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Lying and Body Language

Answers to a report... "Questions About Body Language and Lying."
1.Are there different types of body language for different types of lying?
Lying style is based more on the liars personality rather than the type of lie. We tend to think liars always pause or liars don't make eye contact. The newest research indicates that extroverts are more likely to speed up, get louder and more effusive when they lie and introvert pause more, soften their voice more and have less facial expressions and movement. Liars try to put more expression in their voice and face but the facial expression stays on the face too long and the vocal variation seems out of sync with the facial expressions. An honest person feels something then shows it nonverbally then says it with their words. The liar is focusing on the words then has to think about what emotion they should be expressing. So the words come out first then the person expresses. So someone telling you the truth may smile then say, "Sure I love you." a liar may say, "Sure I love you." then smile and the smile and voice and body expressions comes a beat late and can linger a bit so that it feels and looks awkward.

2. What sort of body language occurs in the upper body when someone is lying? (i.e arms, hands)
So many different possibilities depending on personality.
If the person feels guilty and or fears being discovered, they may close what I call the body windows to the person they are lying to. So they may pull back the feet under their chair or point the toes away, they may close the knee window by crossing their legs. They may cover up their heart window by turning slightly away, adjusting their shirt, holding a beverage in front of their chest. They may also lean slightly away with their torso or head as they listen to a question they don’t want to answer honestly or as they prepare their answer or just after they lie. Extroverts with big egos (Think Politicians’s and big sports celebrities like Arid ) may lean forward as they lie. Honest people do that naturally to emphasize a point but liars tend to start the lean to soon and they lean in closer and tend to linger forward a bit too long. They may close their neck window by clasping their neck or playing with a necklace or shirt button, collar or zipper. They may slightly turn their head away. Their mouth window may twist up on one side, they may bite their lip or do a weird liar smile that looks like a upside down clown smile. They may close their eyes (eye widow) a beat or two longer than normal or blink frequently. The voice may get higher as the vocal chords tense.

Also honest people gesture and give facial expressions as they speak, that match and mirror the voice tone, speaking rate and body language of the person they are talking with. If you accuse them of something, they want to keep talking till they are sure you realize they didn’t do it and they can feel you trust them again.

Liars want to change the subject, they may attack you verbally or get mad to distract you from your accusations. If you accuse someone, see how they respond then change the subject. Liars relax when you change the subject!!!

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Right Hand Good, Left Hand Bad? Gestures and Emotions

Right Hand... Good, Left Hand... Bad?
Does it matter to you and your audience which hand you gesture with? Well, in laboratory tests, "right and left-handers associate positive ideas like honesty and intelligence with their dominant side of space and negative ideas with their non-dominant side," says Daniel Casasanto of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. When examining spontaneous gestures in presidential debates during the 2004 and 2008 elections involving two right-handers (Kerry, Bush) and two left-handers (Obama, McCain) researchers Casasanto and Jasmin found that right-handed candidates made a greater proportion of right-hand gestures when expressing positive ideas and left-hand gestures when expressing negative thoughts. But the opposite was found for the left-handers, who favored their left hand more for the positive and their right hand for the negative. Obama's 'right-hand man' may be on his left. For years I have told my public speaking students who were nervous to try putting one hand in their pocket, For 30 years I have seen students who do this magic gesture with their dominant hand. As a coach for Politicians, the old school was to tell them to gesture mostly with their right hand and only to use their left hand when delivering bad news. The new data Cassanto shows is that people associate “good things with the side of their body they can use most fluently -- dominant is fluent, and fluent is good."

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

What Do I Do With My Hands When I Give A Speech?

What do I do with my hands when I give a speech?
The energy impact of gestures.

The most frequent question that I get when I am teaching my public speaking course or working with a coaching client who wants to improve their body language in their speeches is, “What do I do with my hands?” Because the hands come out from the heart they symbolically show our true feelings. Nervousness and anxiety come in our feet and hands. We don’t want our fear to show, so we want to hide our hands. Most of the frustration comes at the beginning of the speech when you are the most nervous. You may want to plan specific gestures to use at that time. I threw my hands up in the air at the beginning of one of my speeches just to get the excitement up and out of my body. The location of your hands, also, affects your nonverbal behavior. Put your hands at your sides and your energy goes down and your voice lowers and can become more monotone and you tend to move and show fewer facial expressions. Bring your hands to the level of your waist and you become calm and centered, bring your hands up high to the level of your upper chest or above and your voice goes up and you become more energized and animated. Change the location of your hands depending on your emotional message.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Sales Techniques....Way for a Manager to Make a Request and Get Follow Through

A Five Step Process to Get Commitment and Follow Through From Someone or Make a Sale-

When you ask someone to do something, ask him to say what he will do. Make eye contact. Make sure your facing side by side with men and face to face with women.

Make sure you give a specific time frame for completion. Develop a sense of obligation in him. Engage his conscience and have him tell you how the task will go. End with verbal confirmation. For example, “So I will see you next Saturday, right?”

1) Get him to say it. Do you really mean that? Are you serious? Do I have your commitment to follow through on this?

2) Get a specific time frame. "Great." What time will you start?" When will you start?" "Any idea of how long it might take?" “When can you begin?” “What will be your first step?”

3) Develop a sense of obligation – Let him know that because of his help positive things will happen or that if he withdrawals his offer it will cause a disturbance.

4) A sense of conscious. You want to relay that you are now dependent upon him for his help. Let him know how important his help really is. Mention any consequences that you might suffer if he doesn't come through. I will be in hot water.

5) Seeing is believing - Example, A Real Estate agent showing a home says, "Where will the sofa go?”What will you do first, hook up the monitors or go through the booklet?Make sure he sees himself doing what he says.



Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Selling Techniques from Patti's Sales Presentation Workshop

The Law of Scarcity – When a person perceives that something they might want is limited in quantity he believes that the value of what he might want is greater than if it were available in abundance.

Action - Limit options.

Narrow someone's options before you present them to him. Conventional wisdom suggests that with more options a person is sure to find something that he or she likes and that will motivate him or her to take action. The opposite is actually more likely. Nobody enjoys being wrong. When you give fewer choices research shows a person will make a decision faster and be less likely to dwell on it afterward. Second guessing the choice they made. Don’t’ create the, "Did I make the right choice?" scenario. Offer no more than three options with two being the ideal. Give a person choices, but not too many. When a person is not given choices he can feel his freedom is restricted and it may cause him to back off.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.