“When specific gestures are linked to specific meanings, and when this is presented implicitly or explicitly as science, it begins to fall under the umbrella of pseudoscience,” says Denault. ,” said Denault. While scientists systematize certain behaviors to better understand communication in different contexts, Denault says these systems cannot be used to “decode”.
“The public thinks that nonverbal behavior is only good for one thing: detecting who is lying and who is telling the truth. Denault said. One Research 2020 from the University of Portsmouth those tasked with identifying smugglers in video-recorded ferry crossings; While observers claimed to look for signs of anxiety, only 39.2% correctly identified smugglers, “well below chance”.
In his September 2020 video about Amber Heard, Portenier filmed himself reacting to the actress’ testimony, and he smiled, smirked, and rubbed his face in disbelief before claiming that her eating petty and disinterested is “not a good sign of Amber being a victim. That’s a very good sign that she’s an abuser. In his final remarks, Portenier stayed true to the statements made in the video but said that he “probably spoke a little forcefully” and would be “a little more gentle” if he did a video like So now, perhaps surprisingly, he agrees with Denault on the dangers of pseudoscientific analysis.
“On the internet, it’s very easy now to claim that you know everything, and no one really refutes it… That’s definitely something that interests me,” he said. Portenier’s knowledge of body language is largely self-taught, although he also took some psychology classes in college. He says he has researched the topic for a decade, consuming the work of former FBI agent Joe Navarro (who also made many videos with WIRED). Portenier also studied the work of psychologist Paul Ekman on microexpression, a facial expression that lasts for a fraction of a second and is difficult to conceal. (By Ekman’s own admission, It’s not common for micro-expressions to reveal hidden emotionsand scholars note that he has not published data that empirically proves that small emojis can be used to detect lies.)
Bruce Durham, 41 years old from Newcastle, England, who made a video showing “The Exact Moment” Meghan Markle “Lies” for Oprah, is also self-taught. Durham says he has been in performance coaching for more than 20 years. “I’ve had thousands of hours just sitting in front of people and letting them talk,” Durham said. “Once you’ve spent a lot of time observing people and practicing your observational skills, you can quickly develop trends and analysis, you’ll join the dots.” his channel, Believe Bruce, has just under 200,000 subscribers.
Both Portenier and Durham emphasize that they are not leading experts in their fields, and both say they try to communicate the limitations of what they do to audiences. “Many people look up who is lying and who is not, but you never really know it. What you can do is, they fall into two categories of looking comfortable and looking uncomfortable,” claims Durham (his analysis of Markle is interspersed with clips of Pinocchio growing his nose in the 1940 film. by Disney). Durham says identifying when someone seems uncomfortable provides a starting point for asking further questions and is not conclusive in itself, but he admits he makes thumbnails and Make your video title more “evocative” to get clicks. However, he argues, “I always start or end my videos with ‘You need to be fair and balanced.’ And I always say it over and over again. “
