Perceptive Deception: A Look at Psychological Profiling

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PERCEPTIVE DECEPTION

Preface

Webster describes the word perception as the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs. This is a book that explores the deceptive nature of perception, its manipulation, especially by individuals in search of an ultimate result. Those include politicians, news pundits, commentators, poll takers and advertisers. Manipulation of perception is also conducted by churches and political groups with an agenda such as Al Qaida, whether or not those groups are perceived to be terrorists. The book also explores the perceptive schemes present in our daily lives and how they affect our decisions.

How was the underwear bomber able to go through checkpoints in several countries and still be able to board a United States bound airplane with explosives in his underwear? How does a small group of individuals influence the public’s perception of a health care program? Is the way we profile individuals a reaction to our perception of those individuals? Is racism a reaction to our perception of other races? Is it possible to control our perception and consequently our reactions?

The stories in the book are anecdotal and are not offered to prove their truthfulness but to illustrate specific schemes. The individuals mentioned in the book are collectively referred to as perceptors. They are public figures whose perception of life or of other individuals, and the way they inject their ideas and ideologies upon society, often affects the decision making of those around them. You are a perceptor if you have something to say that other people feel is worth hearing. You are a perceptor if your actions which are based on your perception affect the rest of us who live in the world. This book uses perceptors to illustrate certain points. If you resemble one of the perceptors, or your name is mentioned in the book whether in a positive or in a negative light, remember that it is only the author’s perception of you which may or may not be the real you.

No scientific research was done to support data being presented in the book and the information relayed is simply the result of the author’s perception. Data that required authentication and substantiation such as biographical information on perceptors and the enactment of legislations were obtained through internet research vehicles.

CHAPTER I

A Little Thing Called Perception

Psychological profiling, according to this author, is the unconscious decision of mentally formulating an opinion about an individual that is totally inconsistent with facts and acting or reacting to the individual based on that opinion. Psychological profiling is the reaction to an individual’s perception.

The Scenario: A couple driving in the latest model of an Ivory colored C63 AMG Mercedes Benz reaches a rather large intersection in Miami, Florida. It was not a very common site in the not too affluent neighborhood of El Portal. They had been traveling on Interstate 95 but an accident on the highway forced them to exit. The traffic light changes from green to yellow and the driver slows down the car and prepares to stop. He pulls up alongside other less luxurious automobiles where the drivers seem oblivious of the blatant display of wealth adjacent to them. The driver of the Benz is a white male with blond hair and green eyes, seemingly in his late 30’s. He is dressed casually in a pair of black jeans and a red polo shirt. His attire seems adequate for either a boating excursion or a trip to a ball game. Sitting next to him is a relatively younger female, apparently in her mid-twenties with long, flowing black hair. She is fashionably dressed in a pair of white linen pants and a red rayon sweater.

As the car slows down, four panhandlers who were standing in the corner engaged in a race toward the Benz. The mobile display of wealth carried the promise of a possible donation. One of them, an older balding black man who appears to be in his sixties is moving a little bit slower as he tries to maneuver his wheelchair manually. He is missing one leg and the stump where it had been amputated is camouflaged underneath a small black blanket. He has a cardboard sign on his lap leaning against his chest that reads please help. Vietnam Vet unable to work!

Directly in front of the old man is a white male who appears to be in his early thirties. He wears a pair of brown corduroy pants with several holes the size of a quarter on several parts of the legs, and a white T-shirt that reads ‘Miami Heat’. On the shirt is imprinted the Heat flame logo as well as the triumphant smiling faces of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Lebron James following their 2012 championship victory. His sign is also made of cardboard and the words lost job and house. Need help to feed family! are written with a permanent black marker.

Racing past the Miami Heat fan and the handicapped apparent sexagenarian in trying to reach the Benz is a younger black man who undoubtedly feels that youth is on his side, although he moves with an obvious limp. He is much shorter than the other beggars, approximately five feet two or three inches and his visible limp does not seem to hinder his speed. His sign reads got out of jail. Need bus fare to get home. Please help.

The quickest one is a young white girl, seemingly in her twenties. She looks scruffy as though she had not been near a shower for the past few weeks. Her hair is unkempt and it could have been dyed blond sometime in the past but the dye was wearing off and strands of black could be seen peeking through her scalp. She wears no makeup and the jeans that she is wearing are covered with dust, apparently from either sitting or lying on the ground for a prolonged period of time. Her sign reads I’m hungry; will work for food or money.

The Perception: The woman in the Benz watches his companion as he reaches into his right back pocket to extract his wallet. She extends her hand and touches his arm in an effort to stop him.

What are you doing? she asks him while looking at the traffic light with the hope that it turns to green before the vagrants reach the car.

I have to give those guys some money, he replies, sounding annoyed.

Why? she asks, genuinely indifferent to the apparent plight of misery which besiege the lot making its way to the car.

I don’t think a couple of dollars will kill us. He replies.

Well, she responds, if you must give someone something, give it to the black guy in the wheelchair. He is a Vietnam vet and he obviously can’t work. She pauses for a few seconds before adding: The young white guy just looks like he’s on drugs. If you give him money, he’s only going to spend it on drugs. Her eyes then rest on the woman who is almost at the car door. The young lady, and I use the term loosely, is obviously a prostitute. No one really believes that she is going to do any work, at least not standing up.

The man turns to her with an incredulous look. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Sure I do, she continues her evaluation. The other black guy just got out of jail. He probably killed someone and he will most likely rob you as you try to give him the money.

A car behind the Benz honks to attract the attention of the driver to the fact that the light turned green. The Benz takes off before the group reaches the car and the driver fails to give any money to either of the vagrants.

The Reality: The older black man in the wheelchair lost his leg to diabetes. He has never been in the military or to Vietnam. The narrative of a Vietnam vet has worked for him and the wheelchair is just a heartbreaker. He is the one in the group who usually ends up with the most money.

The young white male in his thirties is a politician and his platform is helping the homeless. He has been standing in the corner to see how the homeless live and how much the public is willing to help.

The young white woman is a police officer working undercover as there has been a rash of incidents involving young homeless females where they have been found injured or dead.

Finally the young black man did in fact recently get out of jail. He got out after spending five years following a rape conviction. He was recently released after newly retested DNA evidence showed that he was not the one who committed the crime.

The couple in the car is not married. He is the chauffeur for a wealthy philanthropist. He was on his way back from driving his boss to the airport and was returning the car to the employer’s house. The woman was his boss’s personal assistant who usually accompanies him to the airport where she takes down last minute instructions on things to be done while her boss is gone.

The woman passenger in the foregoing scenario reacted to her perception of the beggars which had nothing to do with the reality of who those individuals actually were. The panhandlers reacted to their perception that the occupants of the car were wealthy when in fact they were employees of the actual owner of the car.

Imagine if you will a young, black female attorney walking onto the second floor of a courthouse building where all documents and pleadings are filed. She is about 5’2" inches and weighs approximately 130 pounds. She is wearing a black skirt suit under which a grey white silk blouse was peeking subtly, the whole outfit accentuated with a black scarf with long grey stripes. There are individuals with stern faces sitting behind several glass windows happily collecting a salary, but many of them are secretly wishing that they were in a different line of business. In front of those windows were several individuals standing in line, often switching their stand from one foot to the other, hoping that the person who is being served would cease his or her incessant line of trivial questioning and leave in order for the line to move.

The young attorney is standing in the only line where a sign displaying the words Attorneys Only was affixed to the glass window. That line is considerably shorter. Behind the counter is a young black female clerk whose youth was in sharp contrast with the clerks in the other windows. Her hair was excessively long which would suggest that she had had it extended through some type of weaving or extension process. She reached through the curved opening at the bottom of the window to pull the stack of documents being filed by the attorney in front of her, displaying long manicured nail painted with a bright hue of red. The only common characteristic she seems to share with the other clerks is the robotic movement of reaching for papers; examining each one and impressing the documents with that coveted court stamp which all the filers receive before they leave the windows.

In front of the young attorney are five other attorneys, four males, one female. They are all white except for one of the males. They are all dressed in traditional black or dark blue business suits. Their outfit would be equally suitable whether they were dressed to attend a funeral, a board meeting or a court hearing. Two of them were carrying on a baseless conversation about stocks which seems to attract no one else’s interest. The black male keeps glancing at his watch and it can be concluded almost with certainty that he is about to miss a very important appointment. One by one, the clerk silently accepts everyone’s documents standing in front of the young female lawyer. The monotony was interrupted only by an occasional question relating to the form of the document being filed; one lawyer is missing a required signature; another lawyer is missing an information sheet but overall the process is going smoothly.

Finally, it is the young female attorney’s turn and she reaches the counter. As she hands her stack of papers, she is momentarily distracted by a strand of grey hair hanging loosely in front of the clerk’s face and which was in sharp contrast with her apparent youth. She inwardly concluded that the clerk had probably dyed that strand of hair to make a fashion statement. With a swift gesture, the clerk reached for the loose strand of hair and firmly tucked it behind her right ear. As she begins to rummage through the young attorney’s papers, the young clerk suddenly looks up and the following conversation ensues:

Clerk: Are you aware that this is the attorney line?

Attorney: Yes, why?

Clerk: Are you an attorney?

Attorney: Yes. Why?

Clerk: Can I see your Bar Card?

Attorney: Why? I didn’t hear you ask anyone else to see their bar card?

Clerk: I knew the people who were in front of you.

The young attorney reluctantly removes her bar card from her wallet and handed it to the clerk. She felt embarrassed and took a quick furtive glance around the room to see if she recognized anyone else in the room. She felt grateful that no one seemed to recognize her. The clerk did not seem satisfied and she requested that the young attorney show her identification such as a driver’s license with a name that matched the one on the bar card. She told the attorney that she wanted to confirm that the name on the bar card was the same as the one on the driver’s license. She then returns both cards to the young female attorney before proceeding with filing the documents.

The young attorney was visibly distraught and upset. She was sure that the clerk did not know the other attorneys in front of her. The first thought in her mind was that the disparaging treatment was due to her color. The thought quickly evaporated with the visualization that the clerk was black as well. It was obviously not a matter of skin color. Perhaps it was because she was a woman. That idea did not hold water either. One of those attorneys in front of her was a woman. She began to ask the clerk to see an administrator in order to file a complaint. She felt discriminated against, although she was at a loss as to the basis of the discrimination. She believed that regardless of what the reason was for the clerk’s behavior in asking her for verification of her status, it was unacceptable. After a brief pause, she decided against filing the complaint. She walked away.

No need to imagine. This happened to a young attorney in a South Florida courthouse.

The aforementioned incident took place several years ago when attorneys actually physically filed court documents in Florida. Since 2013, the State of Florida has gone virtual, requiring attorneys to electronically file their legal documents through an E-Filing Portal. The perception would be that the new procedure would curb incidents such as the one previously described. However on April 24, 2014, a similar incident took place in the West Palm Beach County Courthouse.

Most court houses allow attorneys and court employees the courtesy of having them go through a special door or pass through a special scanning machine in order to speed up their entry. Between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., attorneys and employees enter the main court house in Palm Beach County on Dixie Highway through a reserved door and proceed to a line designated especially for them. On the morning of April 24th, a black female attorney was in line and had just placed her beige leather briefcase and brown Gucci bag on the conveyor belt when a tall, black security guard told her she was on the wrong side and needed to go to the opposite side of the building.

Are you talking to me? the lawyer asked the guard.

Yes.

What do you mean I’m on the wrong side?

This line is for attorneys!

And I don’t look like an attorney…

No.

What do attorneys look like? She proceeded to withdraw her bar car from her wallet and handed it to the security guard who looked at it and handed it back to her. The guard ignored the attorney’s question.

I’m sorry. It’s a simple mistake. He finally said. It’s just that I know the lawyers who usually come through and I don’t know you.

That was not a simple mistake. A mistake is when you ask one lawyer to identify herself when no one else is requested to do the same. Telling a lawyer you do not belong on the attorney side because you do not resemble an attorney is not a mistake, let alone a simple one.

In examining the behavior of the clerk and of the security guard, one can begin to see the power of perception. In either of the situations described above, the black female attorney had not done anything to single herself out that would justify the clerk or the guard’s reaction. They simply had that instinctive innate feeling that the young attorney did not fit the profile of an attorney and they reacted accordingly. If someone were to ask them privately why they felt compelled to challenge the attorney’s right to be on the line, neither one would have been able to articulate a logical reason simply because there was not one based on facts.

Imagine now that a big White House state dinner is taking place. Only those on the Who’s Who list of Washington’s elites are invited. A