How to Think Like Sherlock (11 page)

But before we get carried away with the thought that we are somehow masters of an information age, be warned! In 2011, an article appeared in the journal
Science
, entitled ‘Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips’. It was authored by Betsy Sparrow, a psychologist at Columbia University, and reflected on the findings of a research project that she had co-led. She wrote:

Since the advent of search engines, we are reorganizing the way we remember things … Our brains rely on the internet for memory in much the same way they rely on the memory of a friend, family member or co-worker. We remember less through knowing information itself than by knowing where the information can be found.

What her study discovered was that we are far more likely to retain in our memories information that could not easily be found on the internet. However, where information could be retrieved from the web, respondents remembered how they could find that information again (e.g. through typing in a specific web address or search term) rather than the information itself. It is rather like remembering the name of a specific file within a particular filing cabinet, rather than the pertinent information within the file.

In truth, this is not as modern a phenomenon as we might assume. In the fourth century BC, Plato wrote
The Phaedrus
, in which Socrates is depicted narrating the tale of Thamus, an Egyptian king who hosted the god Theuth, among whose many achievements was said to be the invention of writing. Socrates spoke thus:

You, who are the father of writing, have out of fondness for your offspring attributed to it quite the opposite of its real function. Those who acquire it will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources. What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory.

(TRANSLATED BY WALTER HAMILTON, PENGUIN, 1973)

Quiz 14 – Elementary, dear reader … Part I

Uriah Ingram is chief suspect in the grisly ‘Limehouse Butcher’s Hook Murders’. It is known he is hiding out in a parade of houses on the Commercial Road, though the police do not know exactly which property. There are houses numbered one to ninety-six on the road. The police ask their informant three questions:

Is the number of the house below fifty?

Is the number divisible by three?

Is the number a square number?

The informant’s answers are not recorded but we do know he would only answer exactly what he was asked and refused to divulge any further information. Nonetheless, the investigating officers knew from his answers Ingram’s precise location and promptly arrested the killer. So where was Ingram holed up?

Reading the Signs

‘“I have seen those symptoms before,” said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. “Oscillation upon the pavement always means an
affaire de coeur.
”’

‘A CASE OF IDENTITY’

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of body language in our day-to-day dealings with the world. Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UCLA, argues that there are three major components in face-to-face communication: words, tone of voice and non-verbal communication. Of these, he rates verbal communication as the least important aspect (accounting for seven per cent of communication), then tone of voice (thirty-eight per cent) and, finally, body language (fifty-five per cent).

Body language encompasses gestures, facial expressions (the eyes, it is said, are a window to the soul), the positioning of the body and the proximity between subjects, interaction with objects (e.g. a cigarette or a pen) and even physical signs such as sweating or rate of breathing.

Becoming an adept reader of non-verbal communication and, consequently, more aware of your own body language gives you an advantage in all walks of life, whether socialising, in a professional context, in matters of the heart, or even facing-off across the card table.

Body language may not be the exact science of the type Holmes most enjoyed but he was nonetheless extravagantly adept at it. After all, this was a man whose greatness lay in his almost superhuman ability to read signs. This ability was never more evident than in his off-the-cuff analyses of his prospective clients, in which he would draw conclusions long before they had muttered a word. Consider the evidence presented by Watson in ‘A Case of Identity’:

He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp clang of the bell.

‘I have seen those symptoms before,’ said Holmes, throwing his cigarette into the fire. ‘Oscillation upon the pavement always means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts.’

‘The Blanched Soldier’ contains another scene in which Holmes (narrating himself on this occasion) presents a character with an assertion about a rather delicate matter. Note Holmes’s close reading of his subject’s body language:

He stared at the writing with a face from which every expression save amazement had vanished.

‘How do you know?’ he gasped, sitting down heavily in his chair.

‘It is my business to know things. That is my trade.’

He sat in deep thought, his gaunt hand tugging at his straggling beard. Then he made a gesture of resignation.

The interpretation of body language is not something that may be learned overnight. It is a skill to be developed over a lifetime, your increasing experience of the world honing your abilities. Yet even after a lifetime, you cannot expect to be correct in your assumptions all of the time. In forming opinions of people, it is a tool that must only be used in conjunction with a great many other factors.

Let’s start with a few basic things to consider when reading body language:

Context

A sign can have a multitude of meanings. If a gent is chatting to a young lady in a bar and she is constantly playing with her hair, it might well be that her action is unconsciously flirtatious. If she does the same thing in a job interview, it is more likely a sign of nervousness. Similarly, crossing your arms tight against yourself can, in many contexts, give away your sense of defensiveness. But if you’re doing it in an igloo, it simply indicates that you’re cold.

Culture

Certain actions have different meanings in different parts of the world. For instance, in Bulgaria, a nod of the head means ‘no’ and a shake means ‘yes’, a reversal of the custom followed in most other places. Similarly, in many parts of the world, an innocent ‘thumbs-up’ gesture can get you into an awful lot of trouble (for reasons that will go unexplained here in the interests of good taste).

Clusters

Read body language in clusters of consistent symbols to make the most effective reading. Just as taking a single word out of context from a sentence might leave you confused or thoroughly misled, so will reading non-verbal signs in isolation.

The simplest way to become better at reading body language is to practise. Keep an eye out for signals in your own interactions but watch others too. Sitting in a café for an hour and watching how the other customers interact with each other – the displays of affection, the temper tantrums, the seething resentments and complex power plays – can be a most instructive experience.

Here are a few useful tips to bear in mind when studying body language. Remember, these are necessarily generalities, not hard and fast rules. Indeed, some people will deliberately manipulate their own body language to mislead you. This list is but the tiniest tip of a vast iceberg: