Conan O'Brien Flashes Eye Brows Showing, "Hi, I Know You"

What we see here is the raising of the eye brows- that is involuntary- that we all do when we see someone we know.

It says with the face, "How are you doing" and acknowledges the other person as familiar.

The funny thing, is we do it involuntary when we see others we know, but it can be faked, and when you do it to complete strangers, they do it back to YOU!

With television personalities, and others in the public eye, they should return it when they see it, or they may appear rude or stuck-up. The stranger, when recognizing a celeberty, will assume a deeper connection, because, after all, they are in their living room all the time.

He has also perfected the perfect social smile, exposing teeth, and outer mouth turned up.

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Conan O'Brien Flashes Eye Brows Showing, "Hi, I Know You"

James Hataway a Person of Interest in the Missing Person Case of Tracy Ocasio

I mentioned last week, when I was on vacation, seeing a news story in Florida. At that time I saw things such as shame while the person was in court, and he was too calm given the circumstances. When I returned home I was seeing if there was any more video of the suspect. I only found this 15 second clip as he is being escorted into a police station where a reporter was asking him questions.

It really is not a great deal of time, but sometimes that is all you have to work with. Normally when I do this type of analysis for television stations I am analyzing an entire interview (which is easier because you can establish a baseline and more easily identify gestures/clusters/and roles) but I thought it might be nice for you to see the type of thing I do for news organizations.



Notice: There was too little tape to do a voice analysis.◦

James Hataway a Person of Interest in the Missing Person Case of Tracy Ocasio

Touching of the Mouth and Ears while Listening?

I was watching a couple of back to back episodes of "The First 48 hours" (on A&E) and it is a good show to watch regularly if you are interested in this web site- there is at least 10 minutes of real life interrogation videos in each show.

What was different about the episodes last night was the camera wasn't mounted on the wall near the ceiling, but instead they had a camera in the room so the suspect and the interviewer could been seen just as good.

A couple of times I wanted to scream at the interviewer because they were making some big mistakes with their body language.

When I teach television reporters to interview I tell them you have to "show" the right reaction to get the best results. Sometimes you must present yourself in the most non judgmental way; in fact you have to build trust by becoming a chameleon so you are on their "wave length." You have to be in that mode 90-95% of the time when doing the interview, and save the other 5-10% when you really need it to get your information.

When we are listening and we are hearing something we do not like, subconsciously we might touch or even cover our ears. I can spot this from across a crowded restaurant, and when I see some printed materials on the table I know someone is being sold some insurance or is trying to get someone to switch banks/brokers/etc. Remember this, it is a big clue when evaluating your listeners.

When we cover our mouths while listening, it is saying we do not want to talk now. This is something that is being taught and is becoming widely known and used.

Bask to the shows last night. One investigator was getting a cold blooded confession. The investigator was tugging on their ear at the beginning of every sentence, moving forward in their seat (because they were excited because of such a clear cut home run of a confession) and was to quick to cover their mouth after asking the question. It was a melody and mix of lack of control by the investigator that was sending the wrong message. It became an unnatural conversation. It was like getting a good hand in poker and letting everybody know by starting to dance with your feet under the table. It was complicated by the tone of their questions, it was judgemental giving the impression that they were going to pounce with an old fashion parental scolding. They didn't ask themselves why am I getting things so good. The confessor actually smiled as the detective left the room. Mission Accomplished.

What should have happened is this: never tug at your ear when interviewing someone for television or because they are a suspect in a crime. Do not lean forward or back in a chair unless it is to make some sort of point. Cover your mouth only when you need to - when you need to send a clear signal I'm going to let you talk now, don't do it when they are babbling like a brook. It was done so fast you could be sending the signal to NOT talk- it can be interrupted like a signal you might get from a parent when you start to ask Aunt Jenny why she has hair on her upper lip- catch those words and put them back in your mouth. If someone is giving you information so freely that could send them to prison for the rest of their life, or even the death penalty, you have to ask yourself why. Why are they making my job as a detective so easy? I've already got to what I need to convict, perhaps I should should change the pace and tone of the conversation so we can get back to our normal roles as detective and criminal to see what is lurking below the surface.

There were two people involved in killing two people and almost killing another. Two of the victims were women who were tied up and duct taped was placed over their mouth and eyes, they were shot execution style. Thankfully one lived. The other one that was killed was involved in the drug trade and a contract was put out on his life. The confessor said he shot the drug dealer in his driveway, while his friend shot the girls in the house. He was probably being untruthful about some if not all of the story. He was distancing himself from the killings that were senseless and could carry the stiffest of penalties with any jury. What type of situation are you in when your best "play" is to confess to shooting a guy three times in the driveway?!?!

The detective got the confession without any techniques, simply something like this was said at the beginning of the interview, 'So you know two people were killed up there... and one lived, tell me what you know about it?'

I don't know the end result. I do know people are going to prison given the confessions and evidence, and sometimes that is enough... but I just feel uneasy unless I have the complete and real truth.

The First 48 Hours web site◦

Touching of the Mouth and Ears while Listening?

Analysis of Last Week's Lying Game

Let's take a closer look at the Liar's Game from last week. If you haven't seen it go ahead and view it by clicking here.

When I teach Television Editors and Reporters about what I do, I'm always telling them they do not need to catch every micro expression or gesture because you can always review the tape. Then I teach them how to review the tapes. One of the things I tell them to play it once at a normal speed, then once at a fast speed, then once slow speed. Why? Fast speed can show you tendency gestures, when they gesture less, and their normal gestures that becomes part of the baseline. Slower speeds can show you the leakage gestures and expressions.

What I would suggest for you to do now, is to place a piece of scotch tape right below the video timeline below, with a pen mark the starting and ending points of each statement. Watch it fast a couple of times.

Does anything stand out? It should. During the lie there is a decrease in gestures. The difference is barely noticeable when played at a normal speed, but when playing it faster it becomes obvious. Here are a couple of articles from The Journal of Nonverbal Behavior about this:

The impact of deception and suspicion on different hand movements. Caso,
Letizia; Maricchiolo, Fridanna; Bonaiuto, Marino; Vrij, Aldert; Mann, Samantha;
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Vol 30(1), Mar 2006. pp. 1-19. [Journal Article]

Individual differences in hand movements during deception. Vrij, Aldert;
Akehurst, Lucy; Morris, Paul; Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Vol 21(2), Sum
1997. pp. 87-102. [Journal Article]

When you marked the timeline something else should have stood out. There is one particular statement that takes longer than the others. When people lie they tend to "explain" it more in an attempt to make it more believable. There are too many articles on this to cite just a couple- search online. I've created programs that "count" emotional words, and determine learning styles, etc. but here is the thing with computers, people are usually better and quicker than computers in this area- but more on that in another post.

Did you have trouble spotting the lie? Why this one was hard to read? Well, because it was based on a half truth.

What I want to do is put together a group of 50 really good 'The Lying Games' or statements and develop a web based application, like METT, where the barely noticeable becomes obvious because you have been trained through repetition. It is important to notice more/less gestures, and blinking, and the like. Too much I want to do, very little time.◦

Analysis of Last Week's Lying Game