VERBAL & NON-VERBAL
INDICATORS
NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR
• Eyes-their importance• 90% of facial information come from eye expressions• Eye contact can indicate truthfulness or deception• Excessive eye blinking indicates stress
EYES
• Eye movement • Eye movement to the left indicates an introverts personality• Eye movement to the right indicates an extroverts personality
EYES
• Eye behaviors that are indicators of deception.• Excessive eye shifting• Prolonged eye contact• Staring at interviewer
GUILTY EYES
• Ready to confess• Looks at ceiling for the first time.• Starts blinking.
NOSE
• “The nose is the most stress sensitive part of the body.”
• Touching, rubbing, picking, and holding the nose are indicators of stress and deception.
MOUTH
• Inappropriate/excessive smiling is an indicator of deception.
• False smile is noted by only lower teeth showing.
• Any obstruction of speech-whether physical or symbolic indicates stress.
• Excessive gulping is a sign of stress
MOUTH
• Yawning is a sign of stress or feigned boredom.
• Other behaviors indicating stress• Biting lips• Squeezing lips• Continuously licking lips• Dry mouth resulting in a clacking sound when talking• White foam in the corners of the mouth
FACE
• Frozen Face-expression
• Facial coloring • White/chalky• Red
• Facial tics-spasms, good indicators of deception
HANDS
• Hands on chin• Thumb under chin, forefinger stroking chin-deciding to confess• Thumb under chin subject starts to smile
• Hand over mouth indicator of deception
• Women’s hands go to their neck and throat area indicator of stress.
• Hands away from body indicator of truthfulness.
• Hands inward to the body indicator of deception.
ARMS
• Crossing of arms indicates defensiveness caused by fear of the situation or guilt ridden stress.
• Arms crossed over chest, fists clasped under arms indicates uncooperativeness.
ARMS
• Arms crossed closely to the neck indicates greater defiance.
• Arms crossed and leaning into the interrogator indicates lessening chance of cooperation.
GENERAL APPEARANCES
• Truthful person• Appears at ease• Talkative• Sincere• Cooperative• Answers questions directly• Good eye contact• Appears relaxed• Lighthearted conversation
GENERAL APPEARANCES
• Deceptive person• Apprehensive• Worried appearance• Continual sighing or yawning• Aggressive toward interviewer• Overfriendly• Poor eye contact• Evasive answering• Excessive movement
POSTURE (SITTING)
• Truthful• Sits upright• Relaxed looking• Changes positions• Arms open uncrossed• Legs open uncrossed• Head and shoulders straight up• Overall has casual appearance
POSTURE (SITTING)
• Deceptive Person• Slouches in chair• Stiff and rigid• Faces to the side • Moves frequently and rapidly• Arms crossed upper body turned away from interrogator• Head slump• Fetal position
LIAR’S MOVEMENT
• Trunk shifting means fear of interrogation.
• Moving chair away from interrogator.
• Attempting to exit.
LEGS
• Leg(s) stretched far out
• Hands on inside of legs
• Crossing of legs
FEET-INDICATORS OF STRESS
• Bouncing feet
• Kicking-anger
• Person moves interrogators chair
• Foot tapping
• Cross ankles under chair
PRE-CONFESSION POSES
• Palms up
• First sigh
• Rounding or drooping of shoulders
• Chin dropping to chest
• Eyes slowly blinking while looking at ceiling
PRE-CONFESSION POSES
• First crying (look for mucus)
• Holding or rubbing chin while smiling
• Leans into interrogators body space
• Overall look of submission
VERBAL BEHAVIOR
• Verbal signals are the most productive.
• Pitch increase, cracking in the voice, increased flow and volume are indicators of stress.
• Stress occurs and rate, volume, or pitch may increase or decrease 95%.
The No’s which may indicate deception
• The 5 second no
• No followed by body movement• Arms crossing• Legs crossing• Body shifting
• The late no when others were timely
• No followed by closing of eyes
NO’S
• No given before the question is finished
• The “Stevie Wonder” NO
• Breathless No no sound
• Humming bird no
• No with a washed out look
• No with a hypnotic glance
NO’S
• Multiple No’s at stress point
• No followed by laughter
Anger/Aggression indicative of deception
• Doesn’t deny the crime, attacks the facts
• Blames the victim
• Anger at onset of interview
• Makes issues of false issues
• Truthful person doesn’t start out angry
Speech indicators of deception
• Sighs
• Laugh
• Whew
• Slurring of words
• Skips around sentences
• Stop sentences
Speech
• Restarts sentences
• Leaves off ends of sentences
• Speech dysfunction 90% likelihood of lying
• Overly polite, cannot be insulted
Guilt signatures-beware who without prompting
• Tells you about previous arrest
• Tells you about past similar trouble
• Speaks in third person about themselves 1st to 3rd
• States they are hated or disliked