Interesting article, but my only concern is that it’s ever so easy to publish an analysis like that after Knox is found innocent.
Also, I found this book on body language by an FBI agent to be quite believable, and he claims to have used nonverbal communication successfully as a tool in his interrogations.
He downplays the idea that there is any particular body language associated with lying, which is unsurprising given evolutionary considerations. Most of the “tells” seemed to be related to people’s stress levels. He also claims that the face is the most misleading (i.e. under the person’s conscious control) aspect of someone’s nonverbal behaviours in comparison to the rest of their body.
Quote:
I look for pacifying behaviours in people to tell me when they are not at ease or when they are reacting negatively to something I have done or said
...
As a specfic example, if every time I ask a subject, “Do you know Mr. Hillman?” he responds, “No,” but then immediately touches his neck or mouth, I know he is pacifying to that specific question. I don’t know if he’s lying, because deception is notoriously difficult to detect. But I do know that he is bothered by the inquiry, so much so that he has to pacify himself after he hears it. This will prompt me to probe further into this area of inquiry.
So the eyes may be windows into the soul, but the hands and feet are more so. Looking for deception is the least promising approach. And the Italian investigators may not have been sufficiently skilled to interpret nonverbal signs properly, even if they hadn’t been irrational in numerous other ways.
Interesting article, but my only concern is that it’s ever so easy to publish an analysis like that after Knox is found innocent.
There were plenty of similar articles published well before this week’s decision—including a number in the immediate aftermath of the guilty verdict two years ago. The dubious nature of the investigation—and in particular the focus on behavioral “evidence”—was never any secret.
And the Italian investigators may not have been sufficiently skilled to interpret nonverbal signs properly, even if they hadn’t been irrational in numerous other ways
Indeed, they seem to have completely misunderstood Amanda’s nonverbal signs. Their error is ironic, in that nonverbal signs (of both Amanda and those close to her) played a significant role in shaping my own view—since they contributed significantly to my surprise at the accusation, leading me to investigate the case in detail.
Evidently I was much more familiar with Amanda’s “personality type” than the investigators were.
Interesting article, but my only concern is that it’s ever so easy to publish an analysis like that after Knox is found innocent.
Also, I found this book on body language by an FBI agent to be quite believable, and he claims to have used nonverbal communication successfully as a tool in his interrogations.
He downplays the idea that there is any particular body language associated with lying, which is unsurprising given evolutionary considerations. Most of the “tells” seemed to be related to people’s stress levels. He also claims that the face is the most misleading (i.e. under the person’s conscious control) aspect of someone’s nonverbal behaviours in comparison to the rest of their body.
Quote:
...
So the eyes may be windows into the soul, but the hands and feet are more so. Looking for deception is the least promising approach. And the Italian investigators may not have been sufficiently skilled to interpret nonverbal signs properly, even if they hadn’t been irrational in numerous other ways.
There were plenty of similar articles published well before this week’s decision—including a number in the immediate aftermath of the guilty verdict two years ago. The dubious nature of the investigation—and in particular the focus on behavioral “evidence”—was never any secret.
Indeed, they seem to have completely misunderstood Amanda’s nonverbal signs. Their error is ironic, in that nonverbal signs (of both Amanda and those close to her) played a significant role in shaping my own view—since they contributed significantly to my surprise at the accusation, leading me to investigate the case in detail.
Evidently I was much more familiar with Amanda’s “personality type” than the investigators were.