DETECTING LYING &
DECEPTION DURING
AUDIT INTERVIEWS JERRY BALISTRERI, M.S., M.ED.,
ASTD CERTIFIED TRAINER
(COPYRIGHT 2014)
AHIA 33rd Annual Conference – September 21-24, 2014 – Austin, Texas
www.ahia.org
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Non-Verbal Communication
Professional Use
Are you good a “reading” people?
When in a meeting can you tell who is bored or wants
to leave?
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Professional Use
Can you tell if someone is lying or being deceptive?
Koko & All Ball
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Professional Use
Can you read an interview applicant?
Can you tell if a client is displeased when negotiating
a contract?
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Non-verbal Communication
Personal Use
Do you know what to look for if a date
is going well?
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Personal Use
You come home after curfew time and Mom is there to
greet you. Can you tell her mood even before she
speaks?
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Personal Use
Would you like to know if a person you’re about to
hire to come into your home to clean, care for an
elderly parent, or child is deceptive?
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Personal Use
Would you like to know the next time the car
repairman says you need to replace
an expensive part?
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Objectives
Develop skills in reading non-verbal “tells”.
Understand the limbic system and its role in non-verbal communication.
Identify behavior indicators associated with tension, stress, fear and deception.
Recall the three foundations of detecting lying & deception.
Know how to detect deception.
My Goal
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What Part of the Message… Mehrabian, Albert (1971) Silent Message, Wadsworth Publishing
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The Limbic System 11
We all have it!
The Limbic System Continued
It is considered to be the “honest brain” in the non-verbal world (Goleman, 1995, 13-29).
Consequently it gives off a true response to information in the immediate environment.
Why? It reacts instantaneously, real time, and without thought.
In the non-verbal world, the limbic brain is where the “action” is. Many, but not all, non-verbal responses come from here.
The remaining parts of the brain are the thinking and creative parts. These are the non-honest parts of the brain. The brain that can deceive and deceives often (Vrij, 2003, 1-17).
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Base Lining
Definition:
Observing a person’s behavior when he or she is under normal, non-threatening circumstances.
When does base lining begin?
(Now - and it never stops)
Why is base lining important?
(When people deviate from their baseline, that is a red flag!)
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Base Lining Continued
What to look & listen for:
• Speaking tone (engage in chit chat)
• Number of words/minute, and word flow
• Eye blink rate (normal relaxed rate is 20/M)
• Check for limbic reactions
• Use of hands while speaking
• Use of hands while listening
• Where the person’s eyes are when asked a question
• Where a person’s eyes are when answering a
question
• How expressive their face is
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Detecting Lying & Deception is a
Three Pronged Approach 15
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1 1
2 2
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The Science of Lying
Why do people lie? 1. Help someone & make ourselves feel good. (pro-social lie) Example – Answering, “Does this dress make my back side look big?” 2. Make ourselves look better while not hurting another. (self
enhancement lie) Example – I also have a Ph.D! 3. Personal benefit at the expense of another. (a selfish lie) Examples – I can’t do this presentation because I have to take my wife to the airport. Tax preparation. 4. Deliberately damage another. (anti-social lie) Example – I saw Bob take the money. Paul Ekman 2001 UC-San Francisco
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The Science of Lying Continued
“For every lie told, two to three more must be invented to cover the tracks of the first lie.” Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN) 1992
Liars must: • Remember the first lie • Create new lies that connect to the first lie • Have a great memory • Sound convincing without deceptive leakage Truthful people do not have to go through those mental gymnastics!
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Lying Statistics
Lying is becoming easier and easier for people these days. American’s lie – and are lied to – much more than we realize. The book “The Day America Told The Truth” says that 91 percent of Americans lie routinely. USA Today
In her book Liespotting, Pamela Meyer indicates we encounter nearly 200 lies a day.
Liespotting, 2010
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Lying Statistics Continued
Honesty by Profession
Top Seven 1. Nurses 82 %
2. Pharmacists 70% 3. Grade school teacher 70% 4. Medical doctors 69% 5. Military officers 69% 6. Police officers 54% 7. Clergy 47% 2014 Gallup Poll Honesty & Ethics
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Lying Statistics Continued
Honest by Profession
Bottom Dwellers Newspaper reporters 21% Lawyers 20% TV reports 20% State office holders 14% Car salesman 9% Members of Congress 8% Lobbyist 6 % 2014 Gallup Poll Honesty & Ethics
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Content & Structure
(statement analysis)
What creates content and structure? YOUR QUESTIONS!
There is no such thing as a bad interviewee. There are only bad interviewers. Questions must be structured clearly and concisely, so there is no room for the respondent to wiggle out of. Example: Do you know the location of the body?
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Content & Structure Continued
That was a poorly stated question for the following reasons:
1. What if an accomplice disposed of the body?
2. What if your suspect dumped the body in a river and the body is now miles downriver from the dump site?
Fraud related questions:
Where did you last see the ring before filing the claim?
What do you know about the fire?
How did you get injured?
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Content & Structure Continued
(asking the same thing different ways)
Scenario: Through earlier conversation, it came out the car accident happened on a sunny day.
1. Can you tell me the time of day the accident occurred? (confirms daylight “sunny” hours)
2. Can you tell me what you think caused the accident? (opportunity to disclose shift blame, lie, etc.)
3. What were the road conditions like? (sunny day would imply good dry roads)
4. Did you swerve your car to avoid the accident? (swerve marks may be present on the pavement)
5. Did you see anyone swerve to avoid the accident? (swerve marks may be present on the pavement)
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Content & Structure Continued
Scenario: Two male students are sent to you because a school window was broken from a stone being thrown. Each student is blaming the other as the rock thrower. 1. Separate the students as rapidly as possible. (reduces the time to collaborate on a story)
2. Allow some time to pass before interviewing either student (it will imply you may have spoken to the other student first)
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Content & Structure Continued
What can you tell me about the window being broken? Possible replies: • I don’t know anything. (avoidance) • I didn’t hear or see anything. (denial, but implies
to be at the location) • I heard glass break, but by the time I turned
around I didn’t see anything. (places the person at the scene and close enough to see players)
• I saw Bobby throw the rock. (redirecting blame)
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Content & Structure Continued
Why do you suppose you are here? (disclose information or not) What would you say if I had a report from a neighboring home that indicated you were there when the window was broken? (response may contradict previous information, may lead to the truth if they believe someone saw them) What would you say if I had a report from a neighboring home that said they saw you throw the rock? (allows opportunity to disclose and adds pressure from the belief an observer saw what happened) Why is it that Bobby is saying you threw the rock? (use lies with caution)
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Content & Structure Continued
What to look & listen for?
1. Didn’t answer the question.
Example: Question - “Did you take the wallet?” Response “Why would I take that wallet? I
don’t need to steal, I make good money. I’m not the type of person that would steal.”
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Content & Structure Continued
2. Changes in tenses and nouns.
Susan Smith, TV Appearance October 1994
“I just can't stress it enough that we -- we just got to get
them home. We're -- that's just where they belong, with their mamma and daddy.”
Critical Review? When a pronoun takes the place of a noun, that’s an indicator of deceit and distancing. No first person usage.
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Content & Structure Continued
Susan Smith, TV Appearance November 1994 “I would like to say to whoever has my
children, that they please, I mean please bring 'em home to us where they belong. I have put my faith in the Lord, and I really
believe He's taking care of them. They're too beautiful and precious that He's not going to let anything happen to them.”
Critical Review? Changing pronouns (whoever to they)
Distancing (bring’em and them)
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Areas to Look For “Tells”
Face
Hands & Fingers
Arms
Upper Body (chest, shoulders, etc.)
Lower Body (feet & legs)
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Body Language
What to look and listen for: 1. Pacifying behaviors. (hands to face, neck, ears, suprasternal notch, etc.) 2. Any “blocking” maneuvers. 3. Question induced responses. (limbic) 4. Change from “baseline”. (breathing, sweating, dry mouth, voice pitch, etc.) 5. Speech errors. (enunciation, hesitations, etc.) 6. Create silent time between questions. (uncomfortable silent and watching induces more detail) 7. Observe the entire body but focus in on face and eyes. (knowing their eyes are being watched induces limbic reactions) 8. Subject asks for questions to be repeated. (thinking time, stalling)
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Stress Relief for Men & Women
Suprasternal notch – low confidence, stress reliever,
nervousness (women)
Neck/collar/face touching – low confidence, stress reliever,
nervousness (men)
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Detecting Deception
Deception and/or lying initiates a stress reaction in most people. The stress is fear of being detected or caught. Stress can be further induced via guilt.
Nervous fingers
Eye contact shifting
Rigid and/or defensive posture
Sweaty palms and/or face
Variations in pitch, amplitude, and rate of speech
Abnormal speech hesitation and speech errors (thinking)
Increased embellishments of story or parts of the story
Inconsistency in story
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Deception & Eye Direction 34
Let’s Practice 35
Deception Mastered 36
Very smooth during the Lewinski
days.
Control of the body.
Control of language.
Are you observant?
To get good at any skill requires practice
(basketball, golf, etc.)
Doctor/student story
What changed on Jerry?
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Bibliography
• 2008, Secrets of Body Language, History Channel.
• Blair, J.P., Horvath, F. (1996). Detecting of Deception Accuracy Using the
Verbal Component of the Behavior Analysis Interview Model, Michigan
State University.
• Cummings, S. (2008) Mystery at Bootleggers Cove, Dateline TV, NBC.
• Ekman P. Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and
Marriage. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company; 2001.
• Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
• Lickley, Robin, Who Makes Better Liars, Queen Margaret University.
• Mehrabian, Albert (1971) Silent Messages, Wadsworth Publishing Co.
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Bibliography Continued
Meyer. Pamela, (2010) Liespotting, New York, St. Martin’s Press.
Morris, D. (1985) Body Watching. New York; Crown Publishers. Navarro, J. (2008). What Every Body Is Saying. HarperCollins
Publishers. Pearlman, G. (2007). How To Spot a Liar, The Palm Beach
Times. Smith, D, and Smith, S, Television Interview, 1994. “The Reid Nine Steps of Interrogation, In Brief.” Practical
Aspects of Interviewing and Interrogation. John Reid and Associates, Chicago, IL.
USA Today, 2014 Gallup Poll, Hoesty by Profession, December 16, 2013.
Varsamis, C. (2005). How To Detect Liars In Your Business & Personal Life, Article Alley.
Vrij, A. (2003). Detecting Lies and Deceit: The psychology of lying and the implications for professional practice. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Contact Information
Jerry Balistreri
(907) 346-3466
www.readingthetells.com
I hope we learned something today?
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Save the Date
August 30 - September 2, 2015
34th Annual Conference
Portland, Oregon