Effective Body Language

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Offline Ana

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Effective Body Language
« on: February 20, 2013, 06:47:41 PM »
Effective Body Language

1. Fake Smiles – A genuine smile uses all of the muscles of the mouth and eyes. Additionally, wrinkles (commonly called crow’s feet) appear in the corners of the eyes. On the other hand, a fake smile only uses the muscles of the mouth. Only 1 in 10 people can fake a genuine smile, so when you see a fake one, pay closer attention to see if other subtle signs of deception appear.

2. Touching of the Face around the Eyes – when people are being deceptive, they gently (and unconsciously) touch their face around their eyes or rub their eyes. If you see this, keep watching.

3. Unusually Long Durations of Expressions – genuine expressions rarely last longer than 5 seconds. Anything longer should be considered a probing point, and your observation skills should increase.

4. Creating Barriers – when people are nervous or uncomfortable, they will create barriers between themselves and others. It might be a cup, a book, or another object but it will be moved between them and others. While it may not be a sign of deception, it is a probing point to be on the lookout for.

5. Unusual Stillness – As noted in part I, gestures and speech are intricately linked. When someone becomes very still, particularly in their upper torso, keep watching. When people are being deceptive, they are so focused on telling their lie that they stop demonstrating their normal gestures.

6. Lint Picking – I’ve been known to do this when I’m in disagreement with what’s being said or what I’m observing. When you see someone pick lint (real or imaginary), it should be a trigger for you to observe the person’s body language much more closely.

7. Avoiding Usage of Possessive Language – If someone is being deceptive, they will avoid using possessive language and possessive pronouns such as “I” as they want to distance themselves from the deception.

8. Incomplete or Glossed Over Stories – liars will recant what happened, usually spending a lot of time in the set up of the story but glossing over the details of what happened. In addition to lacking details, very rarely will they initially explain how they were affected by the events in their story. If you have to ask about the impact on them, that should be a sign to ask more open ended questions about the event.

9. Repeating Questions Verbatim – when asked a question, if someone repeats the entire question word for word, keep watching as it may be a sign of a stalling tactic. Truthful people generally repeat only a portion of a question they are asked.

10. Not Answering Questions – When deception is the goal, answering questions is not. Pay very close attention when someone avoids answering specific questions.
Amena Hasan Ana
Manager, Business Development, Daffodil Group
Special Assistant to Chairman
Daffodil International University
President, Child & Youth Finance International
Co-Leader Google Educators Group
Vice President, Youth for Human Rights International
Email: ana.huq@gmail.com