"What should be the most appropriate and practical topic for a lecture to be given to the students pursuing bachelor, masters and doctoral (Ph. D.) degrees and the faculty members of an international forensic science university?". It was the first ever and biggest question that came to my mind when I accepted the formal invitation given by Prof. Dr. Asha Srivastava, the honorable dean of School of Behavioural Forensics (SBF). She has served as Director at Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at New Delhi (India).
Being herself known for her great work and contribution to Forensic psychology and crime investigation, I was invited by her only on the basis of my two decade long research and over a decade long writing about Body Language and Nonverbal Communication. Upon accepting the invitation on 2nd January 2025, I suddenly realise that choosing any ordinary topic of Body Language and Nonverbal Communication would neither convince myself nor appeal the attendees. Hence, I had to make a harder decision and choose a challenging topic.
Although I've been a guest lecturer on a few occasions, I wasn't invited by an educational institute ever before. Being as an independent human behaviour researcher, analyst and writer; it was a humbling experience in my life to receive an opportunity for giving a presentation at an international public university, run by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of central Government of India (GOI). Also, it has 10 campuses in two different countries at present.
On 22nd January 2025, I delivered a lecture-cum-presentation at National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) while providing the guidance to the attendees, under the school's annual initiative of "An inter-disciplinary perspective on the Criminal Justice System". An hour long PowerPoint presentation was delivered in the large auditorium of Gandhinagar campus of the university, situated in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Above everything else, it was a great learning experience for me as well, in relation with the seriousness, history and gravity of the topic I chose to talk about publicly, for the first time in my life. I had to do a lot of online search for the research papers published by academic researchers in the leading scientific journals, including the leading scientist in nonverbal lie detection Dr. Aldert Vrij (Portsmouth University, England).
The highlights of the whole presentation were 1) A few common (mis)beliefs in relation with nonverbal cues of lying, 2) How challenging is the nonverbal lie detection?, 3) What academic research says about the same? and 4) If there's any real-life or professional technique(s) developed or suggested by an experienced expert in the field?. Also, I shared couple of my own experiences of catching the liars.
It was absolutely necessary to mention the disagreement between two groups i. e. (A) Academic researchers and/or scientists who do conduct experiments in the controlled environments or labs and (B) Professionals such as (counter-)intelligence officers/agents, lie detection professionals, law enforcement officers, lie detection experts, forensic interviewers, interrogators and investigators who do face suspects and criminals.
Also, I had to clarify to the attendees that I was only a human behaviour researcher and wasn't a professional lie detector or lie detection consultant. Although I caught liars on a several occasions by analysing their body language and speech, it's also necessary to declare publicly that I've never made a single penny or rupee out of my lie detections. Still, I've achieved a lot from the same personally and socially.
At the end of the 55 slide long presentation, I shared four critically important advices to the attendees and especially the future or going-to-be investigators, professionals and experts. I'd kindly like to give the exact same advices to those who're professionally involved lie detection or forensic interviewing.
There were a couple of occasions at which I heard the attendees clapping. After the presentation, it was a nice experience of getting feedbacks from a few students, face to face. I had a discussion with a few of them before I left the campus to catch the bus for traveling back to the home overnight.
[#Hello, Debunkers!: I've watched a few videos and gone through a few articles published on the internet that try to debunk 'Body Language' as unreliable and more specifically - unscientific or pseudo-scientific. While trying their best, the authors of articles or the creators of the videos almost always come down to unreliability of deception detection through body language cues.
To fully support their debunking mission, it's necessary to clarify that a single body language cue might not be a reliable indicator of verbal deception or lying, especially in interrogation or forensic interviewing. Also, media trials of court cases aren't valid method of judging the deception. I've written an elaborate (or long) article about the same and it can be read by following this link.]
Being herself known for her great work and contribution to Forensic psychology and crime investigation, I was invited by her only on the basis of my two decade long research and over a decade long writing about Body Language and Nonverbal Communication. Upon accepting the invitation on 2nd January 2025, I suddenly realise that choosing any ordinary topic of Body Language and Nonverbal Communication would neither convince myself nor appeal the attendees. Hence, I had to make a harder decision and choose a challenging topic.
 |
| Sharing the highlights of the whole presentation |
On 22nd January 2025, I delivered a lecture-cum-presentation at National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) while providing the guidance to the attendees, under the school's annual initiative of "An inter-disciplinary perspective on the Criminal Justice System". An hour long PowerPoint presentation was delivered in the large auditorium of Gandhinagar campus of the university, situated in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Above everything else, it was a great learning experience for me as well, in relation with the seriousness, history and gravity of the topic I chose to talk about publicly, for the first time in my life. I had to do a lot of online search for the research papers published by academic researchers in the leading scientific journals, including the leading scientist in nonverbal lie detection Dr. Aldert Vrij (Portsmouth University, England).
The highlights of the whole presentation were 1) A few common (mis)beliefs in relation with nonverbal cues of lying, 2) How challenging is the nonverbal lie detection?, 3) What academic research says about the same? and 4) If there's any real-life or professional technique(s) developed or suggested by an experienced expert in the field?. Also, I shared couple of my own experiences of catching the liars.
 |
| Academic Researchers vs. Field Professionals |
It was absolutely necessary to mention the disagreement between two groups i. e. (A) Academic researchers and/or scientists who do conduct experiments in the controlled environments or labs and (B) Professionals such as (counter-)intelligence officers/agents, lie detection professionals, law enforcement officers, lie detection experts, forensic interviewers, interrogators and investigators who do face suspects and criminals.
Also, I had to clarify to the attendees that I was only a human behaviour researcher and wasn't a professional lie detector or lie detection consultant. Although I caught liars on a several occasions by analysing their body language and speech, it's also necessary to declare publicly that I've never made a single penny or rupee out of my lie detections. Still, I've achieved a lot from the same personally and socially.
 |
| Four key advises to the attendees at the university (and anybody involved in lie detection) |
At the end of the 55 slide long presentation, I shared four critically important advices to the attendees and especially the future or going-to-be investigators, professionals and experts. I'd kindly like to give the exact same advices to those who're professionally involved lie detection or forensic interviewing.
There were a couple of occasions at which I heard the attendees clapping. After the presentation, it was a nice experience of getting feedbacks from a few students, face to face. I had a discussion with a few of them before I left the campus to catch the bus for traveling back to the home overnight.
"Surprisingly, how easily, quickly or foolishly you get convinced by a lie is entirely dependent on YOU only. Yes! It’s you and nobody else i. e. your very own mental processing capacity, prior knowledge, awareness, perception, prejudices, urgencies, (mis)beliefs, biases and/or needs."
- Body Language Insights (Book)
- Body Language Insights (Book)
[#Hello, Debunkers!: I've watched a few videos and gone through a few articles published on the internet that try to debunk 'Body Language' as unreliable and more specifically - unscientific or pseudo-scientific. While trying their best, the authors of articles or the creators of the videos almost always come down to unreliability of deception detection through body language cues.
To fully support their debunking mission, it's necessary to clarify that a single body language cue might not be a reliable indicator of verbal deception or lying, especially in interrogation or forensic interviewing. Also, media trials of court cases aren't valid method of judging the deception. I've written an elaborate (or long) article about the same and it can be read by following this link.]
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