In My Own Lane.

Second year, new job in another city, grad school, and non-profit consulting.

thereal | Say what: Where’s Atty Jeff Sessions?

What a very interesting turn of events.  We went from a Republican administration set on reversing any popular legislation without merit, enforcing laws when it wasn’t actually necessary -- basically a bunch of opposing viewpoints. Now we have marijuana and how the understanding of it’s benefits “have evolved”… 

thereal555 | Say what: Base-lining Behavior?

A few nights ago I was scanning through YouTube videos looking for a video about “the Reid technique” used by police officers and some detectives during interviewing or interrogating a victim or suspect involved in a crime.  Before this random search I was 👀 a Crime Watch Daily episode on YouTube, the one where the daughter sets up her parents for murder during a home invasion robbery because of their opposition to her boyfriend. At the conclusion of the episode, Chris Hansen said something like, “a footnote to this story…the police used the Reid technique, which has been banned in many countries because of the risk of a false conviction.”

So as I searched and began to understand more about the Reid technique, a bigger question was beginning to form… how could you tell if someone was lying to you or not?  I stumbled upon a training video of a former CIA agent who was discussing techniques on how to detect a lie and some of their cues.  Oh, was I interested!

She spoke about many things, but what stuck out the most was her discussion about establishing a baseline for behavior as a method of identifying behavioral differences during questioning. Things like beginning the conversation with an unrelated question or commenting on something they like to ease tension which allowed them to respond with ease (baseline behavior). And similarly, identify moments during the conversation and questioning where the baseline behavior is either more aggressive or more passive.

It became more and more clear that this technique is similarly constructed in peer to peer friendships unconsciously.  When we notice differences in behavior from our peers, such as moody, distant, too passive, or too aggressive we might react as if something is wrong because it’s different from the baseline behavior or normal behavior we’ve come to expect.  These differences can help someone to protect or manipulate one’s regard for something.  And using a scale from 0 to 10 to determine how dishonest or manipulative one is can tell you whether it’s a white lie or flat out deceit.

I found it to be extremely interesting that the CIA thinks it’s to be important to establish a baseline for behavior to aid in detecting a lie. In the case of the daughter setting her parents up, detectives were able to use the Reid Technique to get her to confess about her involvement.  

I’m no expert, I don’t have a law degree.  Just thought this was interesting.