The Alex Murdaugh trial has garnered much attention in recent days, and for good reason: a public figure with a lot of money is tried and convicted of a vicious crime. As with many criminal trials in popular culture, the demeanor of the defendant has received a lot of attention.

In this brief blog, I’d like to discuss a little bit about how reading people and the analysis of body language can help get greater insights into the minds of others. At the same time, I’d like to discuss some of the trials and tribulations of doing so without a solid empirical and experiential basis.

First of all, we should acknowledge the context within which we are observing behavior, which is a trial of a public figure that is being televised. In such a trial, questions and responses are often practiced and polished before they are raised in the court.

Oftentimes the questions that are asked are fixed and those asking questions don’t have the freedom or the luxury to go wherever they want to, as in a free-flowing investigative interview.

The astute observer should realize that reading behavioral indicators of mental states is clouded by such circumstances. That is very different than a spontaneous investigative interview conducted behind closed doors outside of public and television view.

“Anywhere, Anytime”

Many people have commented on the defendant’s verbal answer that he did not kill his wife and son “anywhere, anytime.” (see 0:19 in the video above)

Certainly the use of such language raises doubt about the veracity of that statement because those adverbs seem to make it appear that the suspect is trying to convince the questioner (or the jury) of the denial.

Yet, one has to temper such interpretations because the suspect was asked whether he killed members of his family several times prior, and one of those times the attorney asking the question (in this case, the defense attorney) actually used those very same words.

Thus, when Murdaugh said those same words, it was difficult to know whether those words came spontaneously from his head or was given to him by the person asking the question. The response was contaminated by the way in which the questions up to that point were asked.

Murdaugh Head Nods

When Alex Murdaugh was asked if he killed his family, he says “No, I did not,” while nodding his head up and down.

When Alex Murdaugh was asked if he killed his family, he says “No, I did not,” while nodding his head up and down.

A body language expert can tell you that means he’s lying. His body gave away the truth while his words lied. #MurdaughTrial #Liar #AlexMurdaugh pic.twitter.com/ZYGi5EsIvS

— The Truth (@pattykazUSA) February 24, 2023

In that same response, Murdaugh nodded his head several times when making the denial. Many people will be quick to suggest that that head nod was clearly contrary to the denial, using the head nod as a sign of deception (nodding yes while denying).

But hold on; Murdaugh nods his head almost continuously at times, even when not being asked a question or even speaking. That behavior may be a residual effect of a drug addiction.

Yes, although he is likely clean during this testimony, such behavioral effects (e.g., tremors, fidgeting, twitching, tics, etc.) can continue in individuals who have been afflicted with drugs even when they are clean. Thus, jumping on such single instances of behavior and drawing definitive conclusions is difficult and should be done with caution.

Compounding this issue is that head nods are also used to illustrate or animate speech, and not just as signs of verbal “yes” or agreement. Could Murdaugh have been nodding when denying as an emphasis of his denial rather than a contradiction?

This is the differential that I believe a cautious behavioral analyst should engage in.

Cross-Examination of Murdaugh

In fact, later when the DA was cross-examining Murdaugh, he gave a similar denial with the multiple head nods, which was a similar communication package as that described immediately above.

The problem with this other instance, however, was that the DA asked if Murdaugh had “annihilated” his family; thus, Murdaugh’s head nods could be an emphasis of his denial given the explosive nature of the word in the question itself.

Compounding all of this further were the vehement and somewhat emotional ways questions were addressed to Murdaugh by both his attorney and the DA. When interpreting behaviors associated with responses in such situations, it becomes very difficult to separate the behavioral signs of mental states related to his own state of mind and its contents and his reactions to the emotional ways in which the questions were being delivered.

Would Murdaugh have produced a different package of behavior with the denial if he were asked calmly or with less vocal intensity? Probably so.

Thus, attempts to analyze the situations above, and others like it, are difficult and sometimes futile because they are somewhat contaminated by context and the demeanor of the questioners themselves.

As a result, we have to look elsewhere in his testimony for demeanor that is clearer and can clean up some of these differentials in interpretation. In fact, those existed. (Can you find them?)

My point is this blog is that sometimes reading people and using behavioral indicators of mental states are not as easy as some portray. By the way, in our workshops, we provide the kind of textured and nuanced way of reading people that is especially effective for interviewers.

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