Please review this listing BEFORE conducting interviews: (Source: Instructor Guide “Prevention and Response to Suicide Bombing Incidents” prepared by New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology [New Mexico Tech]. Reprinted with permission. 2014)
Projects are also psychological. People who will be interviewed will experience some level of stress. Psychologists describe the following reflexes as “fight or flight” mechanisms. As you are attempting to obtain relevant information, you must verify that it is accurate. This will require you to be able to interpret the non-verbal responses you will experience. There are 3 different manifestations:
- Physical/ visual
- Auditory
- Psychological
PHYSICAL/ VISUAL. The person being interviewed:
- Smoking or wanting to smoke during any point during the interview
- Turning red or blushing
- Turning white or pale
- Obviously shaking
- Averting eyes, refuses eye contact
- Withdrawn or disengaged
- Darting of eyes
- Rapid movement of eyes
- Excessive blinking (person may wear glasses and not have them on, during the interview)
- Evasive eyes or looking at the floor
- Dilating pupils (especially during relevant questions)
- Closing eyes
- Squinting
- Frowning/ consternation
- Looking bug-eyed
- Covering the eyes
- Rubbing or touching the nose
- Smoothing, twisting, or grooming mustache or hair
- Tugging the ears
- Covering the ears
- Patting their cheeks (smoothing and reassuring gestures)
- Yawning (If excessive or repeated, this is a very strong indicator of deception)
- Licking the lips
- Biting or chewing the lips
- Twisting the mouth
- Covering the mouth
- Protecting throat area with the hand