How to Extract Info, Secrets, & Truth (part 1)

In everyday life, we are faced with an influx of communication stimuli that creates piles of information. The more information we receive, the smarter we must be to filter it—maintain the accurate and useful, and discard the corrupt.

Sorting useful information and extracting truth from the pile of information can become taxing homework. Whether you are an investigator, a salesperson, a teacher, or a parent, this book can help you decipher a person’s intentions, behavior, thoughts, and emotions to uncover the truth.

This 214-page book is divided into sections covering various methods for extracting the truth from information that we obtain from other people. This article will summarize the first three parts of this book.

1. Body language

The first part discusses body language. Essentially, a number of useful pieces of information can be extracted from a person just by using the power of observation.

Macro and micro-expressions, such as scratching the nose, avoiding eye contact, and head movements, are observable forms of body language. However, it is important to note that because human body language is very dynamic, observing an expression is not as simple as it sounds.

A single micro-expression, for instance, cannot determine whether someone is telling the truth or not. It takes a lot of supporting data, alternative methods, and most importantly— context.

2. Question

Asking questions is an active method of getting information from someone. The advantage of this method is that we can target specific topics so that the person we ask questions to provides a response that we can analyze more deeply.

Skillful questions are natural and subtle, for instance, “What would you save if your house caught on fire?” Although it seems simple, these questions are designed to explore fundamental information about a person’s values ​​and priorities.

If someone chooses to save his pet, it means he values ​​living creatures more than objects. To analyze further, ask questions not only about ‘what’, but also ‘why’.

3. Comfort

This section discusses ways to create an environment that can enable someone to trust you enough to share information and be truthful. There are several techniques that can be practiced to create a comfortable environment, such as intense interaction, credibility, eye contact, and active listening.

It’s worth emphasizing that active listening is the best technique to encourage someone to open up and share how they really feel. Other techniques are more appropriate for detecting lies.

The three sections above are just some of the methods of extracting and sorting information. Other equally interesting things can be extracted from this book.

Stay tuned for the next part to find out more!