How behavioral profilers' tricks of the trade can aid common decision-making

Fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, looks for clues

With everybody trying to sell you something, or making promises about a particular product or idea, how do you tell what's true and what's false anymore? There are some tricks of the behavioral profiling trade that can be applied to helping you make decisions and avoid the traps that liars set so often and that can keep you wondering who you can and cannot trust.  Let's examine what some of these ideas behavioral profilers use to tell the liars from those who are telling the truth.

Do you just trust your instincts and hope for the best most of the time? Science tells us there is truth to using what seems to be an instinct or sensing something is accurate or not, safe or dangerous.  We are told that if we get a sense that something is wrong, or that person in the elevator looks suspicious, that we can begin our decision-making process with these initial clues.  Oprah Winfrey had a guest several years ago who reviewed instances when our gut instinct can be important.  For example, that suspicious-looking person may remind you of someone you found abusive at one time, so the image of the individual triggers stress-related memories.  Why risk those feelings when you just wait for anther elevator?

So making everyday decisions can be helped by trusting one's gut.  But after that we must check those clues for accuracy, especially if we have enough time and circumstances to do so.  When we decide not to get on an elevator when someone appears suspicious, we have one chance to get it right or wrong; and so the hunch can help.  When we are hiring someone for an executive job at a major company where decisions that are made can make a difference in whether a company will be profitable or not, using a variety of methods to assess that individual can offer information to help secure the right person for the job.  And if you are picking out the right car, the salesperson who offers the details may give you the right information or simply offer generalizations that will make you take home the vehicle that is not the right fit for your pocketbook or special needs.

Research shows that attempts to determine lies from truth through nonverbal and verbal behavior are correct only about 50% of the time while handwriting analysis and polygraph tests have mixed and sometimes controversial results.  Most profilers will admit to missing the mark in assessing the person. Since the movies and the media often dwell on the most salacious aspects of a crime, especially serial murder, the investigator with limited experience may get lost in the thicket of details that get mixed with emotion.  Serial murder is a rare phenomenon, and without experience with numerous cases, it is possible to make the wrong judgment if one relies on assumptions based only on a small number of cases. This leads to what the FBI refers to as the "talking heads" phenomenon, with some of these experts offering opinions that can mislead the public, as well as pointing to the wrong person as the perpetrator of a crime.  These talking heads, along with television dramas and movies can lead to those false assumptions the public likes to quote regularly when there is a high profile case.  One of those false assumptions is that the serial killer is a dysfunctional loner.  But for the most part, in reviewing the backgrounds of killers, many of those who kill a number of people are good students, popular at school, effective on the job or simply that good neighbor that folks say they are surprised would do such a thing.

Jaylen Fryberg, the young student at a Marysville, Washington High School who shot and killed a number of his classmates in the school cafeteria, is the most recent example.  School officials and the boys parents were all surprised the popular teen would be capable of a mass shooting.

Still even though behavioral profiling principles aren't always accurate, they do allow investigators to develop a tentative road map that may lead to finding the truth.  These same principles can also allow you to be right much more often than random guessing. Detectives use behavioral profiling techniques to help them figure out whether or not some suspect is innocent or not. You can use them in your daily life to help make decisions about whether to move forward or not on a relationship or to buy that automobile from some guy you just met and don't know anything about.

Behavioral profiling requires that one look at a number of different aspects of a person to decide what type of behavior to expect or whether or not what you see and hear is a lie or the truth. There's something to that "trust your gut" feeling, but it's not enough. You must look at a number of behaviors over time to increase the value of a profile.

First of all, you have to determine normal behavior from unusual behavior for a given individual. In other words, just like a scientist does, a baseline has to be established from which to proceed. Get that salesman to talk about some ordinary event-the weather or sports. Watch the face, the hands, the gestures, and the way the eyes move when speaking, the tone of the voice and inflections. Some people are typically outgoing; others aren't. A little warm up talk will help you figure out what might be typical and what's not.

As you're listening and watching, the first time you wonder whether you've heard a lie, think about what was said and the tone that was used. Then change the subject, and go back to the topic later. You do that because the lie will be accompanied by a combined set of behaviors that are repeated. Watch and listen for contradictions between the topic, how it is discussed, the behavior and what's going on at the same time a story is told. The fellow who sounds irritated while showing the sewing machine at the outset may have just got off the phone after an argument with a customer. Change the subject; talk about something relatively mundane. Then ask for the explanation about some part of the machine again, and watch to see if the behavior and the words you heard the first time are the same as what you first observed.

Lies have certain attributes and mannerisms that often accompany them. Changes in speech patterns, to include softer, louder or different tones and pitches, repeating the question, using long pauses, or a redundancy of flattering words can be that liar's bag. Silence can also be used to deceive, so don't help the person along by filling in the silences. Allow the person to talk; he or she will often lead you straight to what you need to know. Eyes that blink too much, hands that fidget, feet that move around, and a whole body that has trouble being still are behavioral red flags that should be observed at the same time. Watch how the person moves the eyes, up, down or to the side and whether or not the pattern is the same during small talk as well as during topics where a decision must be made. Watch the nonverbal signals, crossing the arms or the legs in a defensive posture or raising both arms and lowering them vigorously and repeatedly in a defiant gesture while repeating words or phrases, both of which are clues to potential behaviors and what the person might be thinking when in that proverbial "tight spot."

Just as establishing a baseline behavior will help guide you in making the right decision about a person, you can create an unusual event that can help you determine how a given individual might behave under stress. While interviewing Richard for that job as an assistant, toss him your keys and ask him to move your car someplace. Or give Betty the assignment of turning off a computer on the other side of the room right after you've asked some relatively routine questions about her educational background. In each case observe what happens next because that will tell you how Richard or Betty will behave when confronted with the type of change that often occurs within an occupational situation.

Handwriting by itself won't tell you what the person is like or whether he/she might be lying. On the other hand, if all other signs indicate deceit, examine how the person signs his/her name and match that against the baseline or body of writing. The degree of difference or exaggeration can suggest discrepancy between what the person appears to be and the person he/she really is.

Now you're ready for your practice work. Don't do this with your husband, wife or close friend as practice. Just observe the people you don't ordinarily work or relate with, and use this information to make tentative choices or decisions. Then come back later and check out your
hypothesis. The more practice you have, the better you'll get. And that will help you avoid traps that can interfere with your moving ahead to what you need or want to do.

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Carol Forsloff worked over more than 50 years as an educator, counselor and journalist.  She also has been certified in forensics, testifying in the courts of Louisiana and Hawaii in document examination, rehabilitation, special education and life care planning and has had coursework specific to expert witness work and psycho-linguistics, as well as having advanced degrees in psychology and education. This recent article is an expansion of several others related to this topic of using behavioral analysis in everyday situations..

Maternal parenting dysfunction in Florida murder case

[caption id="attachment_5983" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Criminal -profiling expert, Kim Iannetta--Trialrun"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Handwriting analysis is often criticized for its lack of scientific foundation and the lack of serious study found in its application in the courts, but Kim Iannetta has solidified her work in recognizing dangerousness in writing in an advanced way  as she examines the murder case against Casey Anthony and the role of  Casey's mother, Cindy, in the development of her daughter’s dysfunctional patterns.

Iannetta has practiced handwriting analysis for nearly fifty years.  During that time she attained a reputation for her superior ability in pinpointing the deviance of different individuals who have mental illness or criminal behavior.    To solidify that reputation,  years ago she participated in a scientific study at Hawaii State Hospital where her analyses of psychiatric patients were found to correlate significantly with those of professionals in psychology and psychiatry.

Over the years Iannetta has been admired for her uncanny ability to assess specific behavioral  characteristics of people through her system of profiling.  Her book, Danger Between the Lines, is used by security departments, police officers, detectives, psychologists and others in the mental health or security professions as a tool to assess dangerousness in clients or crooks.

One of the most famous cases in Hawaii  that utilized Iannetta’s proficiencies, was one involving former Chief of Police Gibbs and a threatening letter.  Police were trying to determine the letter’s author because of the potential danger from those threats.   Iannetta was asked to identify the writer, and to do so she used techniques of both document examination and behavioral analysis, two specialties in which she has expertise.   Working with the police Iannetta used writing samples from the Department of Motor Vehicles in Hawaii and identified the writer of the threatening letter, leading to criminal experts in security, law and behavioral sciences to rely upon her work in future cases.

In the case of Casey Anthony, the mother accused of killing her daughter Caylee in a high profile trial being followed by millions of people around the world, Iannetta has examined the  elements of it  as well as handwriting samples that have been printed in the Orlando newspapers.  Her careful eye for detail and her ability to synthesize data from a variety of sources has allowed her  to make a reasonable estimate about serious problems within the Anthony family.  Parenting problems helped form the personality of a daughter who could lie without apparent emotion and be involved in a murder as heinous as the one of Caylee Anthony, the tot allegedly  killed by her mother,  Casey, according to the prosecution in this case.

What Iannetta has concluded is the Anthonys to be a dysfunctional family in its broadest and most classic sense.  The core of lying behavior is seen in Cindy Anthony, a cold, distant and punitive mother of Casey, whose need to  look good even when circumstances are bad led to a pattern of manipulation and deceit within the family constellation.  It is the reason Casey Anthony might lie about the death of her child and continue to fabricate more and more stories over time, each different in focus than the other and each revealing how the Anthony patterns of deceit have been dramatized at their worst.

Iannetta examined the  writing of all family members, however this article looks primarily at the assessment of Cindy Anthony whom Iannetta describes as having personality defects that helped set the stage for Casey's acting out behavior and potential to kill  Caylee.   Iannetta strongly believes in the American system of justice of innocence until proven guilty and theorizes that Casey could have killed her daughter accidentally, then covered up the crime.  But Iannetta’s focus has been to look at the  individual members of the family to hypothesize about the motivation for their behaviors as opposed to making a judgment about the guilt or innocence of Casey specific to killing Caylee.

Iannetta at the outset tells us, “This is a very dysfunctional family, “ then goes on to describe Cindy Anthony as the foundation for much of that dysfunction.

[caption id="attachment_5984" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cindy Anthony handwriting"][/caption]

“In looking at Cindy’s writing, one can observe the characteristics thsat show her to be  conventional, organized, a doer, but someone for whom appearances are more important than substantive truth.  When things don’t look right, she can lie and make up stories, something that is said to have become a pattern in her daughter Casey’s life.

Cindy’s focus with her family is to hurry to make things right.  Her writing reveals a lack of empathy for real feelings to be expressed.   While her husband, George, relies on her for family connections; it wouldn’t be surprising to learn he had affairs because of Cindy’s over-riding conventional concerns and lack of warmth.

It’s in the relationship with her daughter Casey that Cindy’s handwriting gives evidence of control, jealousy and lack of warmth in maternal parenting behavior.   She has likely been jealous of the emotional ties between her husband, George, and Casey, as it is likely Casey got her affection mostly from her father.  That jealousy has led to more lies in order to cover up the family problems now revealed in the murder trial against Casey.  Casey, immature, and narcissistic, needed to get free.

The tragedy, Iannetta concludes,  does not just come from in the constellation of the family dynamics, but those that have taken place outside the courtroom as well.  That too is a type of dysfunction Iannetta sees in a culture that has not strayed far from those maddening crowds of long ago that enjoyed the spectacle of gladiator games when folks were killed.  “We need to remember Casey is on trial for her life, and any addition I am making to the understanding in this case is done in order to help folks recognize how family patterns can lead to awful things, as happened in the case of the Anthony family, where one of its members is facing a murder conviction and the death penalty.”



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Handwriting examples provided by Trialrun:

[caption id="attachment_5988" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Casey Anthony writing"][/caption]











[caption id="attachment_5989" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Casey Anthony signature"][/caption]











[caption id="attachment_5991" align="alignleft" width="244" caption="George Anthony"][/caption]

Jury selection issues that make the difference in major criminal cases

[caption id="attachment_4505" align="alignleft" width="228" caption="Danger Between the Lines by Kimon Iannetta"][/caption]

Attorneys like Andy Weiner, now of the Obama administration, have used behavioral profilers, as have other attorneys, many of whom say that they can be helpful in making a decision about who might be the right choice for a jury, as is particularly significant in a case like that of Casey Anthony.

Casey Anthony is accused of killing her young daughter Caylee, who went missing in 2008 when she was two years old with her body found months later near the home of the grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony.  Evidence, according to the prosecution’s investigation, points to Casey Anthony, the mother of the child, as the killer.  The high-profile case begins today with jury selection.

Guilt or innocence is something justice says must be decided fairly.  Yet a key problem in the case has to do with the widespread publicity and whether Casey Anthony will have a fair trial.   The justice system upholds the notion that one is innocent until proven guilty, which is the right Casey has before the law.  On the other hand, when there is so much sentiment and media glare, it is difficult to get an unbiased jury.  That’s when behavior profiling can count.

Kim Iannetta is a behavioral profiler with considerable experience over more than 20 years.  Her book called Danger Between the Lines has been used by criminal experts for many years, as she has research that supports the efficacy and value of her approach to behavioral analysis.  She is one of the few that has research to support her work.  She says, “This is a difficult case, but trained observations of behavioral details both in person and then those tell-tale signs of writing, can be helpful in making the right choice for a jury.  Iannetta’s book has been a useful guide for experts in making these assessments.

While behavioral profiling may be questioned, most attorneys want to use whatever they can find to be fair and accurate in getting the results they want.  The better choices, the more fair, the better the outcome of the case, so it won’t have to be retried or an innocent person found guilty.

Casey Anthony is beginning that journey to the concrete standing before justice in the courtroom.  Fair and honest support for finding the right jury, Iannetta tells us, is an important way in making sure that justice prevails.

Could behavioral profiling be a tool to prevent indictment in the press?

[caption id="attachment_5983" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Criminal -profiling expert, Kim Iannetta--Trialrun"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Rod Blagojevich  pleaded innocent to charges he tried to sell Obama's former
Senate seat, and a jury found it difficult to
establish his guilt.  Could a behavioral profiler have helped journalists ask the right questions with him and  Michael Jackson?


Journalists covered the story of the former Governor in great detail in a barrage of stories before and
after President Obama was elected.  Blagojevich again is in the news.  The jury was undecided on 23 of 24 charges against him and found him guilty of one, lying to federal investigators.

The personal details of Blagojevich's life, his unique statements and pronouncements surrounding
the issue of selling the Senate seat, about which he had been accused,
became recited in the press many times.



Could behavioral profiling been helpful as background for asking right questions and perhaps making some hypothesis
about the direction a story might take?  Having an example of how this is done shows the unique possibilities this skill provides those who have to make determinations on how to write a story about the personality of an individual, when sometimes an interview is not possible or one only has snippets of that.  Might it add to those "bag of tricks" people need to do investigative work in the field of journalism?

Whether it is the President of the United States Barack Obama or an entertainer in the news, personalities
can be misinterpreted enough to cause heartache for years.  That was true in the case of Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson was said to have been disappointed and often depressed, suffering intense stress at times
from being accused of having sex with boys, without specific evidence
or with evidence from families with serious dysfunctional ways.  



Behavioral profilers, used most often in criminal cases, can give insights to media people and others
that might prevent certain injustices, as occurred with Michael Jackson,
tried and convicted in the press, then found not guilty in court and
vindicated after his death.



Kim Iannetta is a world-renown
behavioral profiler who has what people in Hawaii declare is an uncanny
way of uncovering details about individuals that people who have known
them for years are in awe at her skill.



Some time ago, this writer asked Iannetta to assess the personality of Michael Jackson, something that
deserves repeating as reflecting on how knowing the impression of highly
skilled behavioral profiling experts might be helpful to journalists
before they write about personalities and indict before guilt is
established.  It can also help in asking the right questions.

Iannetta is a behavioral profiler using handwriting, one of the world’s foremost
experts in her field. She has this to say about Michael Jackson:

From my point of view Michael could not let go of his family and memories
associated with it. Signature is an M, and bound to his family name
which is spelled out. Although he has unique writing, the lead-in
strokes on his words also drag along the memories from the past, as well
as his letter L which dips into his memories. His emotions were
expressed through his music and lifestyle, always looking for the little
boy lost. His very carefully retraced d strokes show his ability to
mostly keep contained as he looked for approval from his family and the
difficult world he entered into. His sensitivity was so strong that life
was a difficult burden. INFP? (in the extreme) His brilliance is seen
in his ability to see into people, see into the world of dreams, and his
ability to strategize. His trust was damaged though he still maintained
the dream of wonderment. The pain of his life put out his fire, and he
left for Neverland where he could fly free once more.

Handwriting analysis is both science and art, according to its proponents. Ms. Iannetta
has been recognized in Hawaii by the Honolulu Police Department, the
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Jan Weinburg, one of the top 100
attorneys in America, and numerous legal and security authorities as
having uncanny abilities in determining personality characteristics in
handwriting. She is one of the few handwriting experts who have
participated in controlled research.
Her evaluations of patients at Hawaii State Hospital, a facility for
psychiatric patients, were considered by professional staff and
researchers to be as accurate as trained psychologists and
psychiatrists.

trialrun This is a piece of Michael Jackson's writing with key elements that have been highlighted by Kimon Iannetta, handwriting behavioral profiler

Having
this unique glimpse into the personality of a well-known personality
like Michael Jackson indicates an individual who truly was that lover of
the magic, the wonder of being a child.  He was, according to this
analysis, a child-man who truly loved children and who had strong family
attachments and sensitive personal bonds.



Those bonds are not depicted as
sexual, so intimated in media accounts where accusations became explored
in great detail from individuals who were later found not to be
credible sources.



How much better would have been the
foundation for writing the stories of Jackson and other personalities
if journalists had consultation with behavioral profiling experts and
resources that could help folks understand personality as a foundation
for asking right questions.



In the case of Michael Jackson,
those questions, the analysis comes now too late; but not, as experts
like Iannetta have demonstrated, for the possibility to be explored with
other media folk in that rush to get the right story. 

Chinese face reading being studied by plastic surgeons

by Carol Forsloff - Plastic surgeons are looking at Chinese face reading and how that impacts the aesthetic sense in order to determine the approaches to plastic surgery.  What is Chinese face reading and is there a Western counterpart? According to the abstract of a study on Chinese face reading and how that impacts how plastic surgeons might better understand what Asians want in terms of facial reconstructions, the emphasis is placed on aesthetic principles.

Face reading became an art that developed over centuries in China.  It is said to be similar to feng shui and based on a philosophy held by Chinese people all over the world.  It expresses itself in every day life and influences people's choices, likes and dislikes. Chinese say they can tell what a person is like by reading the person's face.  Perhaps that is why Westerners consider the Asian to be difficult to "read."  It may be that reading faces is so important to Asian custom that people don't want to be "read" and therefore keep their countenances controlled.

Specific to Chinese face reading are certain principles, that some say are best learned through a "master."  But there are some secrets available on the Internet that give the basics. So what are these basics?

The face reader tells us to imagine lines drawn down the middle of the face and across it as well, putting the face into halves and quadrants from which the pieces are then analyzed. The left side of the face is the male side; the right side is the female. Now here is an initial interpretation:  "If you are female and the left hand side of your face is fuller than the right hand side this means you care more for males than you do females. So you are likely to put others needs ahead of yourself, particularly those of your husband or boyfriend, father or sons. If this is the case, remember to look after yourself as well! If the right hand side of your face is fuller than the left hand side that means you care more for females than males, usually this says you are more a mum’s girl than dad’s girl. "

But is there any science to the idea you can tell a person's personality from their face.  It turns out there is verifiable information that it is possible from a British Journal of Psychology that documents studies where there is some accuracy in personality attribution using only appearance. Then there are people, such as Naomi Tickle,  in the present day culture, one who calls herself a "personologist: who writes about how personality can be determined from the face.  On the other hand, there is no developed, universal, culturally accepted science that would be equivalent to the Chinese interpretations of the face and the value Asians put on that.


So what do plastic surgeons use as a yardstick for their determination of aesthetics?  They use their own beliefs or ask the patient. 


The rest of us likely guess.

New technology firms up ways to detect lies from shifty eyes

 

[caption id="attachment_11906" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="Detective"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Many of us know that old adage that shifty eyes signals someone is lying, but new research has gone beyond that to a new eye tracking method for lie detection.

A group of University of Utah researchers, educational psychologists John Kircher, Doug Hacker, Anne Cook, Dan Woltz and David Raskin are using eye-tracking technology for a brand new and a promising alternative to the polygraph for lie detection. The researchers’ efforts are anticipated to be commercialized after appropriate licenses are obtained formally for distribution through Credibility Assessment Technologies (CAT).

CAT is based in Park City, Utah, and managed by  Donald Sanborn and Gerald Sanders, who are venture capitalists and are the president and chairman, respectively.

“The eye-tracking method for detecting lies has great potential,” Sanders says. “It’s a matter of national security that our government agencies have the best and most advanced methods for detecting truth from fiction, and we believe we are addressing that need by licensing the extraordinary research done at the University of Utah.”

This new research keeps this University in the cutting edge area of research on lie detection.

Substantial improvements in technology have led to specific eye tracking eye movement to detect lies. . The Utah researchers say they are the first to put together the type of software and methods to detect lies in this fashion.

This is how it is described as working, according to research reports from the University.   Instead of measuring a person’s emotional reaction to lying, eye-tracking technology measures the person’s cognitive reaction. To do so, the researchers record a number of measurements while a subject is answering a series of true-and-false questions on a computer. The measurements include pupil dilation, response time, reading and rereading time, and errors.

The researchers determined that lying takes more effort than telling the truth, so they look for indications that the subject is working hard. This may show dilated pupils and or taking longer to read and answer the questions.   It takes special instruments to be able to record what might be minute reactions.

“We have gotten great results from our experiments,” says Kircher. “They are as good as or better than the polygraph, and we are still in the early stages of this innovative new method to determine if someone is trying to deceive you.”

There are special benefits to the eye-tracking methods for detecting lies.  For one thing it promises to cost less and require less time for examinations.  It can also be administered by technicians as opposed to qualified polygraph examiners.

Other useful techniques have been found to support lie detection.  Kim Iannetta, is a behavioral expert in the use of handwriting and content analysis, principally in the area of determination of mental disturbance or dangerousness.  She has found that ways words are organized on a page, how these are in relationship to a theme, and the actual way an individual forms letters can point to deception.  She tells us, "It's important to have collaborative evidence as well, but handwriting examination can provide solid evidence that allows serious investigation and can support technological devices and other forms of analyzing deception."

The present research is looked upon favorably by those involved also with lie detection.  “I came to the University of Utah to do work in reading comprehension, but I jumped at the chance to get involved with this research,” Cook says. “That’s the fun of this kind of job. You get the opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues to achieve more than any of you could individually.”

 Numerous government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and Department of Energy use polygraphs regularly screen employees and applicants for sensitive positions.  Criminal investigations are another use for assessing whether someone is lying. 

“It’s exciting,” Cook says, “that our testing method is going to be taken from a basic research program to commercial use.”