Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Body Language in the Classroom

School is back in session! Humintell Director David Matsumoto has been a Professor at San Francisco State and Judo Instructor for over 30 years. In this video, he explains how reading facial expressions of emotion and body language (nonverbal behavior) has so many benefits in the educational process.

Teachers

For teachers, reading their kids’ and their student’s facial expressions of emotion is incredibly important. It helps them know if the students are getting the material or not, engaging with the classroom or not, and so many other things.

Students

For kids, it’s important to read each other’s nonverbal behavior and especially facial expressions of emotion for many reasons. It’s important for kids to be able to read their teachers so they can get the additional messages about what they’re trying to learn.

But it’s also very important for kids to be able to read facial expressions of emotion in everyone else for their social and emotional development, which is so important and is such an important part of the educational process- above and beyond the knowledge that kids learn.

Going Back Masked

But as you know as kids and teachers in many states and countries around the world are going back masked with a large portion of our faces covered, reading body language and especially facial expressions of emotion is a challenge.

And not doing so challenges the many benefits in reading facial expressions of emotion that would normally occur when we’re back in school.

In fact, there’s been some recent research about this that has shown that people are less accurate in reading each other’s facial expressions of emotion because of the masks.

All is Not Lost

We can still learn to read facial expressions of emotion even when people are wearing masks.

All of us here at Humintell want to help especially educators overcome this challenge during our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ve got a number of blogs on this topic that can hopefully inform us more and give us more important knowledge about this important issue:

The Role of Nonverbal Communication in the Classroom

Can Children Read Masked Faces?

We’ve also got some brand new online courses that can help people learn to read facial expressions of emotion even when others are wearing masks. They made be helpful not only for educators but also for health professionals, security personnel, and anyone who’s dealing professionally with others wearing masks.

So please check out our resources. We hope that they can help all of us be the best that we can be in reading people and reading facial expressions of emotion during this difficult time.

The post Body Language in the Classroom first appeared on Humintell.

RESULTS: Reading Microexpressions: Put Yourself to the Test

A couple weeks ago we published a blog and challenged you to catch a liar by watching 4 videos. Several of you weighed in with your thoughts on who was telling the truth and who was lying after drinking either apple juice or vinegar and saying “this tastes good”.

What were the answers? Find out below!

Person #1: Truth Teller

Notice after she says “this tastes good” there’s a slight smile on her face. Lip corners are raised diagonally slightly and her cheeks are raised. This nonverbal behavior is consistent with her making a positive statement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch it again:

Person #2: Liar

While person #2 smiles slightly before saying “this tastes good”, you may have noticed while he is saying the phrase his eyebrows are pulled up and together creating horizontal lines across his forehead. This is indicative of fear, which is contradictory to the positive phrase he said. Essentially he verbally saying “this tastes good” but nonverbally saying “I’m scared”. This is a definite hot spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch it again:

Person #3: Truth Teller

Person #3 is pretty stone cold in his response and his voice is fairly flat. However, there’s nothing behaviorally that would indicate he is being deceptive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch it again:

Person #4: Liar

Person #4 actually flashes anger twice. Once immediately after drinking the vinegar and once while saying “this tastes good”. His browns are drawn down and together. Essentially saying “this tastes good” but saying nonverbally “I’m angry”. Another hot spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch it again:

 

Remember that seeing a hot spot is not always a sign that someone is lying, but often times are situations where there is an underlying or hidden message. If you see a hot spot and you feel the situation is necessary, you should ask more questions, or find out why that individual has hidden feelings about that topic. Don’t jump to the conclusion that they are automatically lying.

Had a hard time seeing these subtle expressions?

We encourage you to check out our SubX subtle expression training that will teach you how to recognize facial expressions of lower intensity. Recent research even suggests that the ability to detect subtle expressions may be especially important for detecting deception!

The post RESULTS: Reading Microexpressions: Put Yourself to the Test first appeared on Humintell.

Reading Microexpressions: Put Yourself to the Test

truth-lies-deception-deception detectionSo you want to catch a liar in the act. What is the first thing you should look for? The answer are what researchers call “hot spots”. Hot spots are inconsistencies between what people say and what their nonverbal behavior is saying.

For example, if you ask a person how they like your dress and they say “I love it!” but they flash a sign of disgust, this would be a hot spot. What they said and what their body said are inconsistent with each other.

It’s important to understand that hot spots always a sign that someone is lying, but often times are situations where there is an underlying or hidden message.

NOTE: If you see a hot spot and you feel the situation is necessary, you should ask more questions, or find out why that individual has hidden feelings about that topic. Don’t jump to the conclusion that they are automatically lying.

Put Yourself To The Test!

Put yourself to the test with the fun videos below.

This episode of National Geographic’s Brain Games tested actor Ted Danson’s ability to read microexpressions.

They brought in 4 poker players who are known to control their expressions in high stakes situations. Each poker player had two shot glasses in front of them- one containing apple juice and the other containing apple cider vinegar.

Their instructions were to drink the liquid (not knowing if they were drinking the juice or vinegar) and to say “this tastes good” all while keeping a poker face.

Who is Lying?

Let’s look at each individual one by one to see what their faces revealed.

Person #1

Person #2

Person #3

Person #4

Who do you think is lying and what did you see?

Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section and we’ll reveal the answer in our next blog!

The post Reading Microexpressions: Put Yourself to the Test first appeared on Humintell.