Page 16 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

Introduction 7

Among others, J. Baptiste de la Porte (1535–1615) and Cesare Lombrosso (1836–1909) were
supporters of the ‘science’ of physiognomy, which postulated that a person’s appearance,
especially the face, reveals his or her personality. They were suspicious of people with narrow
faces, wide chests, larger waists and big forearms. Bartholomew Cocles in the sixteenth cen-
tury stated that people with snub noses were ‘vain, untruthful, unstable and seducers.’

Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828) and his pupil John Gaspar Spurzheim (1776–1832) were
supporters of phrenology, the theory that personality could be determined by bumps on a
person’s head. This is not a particularly practical method in business.

Personology came into and went out of fashion. It was developed in the 1930s by a Los
Angeles judge who cannily noticed that the wretches and criminals who appeared before him
seemed to share common facial and other characteristics. Having set his mind to his theory,
he then reinforced it by further observations and, if human nature is anything to go by, dis-
missing anything that did not fit.

All lies in jest, till the man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest2

CURRENTLY USED METHODS

In the USA, reliance is sometimes placed on polygraph machines (or lie detectors), and this
equipment still causes much controversy. There are basically two types. The first, the con-
ventional polygraph (see http://www.polygraph.org) requires subjects to be attached to it by
wires and sensors that monitor heart rate, galvanic skin resistance (sweating) and other physi-
cal characteristics mainly driven by the limbic system and brainstem. The subject is asked a
number of control questions and his response plotted on a graph. He is also asked relevant
questions, stressful responses identified and he is confronted with them for an explanation.
Experience shows that conventional polygraph machines are effective, but they are rarely
used in Europe mainly because they are heavily disliked by members of the sandal-wearing
fraternity.

AL QAEDA accused. To the extent that the accused does
not believe in its effectiveness, it will not be
The Encyclopaedia of Jihad, part 1 (see effective against him.’ This, as we will see later
www.Ketab25.com) deals with security is a clever bit of neurolinguistic programming.
and intelligence and states: ‘Lie detectors
are nothing more than a myth to trick the

The second type of lie detector is called the Voice Stress Analyser (VSA) or Psychological
Stress Evaluator (PSE) (see [www.xxxxxx]). These devices are based on the theory that under
stress, micro-tremors in the laryngeal muscles in the range of 8–12 Hz are distorted (see also
page [xref]). The machines operate without any physical connection to the subject and can
be applied to a real-time conversation, telephone line or tape recorder.

2 Paul Simon, The Boxer