Non-verbal leakage is a form of non-verbal behavior that occurs when a person verbalizes one thing, but their body language indicates another, common forms of which include facial movements and hand-to-face gestures. The term "non-verbal leakage" got its origin in literature in 1968, leading to many subsequent studies on the topic throughout the 1970s (including multiple studies by American psychologist Paul Ekman), with related studies continuing today. Non-verbal leakage is a prominent concept in the study of body language. Others are often able to pick up any incongruity between your verbal and non-verbal messages, which can be confusing and can cause cognitive dissonance. Even when an individual attempts to suppress his own non-verbal leakage, there are some aspects that are out of his voluntary control and will still be expressed despite efforts to the contrary. As many as 98.3% of participants in studies of deception and facial expressions have been seen to express emotional leakage in some capacity, especially when trying to conceal a high-intensity emotion.
Types In an early article on nonverbal leakage, Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen discuss many bodily and facial movements associated with non-verbal leakage, especially in the context of deception. Ekman and Wallace focus mostly on non-verbal leakage expressed through movements of the face, hands, and feet. They describe areas like the face as parts of the body that have a high sending capacity, meaning the signals that this body part sends are easily visible and quickly received by the observer. Areas like the feet and the hands, therefore, are areas with lower sending capacities. The high sending capacity and clear visibility of the face can make non-verbal leakage obvious when it is expressed in the face, and such emotions expressed in the face are more discernible because of the complex musculature and movements of the face compared with movements of the feet or hands. It is also much easier for an individual to put his hands in his pockets, for example, than it is to hide his face and mask non-verbal facial expressions. However, facial expressions are also some of the first expressions to be masked when one is telling a lie. People tend to be more aware of how obvious their facial expressions are, so individuals are therefore most likely to mask those expressions first. In other words, non-verbal leakage can be most obvious in the face, but because of one's awareness of his own facial expressions, the face can also produce confusing non-verbal leakage. Areas like the hands and feet are less visible in expressing emotion, but also appear to be less consciously controlled and can therefore also be indicative of an individual's true emotions or intentions.
Individual differences Some studies have found that females tend to be more responsive to non-verbal cues in comparison to verbal cues. Knowing a person's sex can also give insight into a person's non-verbal leakage, as males and females tend to display particular non-verbal leakage when telling the truth, which can also help to indicate when someone is telling a lie, as such behaviors would be suppressed. In a study in which participants rated actors' recorded verbal and non-verbal cues in a scripted video, the non-verbal cues were seen to be significantly more influential than the verbal cues in participants' assessments of the actors' performances. Dominant conversational behavior also seems to be connected to differences in non-verbal leakage; people who dominate conversations more also express unique non-verbal leakage compared to those who are less-dominant in conversation. In relation to age, children can successfully manipulate their non-verbal expressions, even enough to deceive adults in one study. However, some other studies have found results supporting the idea that children are not as good at controlling their non-verbal expressions and leakage until they reach a certain age. Emotional intelligence has also been found to play a role in one's detection of emotional leakage. Females and people with higher emotional intelligence tend to be better at perceiving verbal leakages. Women also tend to be higher in emotional intelligence compared to men, giving women a better ability to detect verbal leakage in comparison to men, with women performing better in tasks of facial decoding and emotional intelligence in a study of emotional intelligence of communicative expressions. Professional dancers and actors, skilled lawyers, negotiators, and successful second-hand car salesmen have less non-verbal leakage during deception. Because of their professions, dancers and actors are trained for using their body movements to convey information to the audience. They are more aware of their body language, have more control over the movements, and are better at disguising through the non-verbal channel. The causes of negotiators and salesmen to be good non-verbal liars are more ambiguous. It might be the case that they develop skills in their careers, or they may have innate personalities that determine their career choices. It is also possible that under certain circumstances, they do not feel guilty when lying and hence leak little information. However, in one study it is suggested that lawyers do not receive enough training on conveying information to their clients using body languages, indicating that they may not gain their non-verbal deception skills from their professions.
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