http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGuLFWygmdM&feature=youtu.be
Right before Jodi Arias first
dramatic emotional fake breakdown on Wednesday
We see Arias
who for days has had a much smarter than you smirk towards the prosecutor
getting cornered. We see her start hooding eyes and the face turn down
crinkles of fake sadness. This fake sadness doesn’t fit the line of
questioning. Liars are desperate they use strong emotions like
anger, sadness to manipulate our perception.
How can you tell if a person is really remorseful versus someone
who is crying because he or she got caught?
Here
is what you can look for. I train human resource officers to question
suspicious employees. If someone is innocent she wants you to see she is
innocent. She will typically move towards you and look at you to be sure you
believe her. She won’t suddenly SNAP and hide behind a hair curtain and face
block so you can’t see them. Face blocks for Jodi Arias include hand to eye,
hand to mouth block, block with Kleenex, and block with arm to take off
glasses. When someone is truly remorseful they are responding from the
emotional brain. You will typically hear the emotion cry or sob or gulp just
before they speak. They will struggle to
get the words out as words are in the neo cortex. Listen when someone is really
upset they are acting from the emotional brain.
In your expert opinion -- those tears -- is Jodi Arias faking
it?
She
is faking it. It’s an “I’m caught” moment. If you looked at just the body
language you might think poor, poor Jodi. She is shown exhibit 78, the photo of the
murder, and she knows she’s caught and wants to disappear and SNAP… but look closely
and you notice the overacting. She is using facial blocking motions and hair
curtain to protect herself so she doesn’t have to look at the prosecutor. You
know she feels caught and is acting because he calmly delvers her standard “I
don’t know” there is not the vocal stress or word breaks.
Let's watch another key moment.
Arias says she had to shoot Alexander because he attacked her like a
linebacker. The prosecutor asked Arias to reenact how Alexander did it.
Look at her hands. Hands show emotional state. If Travis had really come at her like a
linebacker to grab her remember and show the tension and gripping of his hands.
It didn’t happen he didn’t grab her so she can’t fake those complex hunching,
grabbing, forward motions. If you watch prosecutor Juan Martinez's tone and body language.
Back
and forth he pushes her, then backs off, pushes her then backs off. His behavior looked overly frenetic and at the
beginning of his question it actually worked. He steps forward to
attack and backs off so she feels she’s safe.
She thinks she’s won then he is right back again. On this day he
clearly changed from a frustrated parent talking to a smart aleck
teenager. He vocally breaks into the middle of her lies cutting them to
shreds.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.
