Glossary

adaptor—A nervous or self-soothing movement like rubbing your fingers together or stroking your neck. A person who may be uncomfortable about asking or answering a question might use an adaptor. It’s a sign of stress.

barrier—Using a body part or object to put separation between you and another person. The proverbial “cold shoulder” is a barrier. It suggests stress is present.

baseline—The basis for comparison between what is customary and what is a deviation from customary when observing or listening to someone’s response to a question. A person who is usually calm, but has a sudden change in voice or movement in responding to a question, is deviating from baseline. It’s a sign of stress.

batoning—Using a body part, generally an arm, to emphasize a point. It is a type of illustrator that bears a resemblance to a conductor using a baton. In response to a difficult question, a person might use batoning as part of a denial, or to drive home a point that he thinks is particularly noteworthy.

commentator—A commentator is thorough, giving complete answers—in some cases, overly complete in the sense that you get more than you asked for. A commentator may provide such a multifaceted answer that it could take the questioning in a different direction.

compound question—A question that combines two or more subjects, so you are essentially asking two questions at once. For example, “Are you going home or to the restaurant?”

control question—A question to which you already know the answer.

corrective questions—A question your mom, your first grade teacher, or your boss might have asked: “Are you always this lazy?” or “Are you trying to drive me nuts?”

dictator—Someone who answers definitively. The negative aspect of a dictator’s response, which may necessitate further questioning, is that he may present a personal opinion as fact. He may also just have a decisive quality to responses that can be off-putting, depending on the circumstances

direct question—A question that leads with a basic interrogative.

elicitation—The technique of steering conversation toward a topic to unearth the information you want; this is not a questioning technique, but rather considered an advanced interrogation technique.

evader—Someone who tends to sidestep questions. He or she may just have an idiosyncratic way of listening and understanding rather than a desire to avoid answering. Evasion could also mean the person feels uncomfortable answering questions for some reason.

illustrator—A movement that effectively punctuates what a person is saying. It might be a finger pointing, an arm waving, a head cocked, or any number of other movements that express something about the emotion related to the statement. (Also see batoning.)

integrator—Someone who weighs the best way to answer your question. The person waits to hear how you respond to the answer and then may attempt to clarify the initial response, or may offer multiple answers in a single response so you know the person has considered that there may be several good answers.

leading question—A question suggesting the answer within the question; for example, “How guilty do you feel about taking that kid’s lollipop?”

limbic mode—Emotions have taken over the mental state; in limbic mode a person has diminished cognitive ability.

negative question—A question that integrates negatives such as “never” or “not” so that a person is unclear about the answer. For example, “Do you ever not care about the environment?”

non-pertinent question—A question that doesn’t pertain to the subject you really want to know about, but one the person will probably not lie about; it serves the purpose of seeing what the truth “looks like” and getting the person to open up to you. It also may be used to redirect attention away from a stress development or to give the questioner time to make a note or check notes.

persistent question—The same question repeated and perhaps phrased differently; it’s a way to check for the thoroughness and perhaps the accuracy of the information given.

polite question—A question like “How are you?”

pre-question—A non-discovery question that asks permission to ask a question; it’s often part of rapport-building.

regulator—A movement intended to control conversation, like nodding the head as if to say, “Get on with it!”

repeat question—A question that tries to uncover the same information as a previous question, but it’s actually different from the first one. For example, a doctor asks you, “What time did you last have anything to eat or drink?” when you first arrive for your surgery. Just before administering anesthesia, he asks you, “You must be thirsty. How many hours has it been since you’ve had anything to drink?”

requestion—A non-discovery question that asks for certain responses, usually “yes” or “no,” such as “Will you marry me?”

source lead—Information dropped by the respondent in the course of conversation that the questioner feels there is value in pursuing—that is, an additional person, place, thing, or event may be mentioned that warrants attention. For example, in a job interview, the candidate might thank the interviewer for holding the meeting at 9 because he’s in a golf tournament that starts at noon; the interviewer would circle back to that to determine whether or not the candidate thinks that golf is more important than work.

rhetorical question—A question intended to provoke a thought, not a fact-based answer. For example, “Why do I have a conscience?”

summary question—A question that is intended to allow the person an opportunity to revisit the answer. You might frame the question by repeating what the person said and then ask, “How does that match up with want you want in this car?”

vague question—An indistinct question. For example, “When you went to the grocery store, did it seem like a lot of people might be just wandering around looking for something that appealed to them?”