The Definitive Book of Body Language - Barbara Pease [51]
Eight of the Most Common Lying Gestures
1. The Mouth Cover
The hand covers the mouth as the brain subconsciously instructs it to try to suppress the deceitful words that are being said. Sometimes this gesture might only be several fingers over the mouth or even a closed fist, but its meaning remains the same.
The Mouth Cover
Some people try to disguise the Mouth Cover gesture by giving a fake cough. When actors play gangsters or criminals, they often use this gesture when discussing criminal activities with other gangsters or when being interrogated by the police, so that the audience knows they're being secretive or dishonest.
If the person who is speaking uses this gesture, it indicates that they could be lying. If they cover their mouth while you are speaking, it can show they might feel you are hiding something. One of the most unsettling sights a conference speaker can see is his audience using this gesture while he's speaking. A speaker should stop and ask, “Would someone like to ask a question?” or “I can see some people disagree. Let's take questions.” This allows the audience's objections to be brought into the open, giving the speaker the opportunity to qualify statements and answer questions, just as he would do if they had their arms crossed.
The Mouth Cover may appear as innocuous as the “Shhh” gesture, where one finger is placed vertically over the lips; this gesture would likely have been used by the person's mother or father when he was a child. As an adult, the person uses it in an attempt to tell themselves not to say something they're feeling. The point is that it alerts you to something that is being withheld.
If your parents or minders used this gesture when you were a child, there's a good chance it's now in your adult repertoire
2. The Nose Touch
Sometimes the Nose Touch can be several quick rubs below the nose or it may be one quick, almost imperceptible nose touch. Women perform this gesture with smaller strokes than men, perhaps to avoid smudging their makeup.
The Nose Touch
The important thing to remember is that this type of action should be read in clusters and in context; the person could have hay fever or a cold.
Scientists at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago found that when you lie, chemicals known as catecholamines are released, causing tissue inside the nose to swell. They used special imaging cameras that show blood flow in the body to reveal that intentional lying also causes an increase in blood pressure. This technology indicates that the human nose actually expands with blood during lying, and is known as the “Pinocchio Effect.” Increased blood pressure inflates the nose and causes the nerve endings in the nose to tingle, resulting in a brisk rubbing action to the nose with the hand to satisfy the “itch.”
You can't see the swelling with the naked eye, but this is what appears to cause the Nose Touch gesture. The same phenomenon occurs when a person is upset, anxious, or angry.
American neurologist Alan Hirsch and psychiatrist Charles Wolf did an extensive analysis of Bill Clinton's testimony to the grand jury on his affair with Monica Lewinsky and found that, when he told the truth, he rarely touched his nose. When he lied, however, he gave a split-second frown before he answered and touched his nose once every four minutes for a grand total of twenty-six nose touches.
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman!”
Studies with body-imaging cameras have revealed that a man's penis also swells with blood when he tells a lie. Maybe the grand jury should have pulled Bill's trousers down instead.
Grand Jury prosecutor: “Mr. Clinton—why did the chicken cross the road?”
Bill Clinton: “What do you mean by chicken? Could you define ‘chicken,’ please? And I did not cross the road with that chicken.”
3. What About an Itchy Nose?
The itch of a person's nose is normally satisfied by a deliberate rubbing or scratching action, as opposed to the light strokes of the