Presentation for usability professionals at UPA 2012 about how to read body language during usability testing as a method to uncover

1. by Brooke Baldwin

2. Seems simple, no?
the gestures, movements, and mannerisms by
which a person…communicates with others
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
 Facialexpressions
 Hand gestures
 Body position
 Disposition

3. People’s verbal commentaries and introspective
reports are notoriously unreliable. Subjects in
a laboratory setting are often highly
suggestible and may unconsciously pick up
what you want to hear and oblige by telling
you that.
V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., The Tell-Tale Brain

4. During user testing for any software product, it is
common for users to subconsciously want to please
the moderator. This can skew results because
misleading feedback can greatly impact how software
features and designs are modified.
 Skew results to please the moderator
 Leave design flaws undiscovered

5.  We’re predispositioned to be able to know
what other people are feeling
• mirror neurons - lots of years of biology
 It’s empathy. Exercise your amygdala!
• What’s that? Part of your limbic system that processes
emotional reactions (and the memory of emotion)
• Pay attention to your own responses

6. You help set the tone Listen and watch
• Warm welcome • Dissonance of words &
• Still your own body body?
• Observe patterns; don’t rely
• Ignore distractions on one gesture as evidence
• Make eye contact as  Look for indications of stress
appropriate  Probe when something
• Mirror their body position doesn’t seem right
(use good judgment)  Have another observer
taking body language notes
 Video tape the session for
review later

7.  Read gestures in clusters or patterns
 Look for congruence of words and body
language
 Look for synchronicity of word and gesture
 Read gestures in context
Sit next to your test
participant (A), slightly
facing them.

8. Facial expressions research
 Mouth shrug = lying
 Chin thrust = angry
 Still body, ignoring distractions = interested
 Leaning towards = attentive to speaker
 Arms/legs crossed = reserved
 Sitting on hands or jiggling = nervous, apprehensive, or
impatient
 Soft comforting gesture = self reassurance when a
speaker does not believe themselves or has little
confidence in what they are saying

9. Person is interested and focused on
what the other is saying

10. Person does not have confidence in what they are
saying when displaying a mouth shrug

11.  Lying is a cooperative act
 False positive lies are much more common than
false negative (10-20x more)
 Look for clusters of behaviors
 Asymmetry – do words and gestures match?
 BASIC 5 Steps
• Baseline the behavior
• Ask open-ended questions
• Study the clusters
• Intuit the gaps
• Confirm
 Don’t ask “why”, ask “what made you do that?”

12. Physical
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDo
gesture and sPelotas?blend=6&ob=5#p/u/19/exkp
verbal F2s5HOI
comment are
not in
agreement;
asynchronous
gestures

13. Anthony Weiner
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLF72
BAA5F61531E81&v=L0z5k0mc5yk&feature
=player_detailpage#t=45s

14. Important life
lesson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9YTxff3pHU

15.  Pamela Meyer, Liespotting; TED 2011 Talk
 Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind
 Albert Mehrabian, Non-verbal Communication
 Joe Navarro & Marvin Karlins, What Every Body is Saying
 Allan & Barbara Pease, The Definitive Book of Body Language
 VS Ramachandran, The Tell Tale Brain
 Matthew Alexander, Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations
Task Force Took Down a Notorious Al Qaeda Terrorist
Thank you!
brooke@brookebaldwin.com