Mark G. Frank
He began to study and learn the behaviors of underage patrons who tried to enter the establishment using fake identification thereby fostering his ability to determine when others were lying.
Studying how criminals interacted, he learned to pick up on subtle micro expressions that leak out when people are telling a lie.
The experience Mark Frank dealt with as a bouncer increased his passion towards communication aspects with others, as well as developed these basic skills.
Overseas, Frank has used his findings to discuss, consult with, or train law enforcement agencies, such as the Metropolitan Police Service in London (Scotland Yard), the Nottinghamshire and Kent Constabularies, the National Crime Faculty, Australian Customs, Australian Federal Police, as well as Dutch, Belgian, and Singaporean authorities.
He supervised and co-wrote the study with Hurley, that examined whether subjects could suppress facial actions like eyebrow movements or smiles on command while under scrutiny of a lie catcher.
[3][13] As a founding member of the FBI's Terrorism Research and Analysis Project, Dr. Frank has worked with the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate the safety of our nation.
His plan to decrease 'Terrorist' activity within airports across the country involves "Behavioral Observation Techniques" at TSA Security check-points.
[12] Microexpressions can be defined as, "fleeting expressions of emotion, sometimes so fast that they can happen in the blink of an eye, they occur when a person either deliberately or unconsciously conceals a feeling.
"[17] The 44 movements named by Dr. Frank have proven their success in helping to identify potentially illegal behavior and his system is now being tested for the possibility of use to identify potential terrorists.Although the Micro Expressions are proved to be efficient in detecting crimes, it still cannot be used as evidence in the court but can only be used to predict and narrow the range of suspects.
According to Frank's manuscript entitled "Improving the Ability to Recognize Microexpressions of Emotion," there are now ways to be able to pick up on these micro expressions in real time.
The FBI National Academy trainees are learning new ways to identify these expressions and have increased their recognition rate to 70%, and in some cases even 90%.
Both nonverbal and verbal behaviors are studied in hopes of providing new insight into the way in which we communicate in different aspects of our daily lives.
The CSC focuses on the use of quantitative research methods to further understanding of emotions and nonverbal behaviors with a goal to provide the knowledge that enhances the quality of our communication in a variety of areas including legal, marketing, health care, law enforcement communities.
[20] Dr. Frank coauthored and edited the book Nonverbal Communication: Science and applications (2013) with David Matsumoto and Hyi Sung Wang.
The book uses current research on nonverbal communication with chapters written by professional practitioners to provide a text that is useful both in the classroom and in applied settings.
He is working on testing the TSA's new behavioral screening program that is planned to be put in effect in 40 major airports around the country.
[3][22] Dr. Frank supervised and co-wrote a study on Executing Facial Control During Deception Situations Original Paper along with former graduate student Carolyn M. Hurley.
Published in early 2011 the study examined if test subjects could conceal facial expressions (i.e. eyebrow movements, smiles) on command while under scrutiny by a 'lie catcher'.
Frank claims, "As a security strategy, there is great significance in observing and interpreting nonverbal behavior during an investigative interview, especially when the interviewee is trying to suppress certain expressions".
[18][23] Dr. Frank co-researched a study with Gilovich, called "The Dark Side of Self- and Social Perception: Black Uniforms and Aggression in Professional Sports".
They designed four studies that investigated what wearing black uniforms in athletics did to perceive and actual aggressiveness of the participants involved.Frank and Gilovich found 25 subjects who knew nothing of the NFL, or NHL and nothing about the corresponding sport.
Our work looks at what clues are associated with deception and malfeasance intentions, as well as how good are people at spotting such clues, whether we can train people to spot them better, what sort of interpersonal styles optimize intelligence gathering in interviews, and whether we can create automated systems that might facilitate the identification of individuals who intend to commit an extreme event, or catching the perpetrators of such an act.
Frank, along with Nancy Etcoff, Paul Ekman, and John Magee worked on an article titled "Lie Detection and Language Comprehension" under the "Brief Communications" section of the journal.
[29] Paul Ekman served as a consultant in a study carried out by Mark Frank and Carolyn Hurley concerning deception at airport checkpoints.
[32] Frank, along with Nancy Etcoff, Paul Ekman, and John Magee worked on an article titled "Lie Detection and Language Comprehension" under the "Brief Communications" section of the journal Nature.
[27] The Spectrum independent student newspaper at the University at Buffalo published an article about Mark Frank called "Can’t Lie to Him" due to the fact that he is a professor who conducts deception research by studying facial micro-expressions.
It, too, explored the effectiveness of first impressions that are made at job interviews, how an attractive appearance affects how successful someone becomes, the limit of personal space, and facial expressions related to deception.
This showed how Dr. Frank's research can help airport security officials track down potential terrorists boarding planes or any similar scenarios.
Dr. Frank revealed that the most surprising research he had found was that deception and hostility actually come together, where as people originally thought they were separate.
His research was shown through practical use in airport security, law enforcement, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and in detecting possible terrorism.
