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58 Deception at Work

BAD TASTE OF THE WEEK decorated with a hangman’s noose and the
grim reaper at a murder trial.
Two lawyers at a court in New Orleans
have been reprimanded for wearing ties

So who dares say that emblems are not recognized?

Body language

Chapter 4, pages [xref] goes into interpreting body language signals in depth, so it is not neces-
sary to repeat them here, except to say that the liar’s body is like a monster BBC transmitter,
driven by unconscious commands from the limbic system and reptilian brain, often resulting
in contention and conflict with the cerebrum.

For example, some hand movements (called manipulators, see Chapter 4, page [xref]) are
used unconsciously to relieve stress. Actions like rubbing the back of the neck, putting hand
to mouth, crossing arms and legs or brushing non-existent dust off clothing are examples of
manipulators. If the person is deprived of the comfort of these, anxiety is increased. For ex-
ample, if a person is getting comfort from crossing his arms high up his body, we can increase
his anxiety by handing him a piece of paper to examine, thereby compelling him to change
his position. Also, if we unobtrusively mimic manipulators or comment on them he will stop
using them and will be denied their soothing effect.

Other non-verbal communications are called demonstrators and these again are hand
movements (like describing a spiral) used to reinforce a verbal explanation. When being de-
ceptive a liar’s demonstrators usually stop or deviate from his baseline patterns.

Facial expressions

In 1862, Guillaume Duchenne carried out experiments on facial expressions and especially
smiles. He discovered, by applying small electrical currents to his patients’ faces, that genuine
smiles (thereafter known as ‘Duchenne smiles’) were quite different from those that were
artificial, mainly because in the latter the pars lateralis (bloody Latin again) did not move and
some muscles in the cheeks remained passive (see Figure 3.6).

In our world there are seven primary facial expressions:

• anger;
• anxiety;
• disgust;
• fear;
• happiness;
• sadness;
• surprise.

In most cases, an expression representing a genuine emotion is spontaneous and takes place
before any associated verbal response. Spontaneous reactions are driven by the lower brain.
With feigned expressions of emotions the reverse is true and they are often preceded by micro-
tremors around the eyes and mouth that give the game away.