Dr. Abbie Maroño is both a scientist and a practitioner in the field of human behavior, bringing a unique level of experience and scientific validation to her work. Abbie is now the Director of Education at Social-engineer, LLC, as well as the Director of the International Organization for Reconstruction (IOR). Abbie specializes in nonverbal communication, trust, and the psychological mechanisms underpinning human decision-making. She is an active member of several internationally recognized research groups and was awarded reviewer of the year in 2020, from select journals, for her significant contribution to the academic community.

We’re excited to have Dr. Abbie on the show this week to help us understand the importance of non-verbal communication in everyday life. She steps us through how to leverage nonverbal communication and shares some examples of academic literature that shows how an awareness of our own nonverbal behavior and that of our family, friends, and colleagues can impact how we communicate.

“We make our first judgments on people based on nonverbal communication. It's what we've evolved to do. It was our first language.” - Dr. Abbie Maroño

“It's not that you can detect if someone's lying —it's that you can detect a leakage of the true emotion.” - Dr. Abbie Maroño

“You can use mimicry as a tool to influence cooperation.” - Dr. Abbie Maroño

This week on Disarming Data:

● Why nonverbal communication is so important
● The signals we look for to determine a person’s trustworthiness and how we can build trust with others
● How Dr. Abbie became so fascinated by nonverbal cues and why she was keen to pursue a doctorate in the field
● We discuss the differences between lower and upper body language and why what your lower body does can make you more approachable
● How long it takes to change your natural non-verbals to project certain qualities
● What microexpressions are and how they could help you decode someone’s genuine emotions
● Some of the nonverbal signals that show that someone is distressed
● Whether it’s possible to influence people using body language
● The fundamental, biological, and psychological elements of social engineering
● How Dr. Abbie’s company social engineers organizations’ staff to help them mitigate the risks of having their data stolen

Connect with Dr. Abbie Maroño:
● Abbie Maroño's Website
● Dr. Abbie Maroño on LinkedIn

Connect with Disarming Data:
● David Biderman on LinkedIn