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Who would ever suspect a former CIA interrogator of believing you should trust people more? William Morrissette lives and teaches this philosophy. In fact, he’d tell you that if someone lies to you, it’s your fault.
After eight years in the CIA, Morrissette founded Intuition on Demand, a North Providence-based organization that trains people in
interrogation techniques. He believes that rather than looking for nonverbal cues that indicate someone is lying, you should focus on creating “facilitative environments” where people feel comfortable revealing who they really are.
People produce up to 100 nonverbal cues per second while talking face-to-face. “Looking for nonverbal cues isn’t particularly helpful unless you know someone’s normal pattern of behavior,” Morrissette says. “You have to look for behavior that might be out of the ordinary.” For example, folding arms or bouncing legs during a conversation might be meaningless if a person is a habitual arm crosser or leg bouncer.
Morrissette simply defines lying as “the degree to which someone is willing to express their true self, thoughts, emotions and experiences.” The job of an interrogator, or anyone hoping to hear the truth, is to control the physical and psychological factors that encourage truth-telling. This can be anything from respecting someone’s personal space to building trust over time, the key to any honest relationship. “What if I was so good at reading your body language that I didn’t have to place any trust in you? Where would we be?” Morrissette asks. “There’s a lot to say for trust.” You can learn more of Morrissette’s techniques in his Learning Connection courses or visit intuitionondemand.com. —LAUREN SARAT
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