Touching the Nose .......................................................................................
If the mouth cover is the easiest gesture to spot when you think someone
may be deceiving you, the second easiest is the Nose Touch. As the hand
comes towards the mouth it is deflected to avoid being obvious. The nose,
conveniently close by, serves as a suitable landing point.When someone lies, it releases chemicals known as catecholamines, trigger-
ing the nasal tissues to swell. This is known as the Pinocchio Response
because, although the reaction may not be visible to the untrained observer,
the nose becomes slightly enlarged with the increased blood pressure. A tin-
gling sensation in the nose develops resulting in an itch that screams to be
scratched. The hand, already in position, vigorously squeezes, rubs, or pulls
at the nose, to soothe the sensation.During his Grand Jury testimony over the Monica Lewinsky affair, President
Clinton touched his nose 26 times when answering probing, uncomfortable
questions. When asked questions that were easy for him to answer his hands
were nowhere near his face.The Nose Touch is an overworked deceit action, so if you’re ever in the posi-
tion of having to be duplicitous, find yourself another gesture.Faking a Smile ...............................................................................................
The smile is the easiest facial gesture to produce and is therefore the one
most often used when someone is being deceptive. A smile is disarming. It
makes other people feel positive and less suspicious.But there’s something about a fake smile that causes warning signals to flash.
Whereas a genuine smile involves many facial muscles, including the ones
that crinkle the eyes as well as those that pull up the corners of the mouth,
counterfeit smiles are different. Firstly, they are confined to the lower half of
the face. The teeth may show but the eyes remain unresponsive.Secondly, the timing of a fake grin is an indicator. Someone assuming a
phoney smile puts it on hastily and holds it longer than its genuine counter-
part. While the artificial smile swiftly disappears, the genuine smile evolves
slowly and fades gradually.Finally, a real smile is usually symmetrical with both sides of the mouth raising.
A deceptive smile is asymmetrical, appearing more pronounced on one side
of the face than the other and giving a lopsided effect. Look for a smile where
the mouth corners turn down. It’s hard to make the corners rise if someone’s
feeling sad or depressed.268 Part V: The Part of Tens