PART TWO: A Four-Domain Model for Detecting Deception: Emphasis

Written by Guest Contributor Joe Navarro.
Joe Navarro is a 25 year veteran of the FBI where he served on the National Security Division's Behavioral Analysis Program. He is on the adjunct faculty at Saint Leo University and the Institute for Intergovernmental Research where he teaches nonverbal communications. For 35 years he has been teaching and utilizing the study of nonverbal communications as well as its practical applications in everyday use and in forensic settings. He has lectured throughout the world including Wayne State University School of Medicine and at the Baylor College of Medicine - Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in Houston, Texas. Mr. Navarro brings together his academic background, scientific research, and practical experience catching spies to the art of observing and interpreting human behavior. Mr. Navarro is also the author of: Advanced Interviewing Techniques: Proven Strategies for Law Enforcement, Military, and Security Personnel; Hunting Terrorists: A Look at the Psychopathology of Terror; Phil Hellmuth Presents Read 'Em and Reap: A Career FBI Agent's Guide to Decoding Poker Tells; and his most recent book, What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People.

When people speak, they naturally incorporate various parts of their body, such as the eyebrows, head, hands, arms, torso, legs, and feet, to emphasize a point for which they feel deeply or emotionally. This movement proves important to investigators because, as a rule, people emphasize when genuine. Liars, for the most part, do not emphasize with nonverbals.

They will think of what to say and how to deceive, but rarely do they think about the presentation of the lie. When compelled to lie, most people do not realize how much emphasis or accentuation enters into everyday conversations. For the interviewer, emphasis accurately reflects reality or the truth.

When liars attempt to fabricate an answer, their emphasis looks unnatural or is delayed; they rarely emphasize where appropriate, or they choose to do so only on unimportant matters. People accentuate both verbally and nonverbally in their interactions. They emphasize verbally through voice, pitch, tone, or repetition. On the other hand, they emphasize nonverbally, which can prove even more accurate and useful to investigators. People who typically use their hands while speaking punctuate their remarks with hand gestures that emphatically illustrate or exclaim.

They also may thrust forward, point, or pound the desk as they emphasize. Others accentuate with the tips of their fingers, either touching things or gesturing with them. Hand behaviors compliment speech, thoughts, and true sentiments.

Raising eyebrows (eyebrow flash) or widening eyes also emphasizes a point.

When interested, people lean their torsos forward and, often, employ gravity-defying gestures, such as raising up on the balls of their feet as they make a significant or emotionally charged point. While sitting down, some emphasize by raising the knee to highlight important points. Occasionally, people will add emphasis by slapping their knee as it comes up, indicative of emotional exuberance. Gravity-defying gestures symbolize emphasis and true sentiment, both of which liars rarely possess.

In contrast, people de-emphasize or show lack of commitment by speaking behind their hands or showing limited facial expression as if to control their countenance because they are not committed to what they are saying.

Deceptive people often show deliberative, pensive displays, such as touching fingers to their chin or stroking their cheeks, as though they still are thinking about something, rather than emphasizing the point they are making. They are evaluating what they said and how it is being received, which is inconsistent with honest behavior.

Sources

David J. Lieberman, Never Be Lied to
Again (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press,
1998), 37.

Desmond Morris, Body Watching (New
York, NY: Crown Publishers, 1985), 61 and
supra note 5, 68.


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Join us tomorrow when we explore the third domain...◦

PART TWO: A Four-Domain Model for Detecting Deception: Emphasis