Communication Analysis

Communication Analysis
• 900 B.C. the following statement was
written on a piece of papyrus,
“He does not answer questions, or gives
evasive answers; he speaks nonsense, rubs
the great toe along the ground, and shivers,
he rubs the roots of his hair with his
fingers.”

Communication Analysis
• Get rid of any prejudices - a good
interviewer has none
• Understand and Appreciate Cultural
Differences

Communication Analysis
• Judge the Information not the Individual
Providing the Information

Communication Analysis
• Individuals Process Information by Three
Methods
– Feeling . . . .Empirical
– Hearing . . . Auditory
– Visual . . . . The Sense of Seeing

Communication Analysis
• Visual Processor
– When answering a question will look up and
“See” the answer before speaking
– They use high (above shoulder) quick hand
movements/gesturing
– They use action verbs that express “seeing”
– 60% of population are visual processors

Communication Analysis
• Hearing Processors
– When answering questions their eyes go side to
side, as if looking for the answer on one side or
the other
– Their hand movements and gestures are below
the shoulders
– They use action verbs that express “sound”
– 20% of population are auditory processors

Communication Analysis
• Feeling Processors
– When asked a question their eyes go down, as if
looking for an answer on the ground
– They use low hand movements, usually small
gestures with the hands remaining in their laps
– They use action verbs that express “feeling and
understanding”

Communication Analysis
• Feeling Processors are involved in taste and
smell to a greater degree than Auditory and
Visual processors
• 15% of population are Feeling Processors

Communication Analysis
General Observations
During an interview, a person trying to be
deceptive will not only have to hide or
change the crucial details they are
protecting. They will also have to change
the other facts of the circumstance to fit
their version. This can leave
inconsistencies between allegations, or
holes and breaks in the narrative.

Communication Analysis
General Observations
Most people do not attempt to deceive [lie]
directly, but will become elusive, omit
crucial facts, pretend forgetfulness, and
pretend ignorance.

Communication Analysis
General Observations
A truthful person will respond to their
version of the event from memory, while a
deceptive person will be reacting from their
own imagination.

Communication Analysis
General Observations
Deceptive people tend to edit or misplace
emotion in recounting an event. But
someone who is telling the truth will show
emotion where it would be expected.

Communication Analysis
General Observations
Someone telling a story that is not true will
show logical or rational thinking. Someone
relating a true story might not be thinking
rationally at the time of the event and their
story will show illogical acts or thoughts.

Communication Analysis
General Observations
Usually people do not lie outright. They just
do not concede to doing the misdeed.

Communication Analysis
General Observations
A truthful person’s statement reads like a
book. It has a beginning consisting of
minor facts or details, a middle with major
facts, and a ending of minor facts or details.

Communication Analysis
General Observations
A deceptive person’s statement usually
begins with major facts, e.g., alibi, has
minor facts in the middle, and ends with
major facts, as in “finish with a bang.”

Communication Analysis
General Observations
In a deceptive statement, you often find the
truth in what is not said, rather than what is
said.

Communication Analysis
Communication Analysis, the subject of this
session is presented as an art, not a science.
And while we will cover a great deal of
information today, there remains a great
deal of information we will not discussed

Communication Analysis
• You must identify the “normal answering
and speech pattern”
• Observe deviation from this norm

Communication Analysis
Parts of Speech
• To analyze communications, examine the
communicator’s parts of speech
– Pronouns
– Verbs
– Nouns
• Part of the “norming” will include establishing the
interviewee’s use of pronouns, nouns, and verbs. If
a deviation from this norm occurs, asked yourself
“why?”

Communication Analysis
Pronouns
• Responsibility and Possession
• Take the place of nouns
• Personal Pronouns
– I Me You He She We They
• Possessive Pronouns
– My Our Your His Her

Communication Analysis
Pronouns
• A change in the use of pronouns is
significant
• When a change occurs the statement is
devoid of personal involvement

Communication Analysis
Pronouns
“I got up at 6:00 a.m. I took a bath and I
shaved. I decided to go out and get some
coffee. I went to Hardee’s on the corner
near my house. Met a lady who lives in the
area. Talked with her for a few minutes. I
finished drinking my coffee and I drove
onto work.”

Communication Analysis
Pronouns
• I Vs. We
• Lack of “I”
• Overuse of “We”

• “We”
Communication Analysis
Pronouns
• Short for one’s self and others [after proper
introductions]
• Denotes togetherness
• Indicates a relationship between persons

Communication Analysis
Pronouns
• Omission of “We” is significant
– Vs.
• “My wife and I were invited to a birthday party. We
arrived at the party a little late. The party was still
in full swing when we left for home.”
• “My wife and I were invited to a birthday party. My
wife and I arrived at the party a little late. The party
was in full swing when my wife and I left for
home.”

Communication Analysis
Pronouns
• A shift from “We” to “They”
– reveals personal involvement
• A person guilty of insurance fraud will find it
difficult to keep “we” out of statement completely.
• A rape victim will not use the pronoun “we” unless
they know their assailant
• Abduction victims do not use the pronoun “we”

Communication Analysis
Possessive Pronouns
• Our, Your, His, Her, and Their reveal
attachment
• Changing the Possessive Pronoun or
Dropping it Complete
– Interviewee does not want to show possession
or admit association
• “I was cleaning my gun. I was putting my gun
away. The gun went off.”

Communication Analysis
Nouns
• Denote Persons. Places, and Things
• Watch for sudden shifts from Pronouns to
Individual’s names [nouns]
• Watch for sudden shifts from husband,
wife, partner, to the Individual’s Name

Communication Analysis
Verbs
• Verbs express Action What, When, Where,
How
• Verbs express either the Past, Present, or
Future

Communication Analysis
Verb Tense
• 0n truthful statements, the use of the past
tense is the norm
• A shift in Tense could indicate deception

Communication Analysis
Verb Tense
– “It happened last night. I went out on my back
porch. It was almost dark. A man ran out of
the bushes. He came onto the porch knocked
me down and took my watch.”
• Vs
– “It happened last night. I went out on my back
porch. It was almost dark. A man runs out of
the bushes. He comes onto the porch, knocks
me down and takes my watch.”

Communication Analysis
Extra/Non-Essential
Information
Any information given that does not answer
or clarify the answer is extraneous or nonessential
information.

Communication Analysis
Extra/Non-Essential
Information
A truthful person with nothing to hide, when
asked, “What happened,“ will recount the
events chronologically and concisely. They
will answer the question in a straight
forward manner.

Communication Analysis
Extra/Non-Essential
Information
Individuals involved in activities they wish
to conceal usually feel the need to justify
their actions. The information they relate
will not flow in a logical time frame. They
may skip around or skirt what really
happened.

Communication Analysis
“Feigning and Hedging”
• A Lack of Conviction
• The Artful Dodger
Note individuals who feigns a loss of
memory or hedges the answer by using
“qualifiers”

Communication Analysis
Qualifiers
• I Don’t Remember
• I Can’t Recall
• I Believe
• To the Best of My Knowledge

Communication Analysis
Qualifiers
• Honest
• Frankly
• Usually
• Generally
• To Tell You the Truth

Communication Analysis
Qualifiers
A person cannot say they “can’t remember”
when answering an “open-ended” question,
unless they do remember the item/event.
Otherwise, it would be left out entirely.

Communication Analysis
Bridging Phrases
• Sometime Later
• Later On
• Eventually
• After-A-While
• Meanwhile

Communication Analysis
• Note when a person begins to answer before
the interviewer completes the question.

Communication Analysis
• Note slurring, stuttering, skipping around
sentences, dropping sentences, restating in
the middle of sentences, leaving off the
ends of sentences and stammering
• The Porky Pig Syndrome

Communication Analysis
• Note where an individual brings religion
into the statement for the first time.

Communication Analysis
• Analyze “Open-Ended” questions by
asking:
– Why did the person say it?
– Why did the person say it this way?
– Why did the person say it at this specific
location in the statement?
– why did the person use this specific amount of
time to answer this question?

Communication Analysis
• Analyze “Closed” question by noting:
– Use of Qualifiers
– Use of Bridging Phrases
– The Porky Pig Syndrome
– Answering Question with Questions

Summary
• Statements, Interviews, and conversations
contain a wealth of information far beyond
what some individuals intend to
communicate. Communication Analysis
provides a method of unlocking or
identifying the true facts.