verbal and non verbal indicators of stress

1. VERBAL & NON-VERBAL
INDICATORS

2. NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR
• Eyes-their importance
• 90% of facial information come from eye expressions
• Eye contact can indicate truthfulness or deception
• Excessive eye blinking indicates stress

3. EYES
• Eye movement
• Eye movement to the left indicates an introverts personality
• Eye movement to the right indicates an extroverts personality

4. EYES
• Eye behaviors that are indicators of deception.
• Excessive eye shifting
• Prolonged eye contact
• Staring at interviewer

5. GUILTY EYES
• Ready to confess
• Looks at ceiling for the first time.
• Starts blinking.

6. NOSE
• “The nose is the most stress sensitive part of the body.”
• Touching, rubbing, picking, and holding the nose are indicators of
stress and deception.

7. MOUTH
• Inappropriate/excessive smiling is an indicator of deception.
• False smile is noted by only lower teeth showing.
• Any obstruction of speech-whether physical or symbolic indicates
stress.
• Excessive gulping is a sign of stress

8. MOUTH
• Yawning is a sign of stress or feigned boredom.
• Other behaviors indicating stress
• Biting lips
• Squeezing lips
• Continuously licking lips
• Dry mouth resulting in a clacking sound when talking
• White foam in the corners of the mouth

9. FACE
• Frozen Face-expression
• Facial coloring
• White/chalky
• Red
• Facial tics-spasms, good indicators of deception

10. HANDS
• Hands on chin
• Thumb under chin, forefinger stroking chin-deciding to confess
• Thumb under chin subject starts to smile
• Hand over mouth indicator of deception
• Women’s hands go to their neck and throat area indicator of
stress.
• Hands away from body indicator of truthfulness.
• Hands inward to the body indicator of deception.

11. ARMS
• Crossing of arms indicates defensiveness caused by fear of the
situation or guilt ridden stress.
• Arms crossed over chest, fists clasped under arms indicates
uncooperativeness.

12. ARMS
• Arms crossed closely to the neck indicates greater defiance.
• Arms crossed and leaning into the interrogator indicates lessening
chance of cooperation.

13. GENERAL APPEARANCES
• Truthful person
• Appears at ease
• Talkative
• Sincere
• Cooperative
• Answers questions directly
• Good eye contact
• Appears relaxed
• Lighthearted conversation

14. GENERAL APPEARANCES
• Deceptive person
• Apprehensive
• Worried appearance
• Continual sighing or yawning
• Aggressive toward interviewer
• Overfriendly
• Poor eye contact
• Evasive answering
• Excessive movement

15. POSTURE (SITTING)
• Truthful
• Sits upright
• Relaxed looking
• Changes positions
• Arms open uncrossed
• Legs open uncrossed
• Head and shoulders straight up
• Overall has casual appearance

16. POSTURE (SITTING)
• Deceptive Person
• Slouches in chair
• Stiff and rigid
• Faces to the side
• Moves frequently and rapidly
• Arms crossed upper body turned away from interrogator
• Head slump
• Fetal position

17. LIAR’S MOVEMENT
• Trunk shifting means fear of interrogation.
• Moving chair away from interrogator.
• Attempting to exit.

18. LEGS
• Leg(s) stretched far out
• Hands on inside of legs
• Crossing of legs

19. FEET-INDICATORS OF STRESS
• Bouncing feet
• Kicking-anger
• Person moves interrogators chair
• Foot tapping
• Cross ankles under chair

20. PRE-CONFESSION POSES
• Palms up
• First sigh
• Rounding or drooping of shoulders
• Chin dropping to chest
• Eyes slowly blinking while looking at ceiling

21. PRE-CONFESSION POSES
• First crying (look for mucus)
• Holding or rubbing chin while smiling
• Leans into interrogators body space
• Overall look of submission

22. VERBAL BEHAVIOR
• Verbal signals are the most productive.
• Pitch increase, cracking in the voice, increased flow and volume
are indicators of stress.
• Stress occurs and rate, volume, or pitch may increase or decrease
95%.

23. The No’s which may indicate deception
• The 5 second no
• No followed by body movement
• Arms crossing
• Legs crossing
• Body shifting
• The late no when others were timely
• No followed by closing of eyes

24. NO’S
• No given before the question is finished
• The “Stevie Wonder” NO
• Breathless No no sound
• Humming bird no
• No with a washed out look
• No with a hypnotic glance

25. NO’S
• Multiple No’s at stress point
• No followed by laughter

26. Anger/Aggression indicative of deception
• Doesn’t deny the crime, attacks the facts
• Blames the victim
• Anger at onset of interview
• Makes issues of false issues
• Truthful person doesn’t start out angry

27. Speech indicators of deception
• Sighs
• Laugh
• Whew
• Slurring of words
• Skips around sentences
• Stop sentences

28. Speech
• Restarts sentences
• Leaves off ends of sentences
• Speech dysfunction 90% likelihood of lying
• Overly polite, cannot be insulted

29. Guilt signatures-beware who without
prompting
• Tells you about previous arrest
• Tells you about past similar trouble
• Speaks in third person about themselves 1st to 3rd
• States they are hated or disliked