The Steps to Reading Body Language 21
with well-honed instincts that match up favorably with his criminal
quarry.” That’s an eloquent way of saying that he does things
almost no investigator outside of TV drama could pull off.
In an episode in which the killer is a method actor immersing
himself in the role of a serial killer, D’Onofrio doesn’t just read
body language, he manipulates it to exploit the interplay between
body posture and emotions. Casually questioning the suspect in his
own home, Detective Goren tilts his head markedly to the left. The
man gives a natural response—without being aware that he is mir-
roring the detective’s action—tilting his head to the right. We look
hard right and lean our head hard right as both a reflection and
expression of emotion. Look at people at a funeral. Their eyes will
be down and to the right, and sometimes the entire head is drooping
to the right. Although some clinical psychologists have disagreed
with me that this is possible, I have observed that “forcing” emo-
tional body language through this mirroring technique actually pulls
a person into an emotional state. This is what Goren did with his
suspect. The man’s responsive body language helped put him into an
emotional state that made him vulnerable—and ready to confess.
My students have seen shows similar to this and think they’ve
picked up lots of tricks. Because my students, who are aspiring
interrogators in both the military and civilian sectors, have been
hand-picked for my body language class, they come through the
door embracing a paradox of their own creation: I’m good enough
to be in this class, so I must already know most of what Hartley’s
going to teach me. (The ones who know I have a book out on the