Eyes, Hands, MFE's, Speech

Re press article that appeared in various SA newspapers in July 2012. The story reported research carried out by a UK psychologist after which he stated that hand movements are the most reliable indicator of deception. He als dismissed eye movements as an indicator. I found the article to be interesting, but somewhat inaccurate in terms of the findings presented. Hand movements in isolation are not a reliable indicator of deception just as much as isolated eye movements are also not reliable indicators. If for example a subject keeps his arms folded; or keeps his hands in his pockets or fingers clasped together on table ... then hand movement detection in isolation is totally useless. It has long been accepted in the Detection Of Deception (DOD) arena that a multi-disciplined approach is by far the most reliable route to DOD. The integration of multiple disciplines and research (literature) gave meaning to gestures and (micro)reactions of the body (Turchet). Ekman, Friesen and prestigious authors like D. Morris, Edward Hall, Ray Birdhwhistell, Gregory Bateson had contributed significantly to this field already and many continue to do so. The Diogenes Project (later named the Truth Wizards project) carried out research on some 20,000 people and discovered that a mere 5% have the ability to detect lies with any degree of reliability and by use of multi-disciplines: Statement Analysis, Kinesics and physiognomy. Kinesics covers the study of all body movements, which is further whittled down into specialised areas such as hand-arm, major muscles and micro facial expressions (MFE’s). Physiognomy is the study of faces, including FACS (Facial Action Coding System) for defining emotions and in turn, the emotions that are displayed when practising deception. FACS was devised by Dr Paul Eckman over thirty years ago. Dr Eckman’s work is still used and taught worldwide. Interestingly, Dr Eckman and various teams declared over time that the expressions were cross cultural, but nowadays it is accepted that there are distinct differences between western and eastern cultures. To try to single out any one particular discipline as being the most reliable DOD approach is simply disingenuous. It’s like trying to reinvent the wheel. http://emotion-research.net/projects/humaine/ws/wp3/ExtraMaterial/HUMAINE-Kaiser.pdf http://www.non-verbal.info/2012/01/emotions-7-universal-primary-emotions.html#!/2012/01/emotions-7-universal-primary-emotions.html http://www.persuasive.net/it-is-written-all-over-your-face-understanding-facial-expressions http://www.economist.com/node/18925759