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This is the third of a six part exercise to read behavior of both sides of a conversation using an incident where police officers were called to a home where there was the report of a potential break in.
The Workout
- Context: In the following video, two police officers talk with a man who was reported being seen outside of a home while carrying a shovel. In this third part, the first officer who spoke with the man is at her patrol car to check on his information, while the second officer is speaking with the man.
- Because of the length of the video, this exercise will be broken up into a six-part series.
- Task 1: First, assess the man being contacted’s behavior and identify the observations that support that assessment.
- Task 2: Second, identify one potential reason for the man’s behavior that indicates a criminal/violent/illegitimate intent and one potential reason for the man’s behavior that is legitimate/not-criminal/non-violent
- Task 3: Third, assess the police officer’s behavior and identify the observations that support that assessment. View this from the perspective of the man being contacted.
- Task 4: Fourth, Identify the cluster of behavior that the police officer likely believes that he is displaying towards the man and identify the observations that support that assessment.
- Note: We acknowledge that the assessment in task #4 is HIGHLY subjective. We aren’t in the officer’s head and haven’t talked to him. We are basing this assessment (when it is different than the behavior observed in Task #3) on the observations and behaviors we can collect in this video.
- Write your answers on a sheet of paper before viewing our answers
View Our Answers
- The Man: The Uncomfortable Cluster
- An increase of illustrating gestures: he recreates everything that he was doing so that the officer can see that he wasn’t breaking into the home.
- Very quickly rebuts the officer’s assertion that he was breaking into the house (or that neighbors called because it looked like he was).
- He clarifies partial information given before: “I’m in and out.”
- He begins identifying all of the people who can vouch for him and prove that he does in fact belong at this house.
- Attempts to call his mom so that she can tell the officer that he wasn’t breaking in.
- Potential Reasons For Behavior
- Criminal/Violent/Illegitimate: Is uncomfortable because he was actually trying to break in and is about to get caught. Another reason is that he has a criminal history and that the police officer is perceived as a threat because he could catch him.
- Non-violent/Non-criminal/Legitimate: He is worried that he will be seen as lying and falsely accused or in trouble, even though he hasn’t done anything wrong. If he does in fact live at that house, the police officers have entered onto his property (his anchor point). His discomfort could also be the result of the officer’s display of dominance because he doesn’t have the ability to establish an ideal separation/distance when assessing the group dynamics.
- The Police Officer (As assessed by man): The Dominant Cluster
- Says to the man “you can see what it looks like right?” Showing that while he understands the man, that it does look like he was breaking in.
- Stops him to get clarity, “Do you actually live here?”
- Another accusatory question, “Where’s you key, bro?”
- The Police Officer (As likely assessed internally): The Comfortable Cluster
- Allows the man to move around with the shovel, which could be used as a weapon, and something he probably wouldn’t allow if he felt threatened.
- Allows the man to state his case and to call his mom.
- He attempts the joke, “well, we usually don’t have some try (to break in) and then just sit on the porch waiting (for the police).”
- Add a comment with the assessments that you made, but that we didn’t make, so that other viewers can benefit from& your analysis as well.[/expand]
Enhance The Workout
- Repeat
- Watch the video as many times as is needed to observe each of the three assessments (the man, the officer as perceived by the man, and the officer’s likely internal assessment), to help build your file folders for the recognition of each cluster.
- This will help you make these assessments more quickly when you are the one having the conversation and have to consider both what you are observing as well as what you are saying and what you’re hearing. The more repetitions you have make it easier to recognize the displayed behaviors when the situation is more challenging.
- Reflect
- Think about the two potential sources of discomfort that you identified in the task. What information would you need to see in future segments of the video to prove that one or the other is more likely? List these out if possible.
- Before considering both possible sources (violent AND non-violent or criminal AND non-criminal) did you find yourself jumping to a conclusion about where this interaction is heading? That might be a natural reaction, but keep in mind that remaining objective requires that you consider multiple causes for the observed behavior and haven’t shut yourself off to contradictory information.
- Act
- In the same as Part 2 of this exercise, throughout the week, use some conversations that you are in as an opportunity to practice detaching yourself and viewing the interaction as an outsider, where you can observe yourself through the eyes of another.
- It won’t come naturally at first, it absolutely takes work, but is a skill that once developed, can be a huge asset in your ability to assess other people and influence their future actions and behavior.
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The subject in the video repeats himself on two occasions when he is showing the officer what he was doing and when he says "yes sir", to say he understood what it looked like.