Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Subtle Expressions – Did You SEE That ?

Leveraging nearly 50 years of study and research, Humintell combines state-of-the-art behavioral science with real world practical experience to provide unique training.

Nonverbal behavior is a major component of communication, and facial expressions of emotion are the most important and complex signal system humans have.

Humintell’s advanced Subtle Facial Expression Training better known as SubX provides the user with facial expressions of lower intensity that are a major part of everyday communication especially in Detecting Deception .

Research has documented the existence of seven universally expressed and recognized facial expressions of emotion. The impact of this finding is immense: all people – regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, age, gender or religion – express these emotions in the face in exactly the same ways.

The ability to accurately read signs of emotion in the form of macroexpressions, microexpressions and subtle expressions is an extremely important skill for establishing relationships, building rapport, eliciting information, negotiations, and management positions.  Anyone who interacts with others on a face to face basis will benefit from our training.

Test your skills, try our Advanced SubX Training today!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Use COUPON CODE:  SUBXBLOG when checking out to receive 25% off your SubX purchase until

Raise the Bar Not Your Voice

USA Today has reported on yelling in the workplace and at home and why for many this is so prevalent.  Past research has shown that roughly 88% of parents yell or shout  (a thousand families were included in these findings) at their children.

An interesting tid-bit is that 100% of  parents of 7 years-old admitted to yelling at their child often.  Research has found that yelling at your kid is exhausting for both the yeller (mostly parents) and the receiver of the yelling (mostly kids). Children who are yelled at regularly learn to tune out the yells and therefore, truly do not hear anything that the yeller is trying to communicate to them.

We all fall prey to yelling at some point or another for whatever reason, but chronic yelling can have a very negative affect on the trust and security of our relationships.

Why do we Yell? Well, for various reasons but the underlying truths are we are angry, frustrated or need to simply let it out (vent).  John Armando , a licensed clinical social worker, says,

“That belief, that things should be the way we want them to be, tends to trigger that primitive behavior in us. I think yelling would be an example.  I’ll increase my volume as a way of trying to solve this problem. But, people get intimidated and push back. So what you get is more of the problem…(Yelling) almost never works, yet we continue to try it. And we continue to escalate.”

 All that information is great, but What can you Do to curve your Yelling outbursts?  Well the article goes onto note the following ideas.

1.  Understand  the Difference between Teen and Adult Brains: 

Teenage brains are very reactive (not simply rebellious) and sense anger, shock and fear more readily than adults .  Scientifically teens use their amygdala (911) area of the brain to process emotion.  Whereas, adults use their pre-frontal cortex where problem solving and reason are mediated.

Food for thought opinion of the writer] this might be an adaptive trait since they are as “children” subject to the rule and regulations put in place by the “adults” that surround them.

The article suggests that they might yell because they feel a threat to their emotional well-being or as a Mayday response to an adult’s yelling causing them to run or debate or  tune it all out.

2.  Simply Calm Yourself:

Always try to diffuse the stressor in relationships by gaining distance on it and acknowledging that we are all just human and have the same emotions, fear, sadness, anger, frustration, etc.

Saying to yourself or out loud that you are never going to yell again is a recipe for more yelling and a sure way to deem yourself a failure,which can lead to anger or frustration, therefore more yelling.

3.  Break the Yelling Cycle by actively implementing the following Strategies: 

a.  Breathe, breathe, breathe.  Whether it is to start your day or at the moment before an eruption  Take a breath in for four counts and out for seven.

b.  Notice you body’s physical response, your heartbeat, sweat, etc before an urge to yell.  This can help strengthen you Self-Regulating neural pathways to boost self-calming.

c.  Regular exercise, including Yoga, are always a good ways to boost your immune system and inflammation making you feel better overall, which can have an impact on how you handle the “little things”.

Do you have any techniques that work for stressful situations or to curb yelling?  Share them with the Humintell Community !

Your Questions Answered By Dr. Matsumoto Part 6!

Thank to you everyone for your overwhelming response to the “Submit your questions to Dr. Matsumoto” post on November 5th. Here are a few questions and answers by Dr. Matsumoto himself!

You can find out more about Dr. Matsumoto and his research at his website

Want to read some past “Ask the Expert” blogs? We’ve linked them below for your
convenience:

Part 1 
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Chris:    “What is the difference (in purpose, in the way of recognize) between the sad micro/subtle expression, and the reject emblem ( AU 15,17) , also called the “upside down U mouth”

DM: For one, the emblem will have a stronger AU 15 and 17, whereas the intensity of 15 and 17 in sadness is typically not that strong. There will also be timing and symmetry differences in the AUs. But please also note that these are my observations, as to me knowledge there is no study that has directly measured the emblem and compared it to sad expressions

Dexter Miksch:    “Hi sir, I was wondering how long does it take someone (on average) to attain an expert level ability to read and interpret micro and subtle facial expressions? Also, how does the ability to read and interpret micro and subtle facial expressions compare to the ability to read and interpret body language when used for deception detection and trying to figure out what a person is really feeling?”

DM: Takes only an hour or two to go through our MiX or SubX courses. But that’s just the start. I think one needs to practice it in real life and get comments from experts. So it can be a lifetime of learning! With regard to deception detection I think the face is a channel with more payoff than the body, but that’s relatively speaking, because the body is also important and the face is not 100%.

Cesar: “Is FACS used as evidence or proof in some courts in the world to detect lies? If it’s not be the case, what is the procedure to use the analysis of microexpressions as lie detectors in court?”

DM: I do not believe or know about a situation or case where FACS or the use of micros or any NVB has been cleared for use in the court system. Interestingly the polygraph is also not accepted in the court system. Both, of course, are incredibly important investigative tools.

Olga: “Have you heard of any successful usage of the ability to read micro- and subtle facial expressions in mediation, and if no, can this knowledge/ ability, in your opinion, make somebody be more successful as mediator?”

DM: I am not aware of published data, but one of our affiliates, Andy Boughton, is a mediator/negotiator, and I would bet that the ability to read micros and subtles would help make one a better mediator.

Olga (2): “I’m very interested in being able to “read” people using all possible kinds of nonverbal communication, i.e. not just facial expressions, but also body language, their choice of words, analyzing their voice, etc. I have recently purchased your book “Nonverbal communication”, although haven’t started reading it yet. However, I assume that this book tells exactly about all this. Could you recommend any other books about this topic?”

DM: Our book focuses on the NVB part of NVC, which is a larger topic domain. There are lots of popular books about body language out there, but few are based on scientific facts (which is why we did ours). I am not aware of any good books on the other aspects of NVC.

Qie Bob: “I’ve watched the American television series call “Lie to me”. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The Lightman Group accept assignments from third parties (commonly local and federal law enforcement), and assist in investigations, reaching the truth through applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language. What is your opinion about the show & is it right that this study can be applied in situations like in the show portrays?”

DM: The show was great for highlighting the science we do, but in terms of the accuracy of what it said in relation to actual tells of deception – well let’s just say the show was good entertainment while it lasted. But yes, the science can and is actually being applied in exactly such situations.

Juan Pablo: “Contempt is the only unilateral expression. Does it make the display of emotion on either side of the face or no influence at all?”

DM: Sorry I am not sure I am understanding exactly the question so I will guess. Contempt can occur on either side of the face. There have been no studies as of yet that show why it would occur on one side but not the other. I have some hypotheses about that but they are just speculations at this point.

Camille: “Have studies differentiating between the types of manipulators (face vs. body touching, scratching vs soothing, etc)  in relation to deception been published?”

DM: Not to my knowledge. I know of some deception research in the past that focused on manipulators, but I don’t think they actually compared different types of manipulators.

Camille: “Can a micro or subtle smile (AU 12 alone) be called “duping delight” in the absence of AU6 in your opinion?”

DM: Yes. Because a micro can show a part of an expression, a micro of a smile may not include AU6.

Chris: “what do you thing about synergology???”

DM: To tell you the truth I had no idea of what this is so I googled it and found that it is a term coined by a group working in NVB in Europe. Don’t know the specifics, but it seems like they are in the same field but have decided to call it something else. Other than that sorry don’t know very much so don’t have an opinion.