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Podcast Episode: What Are Some Myths About Deception?

lying-deceit-deceptionWhat are some myths about deception? What are good deception detection techniques? How can auditors build more trust?

Dr. David Matsumoto, a renowned expert in the field of microexpressions, gestures, nonverbal behavior, culture, and emotion recently appeared on the Audit 15 Fun Podcast with Jon Taber to answer these questions and more.

Myths about Deception Detection

Dr. Matsumoto emphasizes there are many myths surrounding deception detection that have not been validated by science or vetted in the field.

Here are a couple myths:

1. There is one behavior that is always indicative of deception.

For example- liars scratch their nose or they look away. This has never been validated by science or vetted in the field in a consistent way.

2. Liars look away when talking or answering a question.

This hypothesis has been tested in many studies around the world and is almost never have been found to be true. Interestingly there is also data that liars know this misconception exists and will therefore look at the interviewer more when being questioned.

Is Deception Necessary?

Detecting deception is difficult and Dr. Matsumoto believes humans are wired to not know what people are truly thinking and feeling.

Societies have required some degree of blindness to what others are think and feel and that blindness is necessary for human societies to function.

He emphasizes that if we knew what others were thinking and feeling all the time, nothing would work; work organizations wouldn’t exist, recreational organizations would not exist, marriage would not exist.

Dr. Matsumoto believes that humans are wired to have a truth bias. In fact, there’s a lot of data that demonstrates when people are making determinations of veracity or deception there is a truth bias in those judgements.

However, there are people who are in professions (such as law enforcement officers) who we would want to be better at detecting deception than the average person.

Validated Deception Cues

Deception cues do exist verbally and non-verbally. Verbally, they can be in different ways: inconsistencies in speech, certain adverb usage or going off on extraneous tangents. Non-verbally the cues can occur in the face, body, voice, gestures, and body posture.

Helpful Deception Detection Tips

  1. Know that deception cues occur multi-modally across multiple channels and they’re not fixed.
  2. Get trained on validated indicators (both verbal and non-verbal).
  3. Practice active observation. Observing is just as important as active listening.
  4. Prepare for the interview! Get all the facts lined up and strategize your approach.

How to Build Perceived Trustworthiness

Dr. Matsumoto believes that any interviewer needs to build what he called “perceived trustworthiness” in the other person. In other words, you want the interviewee to perceive you as trustworthy.

How to do that?

  • Have an attitude of being authentic and genuine.
  • Engage in respectful behaviors; respect the person’s time, space, boundaries, boundaries of what they want to talk about.
  • Navigate the “trial balloons of trust” they will give you and express non-judgmental listening.

Listen to the 15 entire minute interview below

The post Podcast Episode: What Are Some Myths About Deception? first appeared on Humintell.

Can Smiling Improve Your Mood? Research Says Yes.

Emotions and Facial Expressions

We all know that emotions give our lives meaning, and life without emotions is impossible to imagine.

Emotions are a vestige of our evolutionary history and are primarily controlled by an archaic part of the brain.

This is why Dr. Matsumoto describes emotions as immediate, involuntary, automatic, and unconscious reactions to things that are important to us.

Emotions help us react in some situations with minimal conscious awareness and are triggered by a universal, underlying psychological theme.

When triggered, they recruit an organized system of reactions that produce specific physiological signatures, direct our cognitions, and produce specific types of feelings.

Importantly, emotions produce specific, nonverbal behavior in the face, voice, and body.

Different emotions are expressed by different, specific, unique facial configurations (facial expressions) that are universal to all cultures, regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender or any other demographic variable.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

If emotions produce specific universal facial expressions, can facial expressions in turn affect your emotions? According to the facial feedback hypothesis, they can.

But is this actually true?

Scientists have been interested in the idea of a facial-feedback hypothesis since the 1800s (Source: Betterhelp) and modern researchers have continued to study the hypothesis to this day.

Smiling is Good for Your Heart

One study conducted by clinical psychologists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman showed the positive effects of smiling. Turns out, smiling can be good for your heart in stressful situations.

How Masks Hinder PolitenessFor their study, the researchers examined participants’ heartbeats, since stress and heart health are related.

17o participants were split into 2 groups: one knew what the study was about, while the other didn’t.

In the training stage, the researchers taught the volunteers how to either hold their faces in a neutral expression, hold a social smile (upper right hand image), or hold a Duchenne smile (upper left hand image).

The researchers monitored the participants’ heart rates as they performed various tasks; both groups were required to use their hand to quickly trace a star reflected in a mirror, followed by placing their hand in a bucket of ice water for one minute.

While completing these tasks, each person had to hold chopsticks in their mouth which activated muscles corresponding to a forced smile.

They found the participants who were instructed to smile, and in particular those whose faces expressed genuine or Duchenne smiles, had lower heart rates after recovery from the stress activities than the ones who held their faces in neutral expressions.

Even the volunteers who held chopsticks in their mouths, that forced the muscles to express a smile (but they had not explicitly been instructed to smile), had lower recovery heart rates compared to the ones who held neutral facial expressions.

Interestingly, those who smiled genuinely during the trial recovered the fastest, followed by people with fake (social) smiles. Those with neutral smiles had the slowest recovery.

Even Fake Smiles Can Improve Mood

Recent research also suggests that fake or social smiling can make people feel happier.

An international collaboration of researchers led by Stanford University research scientist Nicholas Coles published a study in Nature Human Behavior.

As part of the Many Smiles Collaboration, a total of 26 research groups from 19 different countries and over 3,800 participants were involved. The average age of the participants was 26 and over 70% were women.

The researchers created a plan that included three well-known techniques intended to encourage participants to activate their smile muscles:

  1. One-third of participants were directed to use the pen-in-mouth method
  2. One-third were asked to mimic the facial expressions seen in photos of smiling actors
  3. The final third were given instructions to move the corners of their lips toward their ears and lift their cheeks using only the muscles in their face

In each group, half the participants performed a small physical tasks and simple math problems while looking at cheerful images of puppies, kittens, flowers, and fireworks, and the other half simply saw a blank screen.

They also saw these same types of images (or lack thereof) while directed to use a neutral facial expression. After each task, participants rated how happy they were feeling.

After analyzing their data, the researchers found a noticeable increase in happiness from participants mimicking smiling photographs or pulling their mouth toward their ears.

Interestingly, the researchers didn’t find a strong mood change in participants using the pen-in-mouth technique but the evidence from the other two techniques was clear.

It provided a compelling argument that human emotions are somehow linked to muscle movements or other physical sensations.

For more on how smiling boosts your mood, visit this past blog post

The post Can Smiling Improve Your Mood? Research Says Yes. first appeared on Humintell.

A Tribute to Law Enforcement Officers

Guest Blog Post by Anthony “Tony” Ciaburro

The month of May (Law Enforcement Appreciation Month) is when we pause to remember our fallen officers.

As I reflect on those whose names are on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, I take comfort knowing that our profession remains undaunted.

The last few years have been the most difficult in the history of policing. Covid-19, a crisis of confidence following the murder of George Floyd, increased victimization and appropriate demands for elevated professionalism did not deter those who police.

The profession, the most highly trained and professional in history, remained dogged, determined, and on-duty.

We cannot bring back those who are now under the watchful eyes of the lions in our Nation’s Capital. Nonetheless, we can honor them by policing in noble fashion. Those who perished would want their colleagues to continue serving with dignity.

I cannot think of any profession which is more accessible. The evolution of technology has shown the positive and negative of policing.

There is no other job held to the same level of scrutiny. (Professional sports don’t count; what is being weighed on the scales of justice is not instant replay entertainment.)

Nonetheless, policing continues.

I was already a command officer when body worn cameras (BWCs) appeared in the field. How officers adapted and continued to work despite every word being recorded is admirable.

What other occupation must work under these conditions? Better said, which occupation works under these conditions and has embraced and excelled like law enforcement?

The entire use of force paradigm has changed over the past few years. Police, politicians, and those in our communities all demand and expect increased professionalism especially regarding use of force.

In reviewing use of force, I was in awe of the patience of officers and their precision. Officers would communicate calmly and use force when it absolutely appeared all options were exhausted. The shift is stunning.

When I started, delaying was considered indecisive and perhaps an indicator of low officer confidence or courage. De-escalation is now the norm and certainly more difficult.

If one watches the recordings of incidents, they will hear the officers discussing the sound tactics consistent with societal demands. In reality, officers do everything they can to avoid using force.

Modern police work is full of facets. There were always specialists as opposed to the generalist patrol officer. Nonetheless, the ever-growing areas of technical expertise are remarkable.

Interview and interrogation training like Humintell offers, field tactics, improved electronic optics for service weapons, expanding cell phone and computer technologies are part of the everyday ways to do business.

When officers would brief me on a case or explain to me why they needed a certain piece of equipment or approval for a training class, regardless of whether I could understand them, I deeply appreciated their vigor. They wanted to do their job better in a more transparent manner.

The laws have also changed. Miranda is more complicated. The age of the offender is important. In aggregate, today’s officers have many more factors to consider while gathering facts; therefore, they must have high intellect.

Despite continued admirable success against ever demanding and changing conditions, the numbers of those entering the profession are fewer. Recruiting and retention is a topic amongst all chiefs.

Pay, benefits, and mental health services must adjust to these market conditions. Competitive compensation, choices and a culture of competency are the foundation for success. Compensation must be meaningful and signal the employer’s intent and mindset of appreciation towards law enforcement.

Officers need fulfilling careers. A variety of challenges, i.e., assignments or choices is necessary.

Finally, culture is key. A well run and fair department in all aspects fosters retention and in turn, recruitment. Yes, the officers of today will change departments. They should not have to stay if their employment is somehow lacking.

*

Anthony “Tony” Ciaburro spent nearly 34 years in law enforcement. Tony started in 1989 at the San Jose Police Department and worked a variety of assignments until retiring as a captain in 2015.  Tony then became a captain at the East Bay Regional Park District Police Department and promoted to the Assistant General Manager of Public Safety (AGM)/Chief of Police in 2017. As the AGM of Public Safety/Chief of Police, he  had Police, Fire, and Lifeguard Services under his command.   Tony is a fluent Spanish Speaker who embraces a philosophy of “Good to Great,” is a graduate of San Jose State University (MS & BS), the FBI National Academy (Class 245) and PERF’s SMIP.  

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