Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

Flirting and Body Language

A team of psychologists at Webster University purport that flirting is more effective than a person’s attractiveness when trying to hook up.  They suggest it is the individuals who signal availability and confidence via flirting not the most attractive person that gets the attention of interested on lookers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The two most universal techniques are smiling and making eye contact.  However, women can flip their hair or lick their lips to up their chances of snagging that guy and men can display social dominance such as positioning their body so that it takes up more space.

 

 

Hot Spot The Liar

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Courtesy of StockVault

The New York Times recently published an short article about people’s ability on recognize and interpret Hot Spots.  Hot Spots are inconsistencies between what people say and what their non-verbals are displaying.

An example of a hot spot would be, if you ask a person how they like your dress and they say “I love it!” but they flash a micorexpression of disgust, this would be a hot spot. What they said and what their body said are inconsistent with each other.

Many layman, outside of government agencies,  especially poker players refer to hot spots as “tells”.  In a University of Chicago study on body language and lying, subjects  were asked several general questions while being videotaped.  They were concurrently told off camera to lie or tell the truth when answering.

The videos, although entertaining do not necessarily depict true Hot Spots.  According to microexpression expert Dr. David Matsumoto, if you just have an individual tell a truth or lie without any high-stakes (gaining or losing something significant)  involved, they will not elicit the same behavior as they naturally would if put in a high-stakes situation where they really wanted to conceal their true feelings.

Its important to understand that hot spots are not a definitive sign that someone is lying, but often times are circumstances where there is an underlying or hidden message (i.e. more to the story than is being told).   If you see a hot spot, you should ask more questions, or find out why that individual has hidden feelings about that particular topic.

To watch the videos and see for yourself, take a look at the entire article.

 What are your thoughts on Determining Veracity from Deception? 

A Lying Politician: Rob Ford

Some dub him as the “Lance Armstrong of Toronto Politics” while others bluntly call him a “bully” and a “liar”.

No matter what you label him, one thing’s for sure: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is under major scrutiny since he admitted on Tuesday, November 5th that he smoked crack cocaine, an allegation that he has vehemently denied since May of last year.

“I wasn’t lying; you didn’t ask the correct questions,” Ford said Tuesday. “No, I’m not an addict and no, I do not do drugs. I made mistakes in the past and all I can do is apologize, but it is what it is.”

According to the NY Times, in a tumultuous four-year term that will draw to a close next year, Ford has been accused of a litany of boorish actions, profane outbursts and insensitive comments — so many, in fact, that one of his critics felt the need to compile a spreadsheet to keep track of them all.

Take a look at two videos below. The first is of Ford denying his alleged drug use back in May of 2012. The second is of his press conference right after his admittance on Tuesday.

What kind of changes in behavior do you see between the first and second video?
Do you see any hot spots in the first press conference?