Find Out What People Really Think & Feel
Emotional Intelligence
Behaviour Analysis
Evolutionary Psychology
Behaviour Analysis
While our world is becoming ever more complex and the technologies that define our lives are accelerating at a rate thought impossible only a short while ago, the cognitive demands on the human brain have fundamentally changed. In this environment it is easy to overlook the fact that our modern skulls house ancient minds that were designed to face challenges from ancestral times. No matter how sophisticated we think we are, the behaviour patterns of our past still influence our emotions and decisions today. War or peace, love or hate, the things we buy large and small, even the crimes we commit, all can be traced to programs in our minds that were intended for an epoch long gone by. Viewing human behaviour through this lens helps us to understand why people do the things they do, as well as understanding their motives, intentions and desires.
Who lies more, Men or Women?
The rate at which men and women tell lies is equal
Who are the best Lie Detectors?
Teachers
Do good looks influence if we judge someome as deceptive?
Definitely!
Which Medium is the most dis-honest?
The Phone
What are Micro Expressions?
Very brief facial expressions
Are there reliable tools to detect deception?
Yes!
Deception Detection
Deception is as old as history and not limited to our species, but we humans are remarkably good at it. Modern technology seems to further facilitate deception. From the simple bragging on social media to fake online product reviews and fake followers all the way to fake news, fake CVs and fake quarterly reports of publicly traded companies, deception seems to be rampant. What complicates matters is the fact that 50 years of research have shown that most people are amazingly unimpressive when it comes to deception detection. Those telltale eyes that can’t hold the gaze, the lips slightly downturned, those defensively crossed arms, the posture that is a bit odd—all of these are viewed as the equivalent of Pinocchio’s nose. But science tells us otherwise.
Who makes your decisions?
Influence & prediction
predicting her
Analyzing the speech elements used in a first date can predict with high accuracy if a couple continues to see each other.
A woman is interested:
- if she varies her voice pitch, speaks more softly and takes shorter turns talking.
- if she doen not use hedges (probably, I guess, maybe, I think so).
- if she feels comfortable enough to speak about herself. The word to look out for is the word "I" as it indicates that she wants to connect.
- if she uses the first personal pronoun "I" in here text messages after the date.
- if she uses self marking phrases that invite the listeners attention (you know, I mean).
- if she displays a genuine smile. A genuine smile has very specific characteristics and is different from a polite smile or a coy smile (appeasement).
For men conversation plays only a small role in how they respond to a woman, physical appearance trumps everything else.
unconscious Priming
We all can be influenced by the most unexpected sources.
- Research has shown that the consumption of either a hot or cold drink prior to a meeting with a stranger had an effect on how the stranger was perceived. Warm drinks produced positive impressions but cold drink less so.
- Beware that the type of chair (hard or soft) used when reviewing CV's or sales proposals can influence your decision making. Hard chairs produce impressions of seriousness, focus, effectiveness and goal orientation, soft chairs are more suited to evaluate personal matters.
- Volunteers were either given neutral text or text about the health risks of bacteria to read. The volunteers who read about bacteria were, in consequent questionnaires, more hostile towards immigration, viewed immigrants as dangerous pathogens coming in.
a long time ago
It is no secret that childhood experiences influence adults.
- The most important years in a man's life to cement a number life long preferences is when he is about eight years old.
- One such example is the favorite sports team.
- Statisticians tell us that the winning team at the time when the boy is about eight years old is most likely to become his favorite team as an adult.
- Overall, five to fifteen is the key period to win over a boy.
- Winning when a man is around twenty reduces the likelihood for his association with that team to a mere 10%.
Influencing People
There are distinctions when it comes to influencing people, and the spectrum reaches from the benevolent to manipulation and deception. Awareness has never been more crucial in a time where technology that has only recently come to life monitors, analyses and predicts human behaviour on a scale and with a precision unimaginable only a decade ago. Although the algorithms know us better than our friends after only a couple of clicks, the psychological devices used for manipulation—whom to vote for, where to go (Pokémon Go), what to buy and where—date back to antiquity.
The global market value of public relations is expected to jump from 64 billion US dollars in 2018 to almost 100 billion in 2022. Nevertheless, most people think that they are immune to influence and persuasion and that only other people’s minds can be swayed by tactics that reach deep into our subconscious. If that were true, the whole PR industry would be out of work. In reality, as little as a slight touch can change how we think, feel and behave. A touch can even affect the level of risk we accept with regard to our financial decisions.
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
Much of what we do is ultimately related to sex and consumption. Selecting a romantic partner could be viewed as the ultimate consumption decision. We use what is referred to as sexual signalling (driving a Porsche or wearing Prada) to advertise our qualities to the opposite gender, and we consume everything from religion to experiences, relationships, education, jobs, lifestyle and, yes, mating partners.
Women shop for tall men with good genes and status (resources), men shop for young women with hourglass figure and beauty (fertility), and both sexes carefully uphold an image that best serves this purpose.
Women undermine female competition with gossip, men compete with other men for access to women and resources. Everything we do relates to these simple rules. The conscious application of image management makes use of these imprinted behaviours to navigate a world in which the consumer rules virtually everything.
Because you can
Impression management has many forms and is not limited to humans. The peacock maintains his glorious tail although it requires a huge amount of energy to grow and maintain. It signals to the hens that he is fit enough to escape predators not because of his tail but despite carrying this heavy burden. In humans we call this behaviour sexual signalling by conspicuous consumption—the public display of economic power not because you need it but because you can. One example of reward for this behaviour is found in the fact that young men driving a sports car show increased levels of testosterone, but only while they have a female audience. Women on the other hand are susceptible to indicators of status in men, which is why this behaviour seems to have evolved.
behaviour analysis
the skill
It is hard to imagine a more useful skill than to truly understand the emotions, desires and intentions of other people. Being able to understand others allows you to navigate the various challenges of life smoothly, as your happiness and economic success depend critically on your relationship with other people. This skill enables appreciation between friends, compassion among enemies, empathy between strangers and collaboration between couples, co-workers and countries.
To cultivate this skill set requires practice, hard work and some thorough strategies, because the gap between what we think we know about others and what we really know is shockingly large. Although others’ inner thoughts can be revealed through their actions, faces, bodies and language, humans have developed sophisticated means to mislead and misdirect each other. The confidence in our own ability to read our friends’, families’ or business partners’ emotions and the length of the relationship we have with them do not translate into a high accuracy rate.
There is ample scientific evidence that throughout human evolution deception in its various forms has always been a key strategy, which explains the universal interest in deception detection. Contrary to popular belief, however, Pinocchio’s nose does not exist, and most non-verbal communication signals that are associated with deception are unfit to separate the lies from the truth. Only the careful observation of multiple communication channels and the knowledge of what to look for result in a credibility analysis with a high level of accuracy.
While deception detection occupies a prominent position within behaviour analysis, life is more complex than black and white (truth or lie). What do other people think about you? How smart or attractive do they think you are? Do they think you are sharp as a knife or soft as a sponge? Miscalculations concerning what people think about you can have consequences in private life as well as in business. People do not always know what they want or don’t want, even if they think they do. People do not always know how they really think about issues in business, politics or romance, even if they believe they do. Behaviour analysis is the ability to recognize the subconscious cues that reveal what people really think and feel and is not limited to mere deception detection.
Behaviour analysis today exceeds the realm of personal and face-to-face interactions because the way we interact with people has fundamentally changed with the advent of smartphones and social media, – not to mention Covid19. What has changed too is the advancement of technology to predict, control and modify human behaviour. While this field offers fascinating insights and opportunities, it comes with its own challenges and drawbacks, especially for those oblivious to their existence. Understanding the mechanisms that are being deployed to manipulate human emotions, with the aim of modifying our behaviour in a predefined direction, seems paramount in a world saturated with what we have come to know as fake news.
The Myth
A whole industry thrives today on the assumption that body language is a reliable indicator of deception. Books, workshops, seminars, podcasts, TV series (Lie to Me) all cater to that notion, and even experts in the field succumb to it. What is often overlooked is the fact that while body language can be an effective tool in detecting hidden emotions, it cannot inform us about the reasons that cause the emotions. A guilty man may show the same signals of fear of being not believed as an innocent man, although for slightly different reasons. Scientists all over the globe have confirmed again and again that Pinocchio’s nose does not exist, that there are no universal non-verbal signs of deception.
Emotional Intelligence
Hope is an equal opportunity provider and is independent of intelligence quotient (IQ) or income. With the recent advent of emotional intelligence (EQ) into the popular consciousness, it is hope that carries the greatest allure. EQ is especially appealing to those who feel disadvantaged by the predominance of IQ-centric success predictors, as EQ is something that can be learned by everyone. This contrasts with the notion of an IQ-based cognitive elite by offering a more accessible alternative.
But it all starts with introspection. To catch and alter one’s own fleeting emotions whilst still in their grip poses a never-ending challenge for those who seek to become masters of their emotions, thoughts and consequently their actions. Once this hurdle has been surmounted, EQ offers a number of applications that are both practical and impactful. As the saying goes, IQ brings you to the top and EQ keeps you there.
Machiavellianism
the dark side of EQ
Considering the dark side of EQ immediately brings Machiavellianism to mind. People with that trait are emotionally detached and tend to manipulate others to promote their own interests. High EQ achievers may also use their skills to exploit others to advance their own interests. The worst advocates of EQ will be those who combine their EQ skills with Machiavellianism.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology extends Darwin’s theory of evolution from the physical to the psychological and investigates how evolution has shaped the human mind and the behaviours we can observe today. If we accept that our hearts, lungs, arms and legs have been shaped by evolution, then the same must be true for our minds.
Many of the challenges our modern societies face can be explained by evolutionary psychology. To understand this, we must accept the notion that our drives and emotions were designed to cope with challenges that have their origin in ancestral times, that our modern skulls house ancient minds. Status competition, conspicuous consumption, mate poaching, cuckoldry, cheating, parent–offspring conflict, sibling rivalry, even homicides are manifestations of inherited behaviour patterns that are as active today as they were in primeval times.
Two features of the perpetual game of life have always been paramount: survival and procreation; and unsurprisingly our strongest drives and emotions are still related to them. The expressions of these drives can be observed in a variety of ways and in any imaginable setting. Ultimately everything we do, be it as consumers, employees, employers, parents or lovers, is related to survival and procreation. Human behaviour cannot be understood without appreciating the fact that all members of a family, business or country are beings shaped by a shared evolutionary heritage.
To a certain extent we are all marketers and consumers at once. We market ourselves to ascend in the social hierarchy or to succeed in business and the mating market, and we consume everything from relationships to sex to ideas and religion. The successful marketers are those who truly understand human nature and offer us “products” that are congruent with our evolutionary in-born preferences. McDonald’s has not risen to such prominence because it offers cheap, fast food, but because our cravings for food with high-calorie, high-fat and high-sugar content are congruent with our past that was riddled with food scarcity.
The view through the lens of evolutionary psychology penetrates the veil of ignorance like high-powered night vision goggles penetrate the darkness. The sometimes incomprehensible behaviours that we observe today can be traced to their long-forgotten origins, so that what seemed random becomes reason for those with eyes to see.
Born As Blank Slates?
evolutionary psychology
a mind to kill
Humans do not enter this world as “blank slates”; instead, humans are born with a mind that is already equipped with behaviour patterns and emotions—let’s call them programs—that were meant to meet recurring challenges that our ancestors struggled with throughout human evolution. All it takes to activate a specific program is its corresponding condition.
Amongst others, there are programs for cooperation, altruism, peacemaking, friendship, alliance building, self-sacrifice, competition, mate poaching, cheating—and killing. These programs are not fully formed at birth, and nurture has great influence on how each of us reacts if and when any of these programs are activated, but we all have their underlying neurological structure ingrained in our brains.
The challenge becomes apparent when we try to resolve conflicts that play themselves out in modern times with behaviour patterns that stem from our ancient past. To understand the causality between these imprinted programs and how we apply them we have to keep in mind that ultimately everything we do is related to survival and reproduction.
One homicide scenario has been puzzling law enforcement for decades. A man kills another for no apparent reason. A word, a gesture or even just a wrong look can be the trigger for a (bar-) fight that ends a man’s life. Can there be an evolutionary logic behind such behaviour?
Women prefer men with status; that’s why men compete with other men for status, which in turn secures access to women. The lower an individual’s rank on the social or dominance hierarchy, the more likely he is to defend whatever little status he has left. A consequence of not doing so might be loss of access to females, which, in evolutionary terms, goes against one of the strongest drives of life, reproduction, the transportation of genes from one generation to the next.
The view through the lens of evolutionary psychology explains but does not justify the many lives lost in comparable circumstances. There are other programs whose analysis can help us to understand why the greatest danger for a woman’s life comes from her husband or romantic partner and why, despite many loving step-parents, having a step-parent in a household is the single greatest risk factor for fatal child maltreatment.
FAQ's
No. Behavior analysis is a multifaceted discipline that allows us to look into someone’s subconscious to see what a person is really thinking and feeling.
EQ is the ability to recognize and manage emotions in oneself and in others, and to understand how to best use them in order to achieve a desired outcome.
Researchers worldwide have accumulated considerable empirical evidence of the positive, life changing characteristics of Emotional Intelligence. Whilst IQ is considered to be a relatively stable quality (i.e. does not increase with age or training), evidence from a wide range of sources indicates that people can improve on EQ competencies and that these improvements can be sustained over time.
The most common form of lying is lying by omission. People tell a truthful story, skip over the part they would have to lie about, and continue again with the truth.
There are a variety of linguistic, para-linguistic and non-verbal techniques that claim to be just that. In reality none of them is precise enough to prevent false positives. This is why deception detection is a multi-faceted discipline for any serious practitioner.
No, people don’t lie just because they can, people lie for a reason.
The perception is that we lie the most per email as it is not a personal interaction, it can be edited, nobody can see where and with whom it was written.
However, emails leave verifiable digital traces and permanent records. 2008 was the first year in New York with more than 50% of divorce cases where emails were the primary evidence.
People lie on dating sites, – but only within reason. If the discrepancy between someone’s online profile and reality is too great then there will be no second date.
