Probably the cue that people rely upon most is facial expressions. Smiling, frowning, looks of concern, or skeptical expressions can reveal feelings about a situation or person. The problem with facial expressions is that over the course of socialization, people learn to control their facial expressions more than other aspects of nonverbal communication. However, unless a potential juror is particularly adept at controlling or manipulating nonverbal communication, inconsistencies between feelings and outward appearances will leak out. First, the quality of the facial expression can be affected.
Jurors often use smiles to mask other feelings.
The fixed smile appears to linger, where the genuine smile naturally disappears as the situation or feeling changes. For example, when a lawyer inadvertently embarrasses a hostile juror, the juror may adopt a fixed smile to cover his or her hostile reaction to the lawyer. Leakage also occurs through the jurors' other nonverbal body cues. This leakage occurs when a facial expression communicates some desired effect but the body cues send a conflicting message. For example, potential jurors may verbally express a willingness to treat a party fairly and the facial expression may appear neutral or positive.