162 W H A T EVERY BODY IS SAYING
BOX 44: THE BIRD AS A WORDIn his remarkable book Telling Lies, Dr. Paul Ekman describes his re-
search using high-speed cameras to reveal microgestures that subcon-
sciously communicate an individual’s disfavor or true emotions (Ekman,
1991, 129–131). One such microgesture noted by Dr. Ekman is giving the
bird. In a major national security case in which I was personally involved
as an observer, a subject repeatedly used his middle (“bird”) finger to
push his glasses into position whenever the lead Justice Department in-
terviewer (whom he despised) asked him questions. This behavior was
not observed with other interviewers, but only with the interviewer the
subject plainly did not like. At first we did not believe we were seeing such
an obvious but fleeting gesture that was so clearly limited to a single inter-
viewer. Fortunately, the interviews were videotaped as part of a legal prof-
fer (i.e., the subject agrees to cooperate in consideration for a lighter
sentence), so we could review the tape to confirm what we were seeing.
Perhaps equally interesting, the chief interviewer never saw the “bird”
behavior and, when told about it, refused to accept that it was indicative
of the interviewee’s antipathy. When it was all over, however, the inter-
viewee commented harshly on how much he despised the chief inter-
viewer, and it was quite evident that he tried to subvert the interview
because of this clash of personalities.
Microgestures of the hands come in many forms, including pushing
the hands downward along the legs and then lifting the bird finger at the
moment the palms reach the knees. This has been observed in both men
and women. Again, these microgestures occur very quickly and can be
obscured easily by other activities. Watch for these behaviors and do not
dismiss them, if observed. At a minimum, microgestures should be exam-
ined in context as indicators of enmity, dislike, contempt, or disdain.