by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
“If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, VI, 21.
Anyone who has read my work here or known me for any length of time has heard me use this quote before. It is more than just a pithy quote from one of the great Stoic minds of antiquity, it is a summation of one of my personal ethics. Earlier this week, Professor Turley posted an item about former President Bill Clinton entitled “Clinton: We Don’t Need A President Who Will Not Tell You The Truth“. The gist of the article was that a President who lied under oath as Clinton did most certainly didn’t need to be critical of other politicians lying as it was simple hypocrisy even if the point former President Clinton made was valid. This brings us to a prime and necessary component of the propaganda scenario, the liar. Lying is a commonality in our species. Everyone lies about something some time. “No, that dress doesn’t make you look fat, honey.” “I was ambushed by baboons on the way to work this morning.” “I can’t go out tonight because I have to stay home and wax my dog.” Or the classic . . .
These are not the lies that are of primary importance in propaganda. White lies, while not necessarily ethically the best thing in the world, are a social lubricant that helps keep society cohesive. If everyone told the truth about everything all the time, the homicide and suicide rates would probably sky-rocket. We are going to focus on the truly bad actors. The liars in propaganda who are looking to get you to do something they want that is usually not in your best interests and/or harmful to others. Since many dangerous liars are sociopaths or psychopaths, the question becomes how do you spot a liar, a sociopath or a psychopath? First we start with how to spot a generic liar before considering how to spot socio- and psychopaths at a later date.
We have discussed previously the language behind lies extensively in discussing the use of logical fallacies in speech to give untruths the veneer of truth. This is a great skill set for detecting lies in written materials and to a degree in the spoken word but the tool set is not all inclusive for dealing with the spoken. What about in person or through visual media where you can see the speaker? You need a different skill set to supplement the other so to that end, I bring you a TED presentation by Pamela Meyer. Some background on Mrs. Meyer:
Pamela Meyer is founder and CEO of Calibrate, a leading deception detection training company based in Washington DC. Before writing the bestselling book , Liespotting, she spent years with a team of researchers surveying all of the research findings on deception, and underwent extensive training in facial micro-expression identification, interrogation skills and statement analysis. Prior to that she was an Internet and media executive, as founder of Simpatico Networks, a leading social media company. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner, has an MBA from Harvard, a Masters in Public Policy.” (Huffington Post).
The talk she presented at TED only glanced off the topic of verbal lies, but what she offered on body language is very important as are many of the ancillary points she makes about the value of detecting lies in the search for the truth – a thread underlying the Propaganda Series (pardon the pun).
Meyer’s list of tells in this speech is probably not as comprehensive as what is offered in her book Liespotting. The following list is a bit more inclusive than that in the speech.
Verbal cues:
- Verbal cues such as changing to a noticeably higher or lower pitch, rambling, selective wording, avoidance of answering questions or attempting to change the subject, stammering, distancing language, loaded words, and the use of qualifiers (although much like Freud’s advice about cigars, sometimes a qualifier is just a qualifier). Studies have also shown that liars use less contractions.
- Unusual response time – shorter or longer. Planned (and rehearsed) lies and the liars who tell them tend to start their answers more quickly than truth-tellers. If taken by surprise, however, a liar takes longer to respond as on the fly fabrication takes time.
Physical cues:
- A fake smile. Real smiles crinkle the corners of the eyes and change the entire face while faked smiles involve the mouth only.
- Under or over production of saliva.
- Pupil dilation. This nonverbal signal is almost impossible to fake. Larger pupil size that most people experience when telling a lie can be attributed to an increased amount of tension and concentration although some drugs or medical conditions can cause pupil irregularity.
- Change in blink rate – A liar’s blink rate decreases before and during the lie and then it increases rapidly after the lie.
- Fidgeting foot movements. ‘Nuff said.
- Face touching. A person’s nose may not grow when he tells a lie, but watch closely and you’ll notice that when someone is about to lie or make an outrageous statement, he’ll often unconsciously rub his nose. (This is most likely because a rush of adrenaline opens the capillaries and makes his nose itch.) Mouth covering is another common gesture of people who are being untruthful, as is covering the eyes.
- Unusual changes in gestures – Either unusual stillness or an increase in placatory gestures.
- Microexpressions can be difficult to catch, but if you ever spot a fleeting expression that contradicts a verbal statement, believe what you see and not what you hear. Psychology Today has an excellent article on distinguishing microexpressions from other body language.
- The quick-check glance – the classic of liars immediately looking down and away and then back at you again in a brief glimpse to see if you bought the lie.
Blended cues:
- Incongruence not only in words but in gestures – Using logic and evidence as a guide you can spot both explicit and implicit incongruous statements. That is not the only kind of incongruous behavior though. When a speaker believes what they say, gestures and expressions are in alignment with her words, e.g. you nod up and down when you say “yes”. When gestures contradict words – such as a side-to-side head shake while saying “yes’, it’s a sign of deceit or at least an inner conflict between what that person is thinking and saying.
All of these skills, detection of false logics and loaded language, the art of reading body language and tone of voice, all of these skills have something in common. They are all a sort of pattern recognition. Just so when we later consider a more holistic application of pattern recognition in recognizing both sociopathic and psychopathic speakers. these are guidelines. People are people and one or two this these behaviors may be caused by different things such as medical conditions, medications and/or other stressors. For example, I once had to take a lie detector test and do an interview where I worked because a bunch of hard drives had been stolen. I didn’t take them. I wasn’t worried about that. I was, however, very tense because of an ongoing fight with my then girlfriend over something totally unrelated to work. The examiner told me at the end of the interview, “You’re obviously under some kind of stress, but I don’t think you’re our hard drive thief.” So keep in mind that unless you have a preponderance of pattern evidence, your suspected liar may not always be one. Another important thing to keep in mind is all of this pattern recognition goes right out the window when dealing with a pathological liar, but we’ll address that topic with socio- and psychopaths.
Armed with these skills, how many liars do you think you can spot in the next week? Either at work or in the news?
Remember the Stoic’s advice, seek the truth. That is always a key in combating propaganda. It also doesn’t harm the Aristotelian effort to lead an examined life and it is a civic duty to keep government honest and operating off of the real instead of the illusory.
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Source(s): TED, Huffington Post, Psychology Today
~submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
The Propaganda Series;
Propaganda 104 Supplemental: The Streisand Effect and the Political Question
Propaganda 104 Supplemental: The Sound of Silence
Propaganda 104: Magica Verba Est Scientia Et Ars Es
Propaganda 103: The Word Changes, The Word Remains The Same
Propaganda 102 Supplemental: Holly Would “Zero Dark Thirty”
Propaganda 102: Holly Would and the Power of Images
Propaganda 101 Supplemental: Child’s Play
Propaganda 101 Supplemental: Build It And They Will Come (Around)
Propaganda 101: What You Need to Know and Why or . . .
Related articles of interest;
Mythology and the New Feudalism by Mike Spindell
How about Some Government Propaganda for the People Paid for by the People Being Propagandized? by Elaine Magliaro
Thanks, W=^..^
In my exit interview from the military, I was required (because of my clearance) to take a lie detector test. There were two interviewers, one working a machine, the other reading questions from a script.
About halfway through the script, the question was, “Have you ever stolen anything from your office?”
I answered No. There was no reaction on the machine, and that was the last question on that page. The interviewer turned the page, looked confused, turned back, then turned two pages. A page in the script had been stapled out of order.
While he was doing that, it popped into my head that I had a red pen from the office in my barracks room; I had it in my breast pocket one day after work, and I had never brought it back. Shit, Did I steal something from the office ?!?
The lie detector beeped. I said nothing. The two interviewers looked at each other, the guy at the machine shrugged one shoulder; and they moved on to the next question, on the out of order page. When I left the compound I made sure I left that red Bic pen in the barracks.
I love this series…… 1 word, publish…
“lying is a co-operative act”
……..I don’t think this is a true statement
😛
js,
Pretty much.
Gene – http://www.texassharon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/exploding_head1-300×202.jpg
Like this??
mespo,
I loathe golf and yet know every line of dialogue from that movie. Comedy makes for strange bedfellows.
Gene, This is an interesting topic on which I have 30 years of experience. Don’t hijack your own thread, let’s just let this go. I would now like to reply to juncttionahamus.
junction, I’m familiar w/ Sapir. I had an opportunity to attend a conference where he spoke but had to cancel because I needed to be in court. One of my associates went and said he is fascinating. I’ve spoken previously about how impressed my old man was w/ EL AL security when he worked for Pratt&Whitney. From what my dad told me they were probably trained in the techniques Sapir teaches. I’m not familiar w/ Kelly? Please tell me more.
Thanks, for the Dangerfield clip.
raff,
That would be interesting. I’m afraid the sensory overload might negatively effect her health though. She’d have to deal with them one at a time. The whole room at once might make her head explode.
You don’t know anything about my personal or professional life, nick. but if you want to talk yourself into a defamation suit, I’m sure you’ll do it eventually. Although you really have little to worry about that as once again I have to remind you that your opinions of me don’t mean anything to me or – here’s the salient part – to anyone of import to me.
But thanks for once showing again that you’re just a sad old backbiting bitter ball busting prick devoid of any substantive argumentation skills, people skills or logic. It’s not like you haven’t demonstrated that in copious amounts already.
If you don’t have something substantive to add to this thread?
Well that would just be par for the course.
Apparently don’t start none won’t be none is simply too complicated a lesson for your lil’ mind to grasp there, putz.
Interesting article Gene. I did a lot of liespottong during the campaign. Ms, Meyer should hire herself out to do a study on Congress.
Nick – Mr. Sapir and Mr. Kelly familiar to you?
MikeS, I had fascinating conversations w/ my therapist about lie detection. She taught me a few things and I did likewise. As you know, 80-90% of all communication is non verbal. I have a pot roast in the oven w/ mashed squash and baked apples.
I still am licensed and work a few cases now and then. Just finished one. You see, Gene, I have a life and a career. I have marketable skills and had much success using those skills. You have this little fiefdom, and your little, meaningless, arguments. But, “Whatever gets you through the night.”
Gene,
Like Kevin I have to run, to cook dinner actually, but this is something that I find of great interest. I especially want to view the TED talk by Pamela Meyer. Before I go cook my baked chicken in mushroom sauce, with onions an tomatoes there is something I want to relate quickly.
When I was in training as a Gestalt Psychotherapist it was of course important to get a sense of when the patient was deceiving both the therapist and themselves. What we were taught in essence was to go with our gut. This is not as easy as one might think because for most of us in this world that encourages repressed feelings, we sometimes lose focus on what we actually feel. For the Gestalt Therapist the process is to stay in touch with your own feelings while you are listening and watching the patient. It took me awhile but after my first of five years, I could actually stay in touch with how someone else’s words and bearing, affected my own feelings (gut). One would be surprised how the sudden feeling of a pain in ones neck and/or ass tells you so much about someone you are listening to and watching. Those feelings can guide you when deciding if someone is speaking truthfully..
Then you should do better during the week than you do on your argumentation.
This is what I did for a living.
The truth is the truth regardless of its form…. A liars wok is never done….. Good article Gene….I saw this on TED…..
Gene,
Don’t have time to read this now (I’m sure it will be great 😉 ), but I wanted to get in on the comments…