Social Engineering - Christopher Hadnagy [66]
Figure 5-3: Clear signs of disgust with a wrinkled nose and raised lip.
Disgust is one of those emotions, according to Dr. Ekman’s research, that is in reaction to the sight, smell, or even thought of something distasteful. From a social engineering standpoint this emotion might not lead you down paths of success, but it can surely help you to see whether you are hitting the mark with your target or causing him or her to mentally shut down to your ideas.
The odds are that if you cause disgust for any reason in your target, you have lost. If your appearance, smell, style, breath, or other aspect of your person can make a person feel disgust, then it will most likely close the door to success. You must be aware of what is acceptable and unacceptable to your targets. For example, if your audit is for a prestigious law firm and you have many piercings or tattoos, a very strong negative emotion may rise in your target, which can close the door to your social engineering attempt. If you see a facial expression similar at all to Figure 5-4 then you know it is time to leave the scene.
Figure 5-4: If you see this expression, something is wrong.
You must seriously consider your appearance when working on your pretext. If you happen to notice the strong negative emotion of disgust in your target, then backing down and politely excusing yourself to rework your pretext or find a different path in may be a good idea.
Contempt
Contempt is a very strong emotion that is often confused with disgust because it is so closely linked. Dr. Ekman didn’t even include contempt on his first list of the base emotions.
In Dr. Ekman’s book Emotions Revealed he says, “Contempt is only experienced about people or the actions of people, but not about tastes, smells, or touches.” He then gave an example of eating calf brains, which might be disgusting to you as a thought, and will trigger disgust. Yet seeing someone eating them may trigger contempt for the person committing the act, not the act itself.
In my opinion this is a very important point and makes understanding this microexpression crucial. That contempt is directed at a person rather than an object is crucial to understanding the microexpressions that go along with it. Being able to see whether the person you are dealing with is feeling contempt can help you to pinpoint more closely the reason for his or her emotion.
Contempt is distinguished by wrinkling the nose and raising the lip, but only on one side of the face, whereas disgust is the raising of the whole lip and the wrinkling of the whole nose. A very subtle contempt expression can be seen in Figure 5-5.
Dr. Paul Ekman
Figure 5-5: Notice the slight nose wrinkle and the raising of only the right side of Dr. Ekman’s face.
Try to mimic contempt, and if you are like me, you will quickly feel anger and contempt in your heart. Performing this exercise and seeing how these reactions affect you emotionally is interesting.
In Figure 5-6 you can see Serena Williams displaying definite signs of contempt. I found this picture online and didn’t save the news article so I am not sure what the contempt was toward, but whatever it was, she is obviously feeling bad about it.
Figure 5-6: Serena Williams showing contempt on the left side of her face.
Contempt is often accompanied by anger, because the things that can cause contempt in a person can also trigger strong negative emotions. Contempt is one emotion you want to avoid triggering in anyone with whom you are dealing, especially if you are in a social engineering engagement.
Fear
Fear is often confused with surprise because the two emotions cause similar muscular reactions in the face. Recently while on a plane, I was about to write the section on happiness, but something amazing happened at that time that served as the impetus for writing this section on fear instead.
I am not a short man, being 6’3”, and not a small build, either. While I sat