Detecting Deception

The Body Language Institute recently held a course on Detecting Deception with J.J. Newberry, a world-renowned expert in detecting deception and founder of The Institute of Analytical Interviewing. I had the honor of spending two days with J.J. and would like to provide you with highlights from the course and meaningful tips to help you manage your projects.

Day 1: Interviewing Fundamentals

J.J. has trained the FBI, CIA, ATF, Scotland Yard and many other law enforcement agencies to approach interviewing suspects as a means to find the truth versus getting a confession.

To get to the truth, one has to establish an individual’s norm + stress baseline. That can take from a second to 6 months based on rapport. Once these baselines are established, one can identify behavioral variation known as a hotspot.

Hotspots give interviewers cues

Links To Additional Resources

Van

I think that most of our nonverbal expressions point to the truth. What we need to know then to ferret out the truth is to see if the nonverbal cues match with the verbal ones. I’m a newly graduate nurse and doing my OJT in a private mental clinic.
Aldrick

Working in a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) opened me to a new way of interviewing people. From experience I could easily make sense of the nonverbal cues that my applicants are doing and more often than not, we are able to pick the right people for the job. It saves precious time because one immediately knows if this person is ripe for the job or not. As soon as he/she walks int the room, we already have an initial assessment.

Peter M.A. Lawson

While I do agree with your comments based on the experience you gained from being involved in (BPO) selection process interviews, I think there is need to be mindful of the impact that culture has on how people communicate. For example in Asia where I live and have worked in for over 10 years, it is usually considered rude to look straight into the eyes of a person who is in a position of power and authority. Avoiding eye contact is a norm that most people of the younger generation contend with when dealing with people of higher authority.

http://theprojectbox.us Bernardo

Hi Peter,

I completely agree. There are many cultural norms that would throw off the statements I made from the class; however, the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) assigns the 7 universal micro-expression signs across cultural differences. Glad you liked the article.

Regards,

Bernardo

Sharon

That's awesome. I remember seeing that in the Prison Break series where Michael Scofield's (the hero) body language was so different from what he is saying and the FBI agents were able to tell that he was lying.Now what I would like to learn is how to know the norm and the stress baseline. Is gut feel reliable in this instance?
Cuba

Agree! I’m learning new words here like micro-expressions and stress baseline. Thank you!
Ryan

What about blinking and posture? Are these also signs of lying if there are any deviations? Or should it always be observing the nonverbal and verbal cues?

http://theprojectbox.us Bernardo Tirado

To detect deception, one must obtain a baseline and look for variations. So one must look at all cues to probe further.
http://theprojectbox.us Bernardo Tirado

Ryan, it's important to take actions into context. The danger of only taking one data point can compromise your intent of understanding the truth. Let me know if you need more help with this. Bernardo