An eye-opening video by Behavioral Arts talks about Amber Heard and Johnny Depp's case and reveals the truth through body language and behavior.
The question is, why is it so hard to believe what Amber says?
Let’s see what we learned from the body language expert in this episode that makes it hard to believe Amber Heard.
Evidence of Clusters of Deception
Clusters of deception involve two or more verbal, vocal, or non-verbal behavioral changes which occur simultaneously or together.
While one deception clue may not be enough to spell a lie from the truth; however, when they happen in clusters, that makes the difference.
Examples include:
- Face Touching
When people are deceptive, the hit around their nose increases. This very act is used to measure the Pinocchio effect, which we see Amber do a lot during her testimony. Of course, she doesn't only touch her face but blocks her mouth too.
- Mouth Blocking
Mouth blocking could be linked in a way to the Pinocchio effect. When we lie, we notice an increased temperature around the region surrounding the nose and in the orbital muscle in the inner corner of the eye. That's called the Pinocchio effect.
So, when we speak and, in a way, block our mouths, we are sometimes trying to stay mute about a particular issue but watch out because truth-tellers also do this, and this might make spotting an honest person from a liar difficult. Again, when this occurs alone, it could be that the person is telling the truth; but when they occur in clusters, deception is spotted.
- Perception Qualifier
Perception qualifiers are words used to gain credibility and convince people that one is being honest even when they're not. Examples include, for the most part, fundamentally, honestly, sincerely, etc.
In this part where Amber said, "I honestly don't remember if I erhmm did anything... If I did, I remember him having me by my nightgown. I remember him flinging me..." We observe that she says "honestly," and it's not something she says often.
- Single-sided Shrug
Amber does this thing where her left shoulder shrugs as she testifies. Our two shoulders tend to go up and then come down rather when we don't know something or lack information. However, when we lack confidence in what we are saying like we know it's not a full story, a shoulder tends to go up.
- Incongruent Gesture
Notice that under incongruent gestures, the physical movements made by our bodies are not consistent. In this case, for the same word said, the gesturing keeps changing, and then no matter the number of repetitions of the word, it does not get registered in the brain of the second language learner because every time, the gestures changes. And, well, Amber does this as she testifies. Her gestures keep changing.
- Lip Biting
Amber bites her lips while speaking. This is consistent when people hold back on something or are not sure they're correct.
- Over Specificity
People who are being deceptive and people who are being honest but feel people may not believe them are very similar in body language and verbal signs. It's hard to distinguish between the two. At the very least, they want to be believed.
Through Her Cadence
Cadence refers to the rising and falling rhythm that occurs when reading a piece. It could be a script or literature.
With Amber, the following things could be observed:
- Breathing
We hear her taking deep breathing in between her sentences and this occurs mostly when we are stressed, in anxiety, or in panic, we take very short, fast, and deep breaths. There, she didn't seem relaxed enough which adds to why it's hard to believe she's telling the truth.
- Downward Gesture of Amber's Mouth
We see her repeat that sorrowful gesture as she did earlier, forcing down the corners of her mouth, which most people think looks too dramatic. In earlier videos years back she didn't appear as emotional and sad as she did this time. She looked angry, and there was some trace of disgust on her face.
According to the body language analyst, “we don't become more emotional. As time goes on, we become less emotional. And I daresay, less affected by the incident that occurred.”
So, with Amber's gesture, one might be tempted to ask if her feeling got more intense when she's supposed to be healing.
These and more make it hard for people to believe she's telling the truth.
Here is the full video by Behavioral Arts: