In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, he talks about research done by John Gottman, a man who could, after watching just a three-minute video clip of a newly married couple, determine if their marriage would last or not.  His success rate was staggering.  After spending years conducting marriage counseling and research, his success in predicting success in marriage came down to his ability to recognize the emotion of contempt during conversations with the couple.

But what is contempt?  When you feel morally superior to someone, you feel contempt towards them.  When a person does something, says something, or their physical presence is offensive to you, but not in the same way as disgust, you are feeling contempt.  Continue reading »

Look at a person who is near you right now and imagine that they just ripped a loud fart that you brings words like “horrendous” or “revolting” to your mind.  I’m talking about the kind of fart that is so repulsive that it could clear the room,  the kind of fart that turns your stomach just a little bit.  As you look at that person and judge what kind of person they are, I want you to freeze your face and notice the facial muscles that have been engaged in response to the event.
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Everything starts with a baseline.  Over the next two weeks, there will be a post on each of the 7 Universal Emotions that were identified by Paul Ekman and since confirmed by a number of different researchers from both within the government as well as independent scientists. However if you don’t first establish a working baseline for a person, you will never be able to recognize changes in the facial expressions of those around you.

To keep this simple, we are going to divide the face into three separate and distinct areas that we will use to break down and establish a baseline for each person we are observing.  We will look at the upper, middle and lower portions of the face.
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Over the next few weeks, you are going to see a number of posts here on the site that are focused on furthering our understanding of the human face and what if can offer us as Profilers. For a long time in our course, we only provided a minimal amount of information about what the face reveals due to the fact there are some serious limitations involved in this study that we had to take into consideration.

1. To observe someone’s face, you usually have to be pretty close to the person, going against our principle that “Proximity Negates Skill.” Whenever possible, we advise students to observe an area or a group of people with as much standoff as possible to limit the potential threats that are out there. The closer we have to be in order to recognize someone who plans on doing harm to us, the less skill he needs to actually inflict that harm.

2.Often times true expressions are displayed on the face in what are referred to as micro-expressions. As the name implies, micro-expressions are only displayed on the face for only an extremely short amount of time. Paul Ekman identifies micro-expressions as those that last less than 1/5 of a second (Emotions Revealed, page 15). Without having any video playback capability on patrol, it can be difficult to identify these expressions in real time, limiting our ability to apply any instruction or information we may gain from learning about the face.

Even with these limitations, the face can offer a great deal of information that will help us make better decisions and become more proactive in the face of our enemies.
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I was recently in San Francisco for an academic conference. Hundreds of book publishing companies come to the conference to sell their most recent publications related to the various fields of study connected to the conference. Because the publishing companies and reps are there, this means two main opportunities for students and scholars: buy books at a discount and pitch ideas to publishers for their next book. Well, I just so happened to be sitting at a table by myself, minding my own business, when an aspiring scholar and a book representative sat down to talk. From the get-go, it was apparent that the scholar was attempting to pitch an idea to the publishing representative. And, from the get-go, it was also apparent that he was headed for rejection, and possibly disaster. Continue reading »

The foundation of any behavioral analysis program begins with a deep understanding of what a person is conveying through their nonverbal communication.  Tying the domains Kinesics and Biometrics together allow us to quickly make decisions about a person’s intentions, capabilities and emotions.

The six clusters that we use to classify an individual’s behavior (Dominant, Submissiveness, Uncomfortable, Comfortable, Interested, Uninterested) are the science behind our observations.  With all of these clusters, don’t forget about the Combat Rule of 3’s – that we are going to look for three indicators that all lead to the same cluster before we make a decision.  If you have the science part of the observation down, you are ready to apply the art of the observation and decide if that cluster you have identified fits the baseline or is an anomaly.

Once we make our observation, we are going to compare that conclusion to our baseline. I want to know if my conclusion fits my baseline, a FIT, or does not fit my baseline, a NO FIT. If the cluster is a NO FIT, I now have an anomaly that I want to investigate and attempt to figure out why that person does not fit in.

The following are gestures on the body that I would put into the “Interested vs. Uninterested” Cluster.

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The foundation of any behavioral analysis program begins with a deep understanding of what a person is conveying through their nonverbal communication.  Tying the domains Kinesics and Biometrics together allow us to quickly make decisions about a person’s intentions, capabilities and emotions.

The six clusters that we use to classify an individual’s behavior (Dominant, Submissiveness, Uncomfortable, Comfortable, Interested, Uninterested) are the science behind our observations.  With all of these clusters, don’t forget about the Combat Rule of 3’s – that we are going to look for three indicators that all lead to the same cluster before we make a decision.  If you have the science part of the observation down, you are ready to apply the art of the observation and decide if that cluster you have identified fits the baseline or is an anomaly.

The Submissive Cluster

The Submissive Cluster is the exact opposite of the Dominant Cluster and shows the absence of the “fight” response.  A submissive person may have decided that their best chance for survival is to not put up a fight and to not further anger the person who has asserted their dominance.  This cluster is identified by people who have unconsciously attempted to make themselves appear smaller, open, and non-threatening.  Seeing three of the indicators below can lead to make a determination of “Submissive.”

Lower Body

–       Seated – feet and legs crossed and tucked underneath chair (making themselves look smaller)

–       Seated – feet wrapped around legs of chair (seeking stability and security)

–       Legs will often not be used as barrier as it could offend the dominant person, unless person is in a self-protect mode

Upper Body

–       Leaning forward, making their body smaller and less threatening

–       Torso could be open and exposed if the submissiveness is in a non-threatening situation such as interacting with a boss

–       Arms pulled in (non-threatening, pulling arms in)

–       Wrists exposed in greeting (vulnerable) open palms show that there is no threat

–       Shoulders lowered (protecting carotid artery)

–       May show closed off indicators and protection indicators from uncomfortable cluster if trying to protect themselves

Other Indicators

–      Facial expressions of fear, sadness, or “fake” happiness

–       Forced smiles, movement only with the mouth and not the eyes

–       People will remain fairly motionless, to not attract any unnecessary attention and reduce the chances of being seen (elements of freeze response)

–       Gaze will be away from the person as to not offend them, staring is a sign of dominance

–       Eyes may be wide, signaling vulnerability while also showing cues of fear

–       Person may be pale

The goal of profiling is to create better intelligence, intelligence that we can use.  All of the profiling domains that we focus our instruction on are designed to help us in two areas.  The first and most important focus is on identifying threats before that action takes place.  The second is to help us collect information about the people and the area we are operating in.

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The foundation of any behavioral analysis program begins with a deep understanding of what a person is conveying through their nonverbal communication.  Tying the domains Kinesics and Biometrics together allow us to quickly make decisions about a person’s intentions, capabilities and emotions.

The six clusters that we use to classify an individual’s behavior (Dominant, Submissiveness, Uncomfortable, Comfortable, Interested, Uninterested) are the science behind our observations.  With all of these clusters, don’t forget about the Combat Rule of 3’s – that we are going to look for three indicators that all lead to the same cluster before we make a decision.  If you have the science part of the observation down, you are ready to apply the art of the observation and decide if that cluster you have identified fits the baseline or is an anomaly.

The following are gestures on the body that I would put into the “Comfortable” Cluster.

The Comfortable Cluster

The Comfortable Cluster is the absence of the flight response and shows that the person does not perceive any threat.  This relaxed and open posture is what people likely display for most of the day and will shift out of it to Uncomfortable, Dominant, or Submissive as the area around them changes and they no longer feel safe.

Lower Body

–       Feet motionless and relaxed (no limbic system response causing them to distance themselves from the threat)

–       Feet oriented towards the person (no limbic system preparation to distance themselves from the threat)

–       Legs uncrossed or legs crossed with the inside of the thigh exposed to the person (no limbic system response to protect vital areas and the femoral artery on the inside of the thigh)

–       Standing with legs crossed (no threat perceived, body vulnerable while it is standing with all the weight on one foot, body not prepared to fight/flight)

Upper Body

–       Torso upright or leaning in (no threat perceived, not concerned about distancing)

–       Torso leaning away or splayed out (in a reclined or lounging type manner, body not prepared to defend itself)

–       Arms open – at the sides of the body, gesturing openly, or behind back (no immediate threat recognized and need to use hands/arms to protect the body)

–       Shoulders lowered and relaxed – no turtle effect (no threat recognized, no need to protect vial areas of neck)

–       No pacifying behaviors.

–       Illustrators likely used in speech, but are open and gentle, not sudden or tense

Other Indicators

–       If arms or legs are crossed, they are done so in a relaxed manner, different than being closed

–       Generally will not have any body tension as muscles should be relaxed and loose

–       Person should seem happy or unconcerned overall

–       Gaze will be relaxed with minimal blinking

–       Eyebrows stable, only moving with speech, showing a relaxed forehead

–       Breathing slow and steady

–       Skin is a normal color, not reddened or pale

Biometrics cues are uncontrollable bodily reactions to some type of external stimulus. These uncontrollable reactions are caused by the limbic system. When the limbic system perceives something as a threat it sends out a rush of hormones and chemicals that will have an affect on our body. As we get older we start to recognize some of these effects and associate them to emotions. If someone is mad you would expect to see flared nostrils and reddening of the face because that individual is preparing for the freeze, flight or fight response.  The more an individual has to hide their true emotions, the more that individual will stand out. Theses are just a few indicators you would see amongst others that would be very easy to see as well. To the trained observer you can pick up on not only body language but biometric cues as well.
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