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The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

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THE BOOK OF TELLS<br />

he's telling the story his face remains composed. But all <strong>of</strong><br />

a sudden his expression changes to one <strong>of</strong> fear, and then<br />

it immediately switches back to its normal composure. If<br />

you were watching this, and you didn't know about microtells,<br />

you probably wouldn't notice what had happened,<br />

and you almost certainly wouldn't spot the brief exposure<br />

<strong>of</strong> fear. To the trained observer this micro-tell would be a<br />

useful source <strong>of</strong> information about the person telling the<br />

story - it would show that he is trying to give the impression<br />

<strong>of</strong> being in control, but that during the incident<br />

he actually experienced a great deal <strong>of</strong> fear.<br />

Because micro-tells are completely involuntary they are<br />

rather like traitors - without our knowing it, they betray<br />

what we're thinking, but only to those who understand<br />

what they mean. Mark Frank and Paul Ekman have shown<br />

that these fleeting glimpses <strong>of</strong> people's real emotions can<br />

be a valuable tool in the detection <strong>of</strong> deceit. 21 Although<br />

they aren't common, micro-tells can be extremely informative.<br />

For example, after the Falklands war the British<br />

Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, appeared on a television<br />

programme and a member <strong>of</strong> the audience asked<br />

her why a British submarine had been given orders to<br />

torpedo the Argentine battleship, the Belgrano. Mrs<br />

Thatcher replied that the Belgrano was inside the British<br />

exclusion zone and was therefore a legitimate target. In<br />

fact this was not true - the Belgrano was outside the<br />

exclusion zone and was actually sailing away from<br />

the Falkland Islands when it was attacked. When Mrs<br />

Thatcher gave this untruthful reply she appeared composed,<br />

and at one point even produced a false smile. <strong>The</strong>re<br />

was a moment, however, when her masked expression<br />

dropped, and an extremely brief expression <strong>of</strong> anger, with<br />

300

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