone is divided to her guilt or innocence. She has a way of answering questions in a manner that strikes a cord with everyday people. It is a common plot theme in fiction, Mr. or Ms. Normal American Citizen suddenly, without warning, is blindsided and forced into an epic battle- If you are old enough to remember the movie 'North by Northwest' where Hudson starts the day normally and through no fault of his own is caught you in a complicated spy thriller. When she answers questions she can answer them in a way that conveys it could have just as easily happened to you; and you have no control over it- not a situation anyone would want to be in. She also is pretty and looks innocent, Cornell Study: Juries Convict Attractive People Less Often
I would have liked for her to take a polygraph, her answer, while plausible (shown in the first video) still doesn't change the fact that the police offered her to take a polygraph and if she passed she would not be charged (not charged immediately anyway, cops language is a whole different article). Since she is from a small community, had she passed the polygraph there would be a great deal more support for her. Polygraphs have legal problems, but the shear willingness and confidence to take a polygraph test, in my book, says more than passing or failing the actual test.
Conclusion time. I simply do not know for sure and I would not want to be on the jury. I am conflicted by her lack of confidence from a statement analysis perspective. I would love to speak with the detectives to get their first impressions, any video or recordings of interviews with Tonya- too much time has passed- but if we could see that initial interview footage I'd think it would be clear if she was guilty. With deception we can never be 100% sure, but with this case I am willing to say the charges are more likely to have happened but given the law and the problem with false memories of children it is likely we will never know for certain without seeing Tonya when first confronted with these allegations.
Footnote: Since I occasionally coach reporters when interviewing people like Tonya there were a couple of mistakes made by the reporter. When you look at the raw footage notice:
- On a couple of occasions the reporter actually interrupts Tonya- interrupting an interviewee is something we should never do. - The interviewer uses more words and takes longer to ask sensitive questions, this shows a lack of confidence on the part of the reporter and this puts the interviewee on guard. It is natural to do this in everyday conversations, but reporters have to be more straight forward and aggressive. Deliver these like the other questions: short, sweet, and open ended. Prepare all your questions before hand!
One big PLUS and compliment for the interviewer is at the end, she asks if there was a question that she didn't expect or hits close to home (I do not know for sure what was asked, it was hard to hear) at which point, Tonya thinking the interview was basically over gave a more animated, unrehearsed answer. To any reporter reading this- do this with every sit down interview, and keep it going as long as possible... the interview isn't over until the mics are off and the person is out of the shot, only then is it over.◦
April 29: A former kindergarten teacher is on trial, accused of molesting three young girls. Michelle Kosinski reports and NBC legal analyst Dan Abrams weighs in on the case that has rocked a small Georgia community.
When I watch the interview with Tonya Craft I am troubled from a Statement Analysis perspective. I also see at least one hot spot.
I would really like to see more interview footage of Tonya before telling you my impressions, so if you know of some please let me know either by posting a comment or clicking on the contact me at the bottom of the web page. Since Tonya was accused two years ago, her speech patterns and explanations could be "poisoned" because she has had to say the same thing over and over again- this can lead to a more practiced "speech" and cliches -that often are statement analysis hot spots- creep into their normal "speech."◦
Sex-Abuse Trial of Tonya Craft Featured on The Today Show
Singer Bret Michaels is in critical condition suffering from a brain hemorrhage, his publicist Joann Mignano said. Michaels the former Poison frontman was rushed to intensive care late Thursday after a severe headache. Doctors discovered bleeding at the base of his brain stem. The 47-year-old glam-rock reality TV star had an emergency appendectomy at a private care facility for diabetics last week after complaining of stomach pains before he was scheduled to perform in San Antonio, Texas. Michaels is currently a contestant on the third season of Donald Trump's NBC competitive reality show, The Celebrity Apprentice. Trump said in a statement Friday that he was deeply saddened to hear of Michaels' condition. File Photo: 10 January 2010 - Pasadena, California - Bret Michaels. NBC Universal Press Tour Cocktail Party held at the Langham Hotel.
Information has been slow to be released, and up until this point the public only knew he was in a hospital and was in critical condition, and he had spoken a few words.
Never was any of the effects detailed, and so now it is interesting from a statement analysis perspective.
His publicist said, "We are hopeful that further tests will locate the source of the bleeding, which still has not been located. As we all know, Bret is a fighter, and we are hopeful that once all is complete, the slurred speech, blurred vision and dizziness, etc., will be eliminated and all functions will return to normal."
For someone who makes his current living in front of the cameras on reality shows this is a bombshell. Publicists should know what to say and how to say, and we have no reason to think this publicist is a moron. So now we have to look at how the information was released. It was done in a casual manner, as if we already knew this information; in a subtle way so it lessons the impact. It can take away the value as a emotional or energized statement.
It is a good lesson for us. Think back to having to convey some bad information and how it is so natural to blurt it out- now think of ways you could have said it differently... it is a skill that avoids the "don't kill the messenger" concept.◦
Bret Michaels' Publicist Rather Obviously Lets Information Slip
If you are investigating a situation, and have a strong suspicion that a person has done something wrong (such as stealing a few bucks out of the cash drawer at closing) a powerful technique is to not confront them directly about your suspicion, but instead ask them questions where THEY make a leap of logic.
For instance, you confront the the possible thieve saying, "Something weird happened at closing last night, not sure if everything was done right, I mean some of the lights were still on when I opened this morning."
Silence is your friend at this point. The person will feel the need to speak, will cognitively be trying to figure this all out, and will know what he/she has done and may say, "Hey boss I didn't take any money."
This is a Spontaneous Utterance.
You say, "Hey, wait a minute. I was asking you about the lights being left on, and you blindside me by denying something I was even asking you about. I did notice the deposit was a little light... I'm disappointed. Only the person who took it would feel the need to deny taking it?!?! when I wasn't even asking you about it."
This technique can easily be adapted to almost every situation. It is a favorite for police officers on patrol who come into contact with a variety of criminals, who undoubtedly have fishy explanations why they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But this simple technique works just as well if you are trying to get to the bottom of who took the last cookie from the cookie jar.◦
Mark McClish is a 25 year veteran of law enforcement with the United States Marshal Service as an agent, a supervisor and a trainer. He is the author of I Know You Are Lying which is a great book on some of the techniques and applications of statement analysis, and he has an informational website at http://www.statementanalysis.com. Mark is a wealth of knowledge on investigative interviewing and statement analysis.◦
An Interview You Should Check Out: Catching Liars, An Interview with Mark McClish
The driver of a Toyota Prius says he was taken on a wild ride Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck, reaching speeds in excess of 90 mph on a winding, hilly portion of a southern California...
Another thing that stands out, we do not know why he was actually traveling on that interstate, on that day.
From a statement analysis perspective, we have a rule when a victim recounts the event- 25-33% should recount before the actual event, 33%-50% should be the actual event, and finally 25-33% should be post the event.
From everything I have seen his entire focus has been the actual event, and this is unnatural and should be examined further.
One of the hardest things to do is notice the absence of information, but it is an important part of the craft.◦
Thanks to a reader who sent me links to videos. I was in Denver this week and saw several interviews with Sikes one morning. Like the reader I was on the fence, but after reviewing the video again, several times there are some troubling aspects of his statements.
The driver of a Toyota Prius says he was taken on a wild ride Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck, reaching speeds in excess of 90 mph on a winding, hilly portion of a southern California...
Telling if someone is lying is not an exact science. In real life investigations you listen, then ask for clarification or confront on any inconsistencies.
Form a purely statement analysis perspective I would ask Sikes to clarify a couple of places and aspects of his statement:
Why were you looking for a straight away to turn off the car? (I can see the logic of this, if he turns off the car he may not have control of the steering,etc.)
Then he says, "nobody to protect me from behind." I find this odd. When you are going that fast you are not concerned with what is behind you, you are only concerned with what is in front of you. When you are going that fast you do not need protection from behind. If you shut off the car you would expect the other drivers to avoid your car as it slows down. Wouldn't that be an acceptable risk?
There is a place where he says, "I was standing on the pedals..." clearly the plural. This is a hot spot, while it clearly could be a slip of the tongue, it also could be exactly what happened, he could have been pushing both pedals.
At other times he says and does the right things, indicating honesty. Shrugs occurring at the right times. In another interview when asked, he simply states, "it was just stuck" with confidence and does not feel the need to elaborate; a very clear sign of honesty.
So it would not surprise me one way or the other. I would expect if he is lying, those who are close to him, both personally and professionally, would be able to tell. It takes a certain kind of personality to be able to pull a hoax on this grand scale, if they believe him without reservations it is likely he is telling the truth.◦
James Sikes the Toyota Prius Owner Whose Pedal Stuck; is he telling the truth?
I am sorry to all the fans of reality shows; I've watched almost every show of the new season and felt conflicted. The new bachelor (or the producers) have been playing with our feelings. Nothing has seemed right; sometimes he picks the girl who he had connected with the most, other times the exact opposite. I've been going crazy not writing about this.
Several producers of this type of show have emailed me in the past and I've been having a huge conflicts- let things happen as the producers want it to happen or tell the truth...
The latest bachelor does not have the mental capacity to make an informed decision concerning his long term future- whomever he chooses will not stand the test of time.
To those who have emailed me the last several weeks/months, I apologise- did not want to ruin it for you.
Now onto Rozlyn Papa and the inappropriate relationship with a producer.
When the host asks if anything happened physically at the house, we can see her answer "absolutely not" but she does display a shoulder shrug as she is saying it.
When the host asks why she did not stop him and and tell him he was out of his mind (when he was confronting her on the show about the relationship) she makes a joke, "Well I was thinking it, don't worry." Whenever someone is being asked a question (which it was a great question that gets to the heart of the situation) and they attempt to use humor instead of directly answering, it is a deflection technique, and is often a sign of deception. At some level they are trying to lessen the impact of a high stakes question and therefore discount both the question and their answer.
As she is explaining why she thought she was being confronted- calling her son- she actually gives the host a subtle WINK with her left eye. HOTSPOT. Even though she thought of a somewhat loosely plausible, somewhat logical statement, she herself does not believe it and gives it away with a WINK!
"Made it clear I used his phone." Shoulder shrug.
When she is confronted about the phone issue and relationship issue being separate, she clearly has been caught and she goes into shutdown mode. Joe Navarro craftily describes the three stages of confrontation as Freeze, Fight, or Flight. Rozlyn clearly is in the FREEZE mode. When I read about this concept in Joe's book, it so simple and clear, but it had never been articulated and was quickly accepted by those of us that study body language- up to that point we had not recognized the freeze mode and thought there was only flight or fight... Unfortunately, the host asks a question too soon and "pulls" her from the frozen state. If you see this happen in real life, remain quiet and allow the subject to make the next move- you may be very close to obtaining a confession. This is one of those rare 'personality' defining moments that are rarely seen and occur infrequently in interpersonal communication.
"On my child's life, that never happened!" is a declarative statement. Declarative statements like this and, "I swear to God" are not usually given by honest people and often indicate deception.
You can also hear the stress in her voice, her pitch becomes higher, it is a clear sign of stress.◦
Stop the Press!!! Bachelor!!!! and Rozlyn Papa was She Lying
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...
Deception "is a huge, multidimensional space," he said, "in which every combination of things matters."
Robin Marantz Henig's article in NYT magazine, where Henig quotes Steve Kosslyn.
Fact
The English language has 112 words for deception, according to one count, each with a different shade of meaning: collusion, fakery, malingering, self-deception, confabulation, prevarication, exaggeration, denial.
Lies can be verbal or nonverbal, kindhearted or self-serving, devious or baldfaced; they can be lies of omission or lies of commission; they can be lies that undermine national security or lies that make a child feel better. And each type might involve a unique neural pathway.
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