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DECEPTIVE BODY LANGUAGE

Open deception is hard. When you fall for it, you are hurt. And when you are the one being deceptive, there are many negative effects that this has on your physiology. Body language, as a rule, is out of our control. The nonverbal cues that our body gives when we do certain things, or think certain things, are largely impromptu.

With deception, exposure becomes of paramount concern, and this concern really shows in your body language.

Just what is deception, though?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

 Intro to Deception

There are various degrees of deception. The range from big lies, “I did not kill him”, “I did not steal the money,” “Of course, I’ve been faithful,” to little lies, “You’re not fat,” “I’ll be there in five minutes,” “this tastes delicious,” all the way down and through to those that aren’t exactly lies, like comb overs, or nodding when really you’re not listening.

There are also lies that we tell ourselves. These range from simply maintaining our self-esteem, to completely deluding ourselves.

No matter which end of the deception spectrum your own behavior is, the visible results of deception reveal true or fake deception.

Below follows a brief discussion of true deceptive behavior.

 True Deceptive Behavior

Truly deceptive behavior is visible by the consequences of this behavior. Control, distraction and anxiety are all consequences of deception.

How so?

• Control: People who are being deceptive tend to show signs of over-control, in order to avoid being caught out. For example, forcing as smile that reaches the mouth but not the eyes, as an attempt at friendly body language, an oscillation between defensive and open body language, as well as clumsiness or jerky movements. They may also put their hands in their pockets or hold their arms, an attempt at stillness, in order to avoid giving themselves away.
• Distraction: When you are being deceptive, you have got to think about what you are doing, and what you are about to say. This may cause you to pause or drift off as you plan what to say next, or you may hesitate in speaking. There may also be an over or under reaction to events as you are further distracted by the need to cover up, with your natural timing being thrown off kilter!
• Anxiety: Unless you are a psychopath or a brilliant actor, then deception will result in a certain level of anxiety. This tension comes from the fact that you might be found out. Minor muscles might start to twitch, you may start to sweat, your pace and pitch of your voice might change, or you could exhibit sudden movements. Some anxiety signals are masked, though, like putting your hands in your pocket, patting your head, or biting your mouth on the inside.

You might also fidget or move all over the place. Your attention could also be drawn to unusual places around you.

Deception really causes an increase in brain activity, especially in the areas of decision-making and planning. Deception is, therefore, exceptionally hard work!

Fake deceptive behavior is the opposite end of this spectrum, but it also isn’t. Let us now discuss the fake aspect.

 Fake Deceptive Behavior

Fake deception seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. When you consider some of the reasons for deception, from persuading another person to do or say something, to getting away with something yourself, it is clear that sometimes you can fake deception, as a means to an end, a way of achieving your objective. The second example below shows where fake deception gets the most effective results.

Another definition for deception is the propagation of beliefs in some things that are just not true. So, the fake deception really is faking the already fake, or perpetuating a lie!

The following examples are of situations where deceptive body language comes into play.

 Short Examples

As said, deception can come in many forms. A true deception would be pretending to be disabled, to make use of the parking closest to the entrance. Or also lying your way into somebody’s bed, which can have serious consequences, including rape accusations.

Fake deceptive behavior starts early in life, and an example of this is fake crying in infants to get attention. The result of this behavior does achieve immediate results.  Other examples of infants and toddlers deceiving their parents especially are when they have broken a toy, or stolen some biscuits out of the cookie jar.

The result of both fake and true deceptive behaviors are the same though, leading to anxiety, control or distraction.

 Conclusion

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Detecting deception is relatively easy, if you know what to look out for. Some signs of deception are ingrained from youth though, and these are more difficult to detect, such as putting your hands in your pocket, or Prince William’s famous head patting.

However, even in situations where the signals of deceptions, sweaty palms, fidgeting, twitchy muscles, or changes in pitch and pace of the voice, are expected, such as in the case of a mother who’s child has gone missing, this is not to say that the mother is being truthful when she says she had nothing to do with it.

Gentle questioning can reveal the truth of this surface behavior, reveal as a lie or deception that which is so cleverly, and often truthfully masked as fact.

It is not necessary to resort to extreme measures of extracting the truth, such as torture or hectic interrogation. Because of intensive research by psychologists and criminologist, easily identifiable verbal and nonverbal cues present us with a much more humane way of achieving the same result.

Deception requires three things:

• A straight story that is kept this way
• A believable story that is kept this way, and
• The ability of this story to withstand scrutiny

Unless you are dealing with a true psychopath, or with an exceptional actor, very seldom are all three of these criteria met in the case of any deception, whether blatant, white, or simply a comb over!

This is good news, indeed!

References

Robin Rosenberg, I Never Lie, (April 26, 2011)

Richard Gray, Babies Are Not As Innocent As They Seem, (July 01, 2007)

Gino F, The Counterfeit Self, (May 21, 2010)

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