A Guide to Deduction

A Guide to Deduction: Deducing Down to a Science

By: Jori Allen

In any Sherlock Holmes novel you read, or any interpretation you watch, Sherlock Holmes is always able to pull off amazing feats with his abilities to deduce. He is always able to study a person, and read their history as if it was written out in a book, getting it right 98% of the time. In A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes wrote an article that talks about deduction, and how it is used. He calls deduction a science. He also talks about the correct ways to use it, and the steps you use to identify and deduce everything about a person. In ‘Sherlock’, the BBC series, Sherlock made a website called, ‘The Science of Deduction’, where he mostly explains everything about a person’s deduction skills, and how it can be mastered. In both the tv series and the novels, John highly doubts Sherlock’s knowledge, and his statement that ‘Deduction is a science’.

Sadly, Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character. There is no article online that can correctly define what went on in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s head when he thought up the article that Sherlock wrote. People will never know the correct way to deduce, and how deduction is a science.

Luckily for you, I’ve looked into deducing for a long time. I do even have some minor deduction skills. While I might not be Sherlock Holmes, I decided to make this essay for anyone who wants to read it. Welcome to, ‘A Guide to Deduction: Deducing Down to a Science’.

Now, before I start anything, let me tell you a few things. Deduction is different depending on the person. Each person has their strengths, and each person has their weaknesses. So if you find something like, figuring out what a person did the night before is easy, but yet find deducing a person’s current emotion impossible, don’t worry. Don’t try and compare yourself to Sherlock, because like I said before, he’s fictional. He’s supposed to be extraordinary. Just do your best, and you will be able to deduce in no time, my friend!

How is Deduction a Science?

Deducing is a science for many reasons. For every science, you must observe, take in all evidence, and make a conclusion upon all the evidence given you. You have qualitative and quantitative observations, and you must take notes of everything, and the method can not be used the same twice. Deductions can be used by everyone, and anyone can deduce. But there are specialists. There are ‘professional scientists’ in the science of deduction, who make breakthroughs every day and always find new ways to deduce.

Why Don’t People Think Deduction is a Science?

Most people don’t think deduction is a science because they think that the only person who can deduce it is the famed Sherlock Holmes. I can promise you, that other people in the real world do in fact deduce. You see them everyday in pop culture, and everywhere all over the world. There are people who can be deduced in your neighborhood even. Now you might be thinking, “How are they deducing? They never say they are.” Let me tell you something my friend, not everything that uses deduction is called ‘deducing’. Many jobs use deduction, and many people are quite skilled. If your job includes trying to read someone’s body language, or trying to figure out if the person is lying or not, then you deduce.

Deduction is mostly the fancy word for reading body language. If you read the books, half of his deductions have to do with the way the person is holding their head, or the way they have their arms crossed, or if they are sitting up straight or slouched, or if their eyebrows are furrowed or anything like that. So if you can read body language, good for you! You are already a world class deducer yourself!

Body Language for Cheaters

Okay, I would love to tell you every single quirk a person does and what it means, but that would be virtually impossible. Not to mention how bloody long this essay would be if I did. I have though, gathered up some cheaters ways to body language, and just some basic body signals and what they mean.

Not everyone’s body language is the same. While one person might cross their legs and lean back to add distance to the person they are talking to, some people do it because they know that it’s going to be a long talk that they are interested in, and they are ready to talk to this person for a lengthy amount of time.
A basic way to know if something is wrong: If you are talking to them, and they are doing what they naturally do, for example, slump slightly, and look you in the eyes while you talk, and you say something, and all of a sudden they snap to attention, and avert their gaze, something is up. Figure out what the person’s neutral state is, so when they start to act differently, you can point it out immediately, and stop before you go too far.
Study people: Before you start to pull little tricks to impress your friends, test it out on the streets first. Watch people as you ride to school, or on the bus. You will see the body language is as clear as day. (Story time) One time, I was on a bus, and we had stopped at a red light. I watched people at a ‘don’t cross’ sign, and I trained myself to identify how each person felt at that crosswalk before the light turned green. That was because the whole week before, I just watched people in different and various stances, and once you can identify the body language, it’s like your eyes have opened.
Observe and do it everyday: Reading body language is like riding a bike. First try a little at a day, and once you feel comfortable, try just to observe people. Don’t say anything, just observe. That’s what I call ‘Body language training wheels’. You must do it every day though. Because if you forget to just study people for one day, the next day you’ll feel like you’ve forgotten everything, and it sucks to learn everything again.

The Basics in Body Language

When people have their arms crossed: For most people, having your arms crossed is the most natural thing that the human body does. So you can’t really tell what a person is thinking when they have their arms crossed. But you can tell from the rest of their body. Usually if a person is looking away, or has their feet pointed away, they don’t really want to talk, and are waiting to step away, and talk to someone else. If a person is standing up incredibly straight, and they have their arms clenched at the elbows that means they are agitated, upset, or angry with someone or something.
Freeze, Flight, Fight: The human instinct is to survive, so the 3 F’s are born. I remember them by: ‘Shit’, ‘ABORT’, and ‘Boy, you wanna go?’ also spelling out FAB.

Shit or Freeze: It’s a technique that many people use when they’ve forgotten something, and/or their brain is trying to remember something important. Don’t you ever just freeze, and think, ‘Did I remember my phone?’ right before you get out of the car? Or when you freeze when you hear someone you don’t like call your name behind you? That is the freeze stance. You literally freeze, and your brain does a restart while it tries to remember where or what it is going to.
ABORT or Flight: When anything is faced with immediate danger, they will get away from it as quickly as possible. You can see it in children when they don’t like a certain food you give them. They slump far back in the chair, push the food forward, and their body turns back to where they were playing, trying to get away from the food as far as possible. It also can be seen clearly in adults. When a person walks up or is greeted by a person they don’t like, their body subconsciously might lean away, or take a half or maybe even a full step back from the person. They’ll stand up straighter than they would with a friend, as if ready to bolt at any minute. Their body movements are a bit more jerky, and they keep their guard up more. The flight is mostly your brain telling you, ‘Get away if you want to live.’
“Boy you wanna go?” or “Fight”: It’s the most stereotyped and least used of them all, but the most effective. When a person’s brain doesn’t think that freezing, or trying to get away doesn’t work, their defence is so high up, it’s like a barricade. This response is used only for people who we particularly don’t like. While most people think the fight response is only with fists and feet, it can do with a mouth as well. If you’ve ever used sarcasm excessively on one person, or just outright taunted a person, that is the fight response. Cool, isn’t it?

If you want to find out more about body language or if you want to read more in depth, please check out What Every BODY is Saying By Ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro. It’s where I’ve learned the majority of my body language skills, and how to mask my body language, and other cool stuff. It’s an amazing read, and I highly suggest it if you want to go more in depth with body language.

Rule of Deduction

Now, before you start anything that has to do with deduction, you must know the rules. There aren’t many, but they are important.

1. You see, but you don’t observe: Meaning, most people look around them, and take notice. What they don’t use is their observation skills. For example, if I showed you a picture for 20 seconds, and you just saw it, you could maybe remember 4 or 5 things. If you observed the picture, the number would be closer to 15 or 20 things. You look at something more in detail when you observe. Another example would be from another Sherlock Holmes story. I will always remember this, and I find it amazing that I haven’t forgotten why it's stored in my brain. When Watson doesn’t understand how Sherlock observes, Holmes breaks it down for him. He asks John how many times he has walked up the steps to Baker Street. Watson says he walked up the stairs many times, and he can remember where each step is. But when Sherlock asks Watson how many steps there are, Watson doesn’t know, because he’s seen the steps, but never observed them. Sherlock then tells Watson “There are 17 steps. You see, I don’t just see, I observe.” (I think I misquoted. I apologize if I did). So when it comes to everything, don’t just look for the exact detail (although you should, that helps a lot too) but also look for the more obvious signs, like a grass stain, or calloused fingers.

2. It Takes Time: If you don’t master deductions in one day, don’t fret. Seriously, don’t. I hate comparing deductions to Sherlock, being he was such an iconic character, but just this once I will. He started to deduce when he was about 16. That is why by A Study in Scarlet he is so good at deductions, because he practiced everyday, for over 25 years. I’ve been deducing since I was 15, and I’m still bloody rubbish 1 year later, but yet, I practice everyday. Doing deductions is like doing any other sport. You must do some stretches with your brain, and you must practice every day, only I prefer you practice maybe for 2 hours when you just start, and expand from there. Remember, it’s not a skill you acquire overnight, and it’s not something you can decide to do whenever you feel like it. Unless you are advanced. Like 12 years practicing advance. I mean, if Sherlock can’t turn it off and on like a faucet, then I doubt you can too.

3. Checking it Once, Checking it Twice: Take in everything before you start to think. If all you see is the person’s face, and then you start to make deductions, I can promise you that you will most likely get your deductions wrong. You must take EVERYTHING into account before you deduce. It is a big task, I know, but once you get used to it, it’s like second nature.

4. Baby, I Was Born this Way: Learn people’s specific quirks, and the way they tick. You can see that I deduce, but I can only guess because I’ve talked to the people before and I know the way they write, and how they act. Every single person you meet is unique, and they will react differently to different things. Do this: ask two people to come with you, and bring a rubber ball (preferably soft, so if it hits them in the face, they won’t sue you for face replacement surgery) with you. Ask them to stand right next to each other. First, fake a throw. You will see one might flinch, while the other won’t. Or both can flinch, or neither. Now throw the ball into the middle of them, and watch their body posture and how they follow the ball. Thirdly, toss the ball lightly to each one of them. You will notice they both catch it a different way, and react to how they catch it differently. Finally, chuck the ball at them and see how they react. Maybe they might not be able to catch the ball, maybe they will. Take notice. You will see that the two people each reacted differently to the stimuli you gave them.

5. Let Them Hate Me, as Long as They Fear Me: People won’t like you. I can tell you that now. People might think it’s weird, not normal, freaky, or just plain rude that you can figure out how they feel without them telling you. Don’t take it personally. That’s all I can say on this one. Just don’t. You’ll feel better if you just let their hate roll off you. They’ll have to learn to respect you at one point.

How to Practice Your Skills

Whenever you deduce, please please please please please please PLEASE PLEASE keep this quote in mind:

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

That means, if you think up a completely absurd deduction, like your friend’s dog died, even though they got the newborn puppy just last week, and it’s the only thing you can see, then it’s probably true. Don’t overthink things, because I can promise you, that will be EVERYONE’S downfall when it comes to deducing. Just paint a picture with your mind, and if the sky turns out to be green, and the sky turns out to be blue, just roll with it (sorry, terrible metaphor, but it’s true).
Surprisingly, if you shut up, you will be able to observe even more than if you spoke. Just, for the first year or so of your deduction skills, keep silent when you want to deduce, because if you don’t, you won’t catch everything, and that will lead to a whole new world of embarrassment.
Use ALL of your senses. Sight, touch, taste, hear, and smell. Now, of course if it’s toxic, use common sense but other than that, try to use as many senses as you can to learn everything you can. The way Sherlock was able to identify the 243 types of tobacco was not just by sight, but by smelling it, and feeling it’s texture. Try and use your senses to their advantage. It will give you an advantage.

Well, that’s all I can say about deductions that I can think of. I would love to write a book about deduction, but I’m just too lazy, so this essay will have to do. I do hope that this helps you guys out in the future, and when you guys are able to apply what was taught to you, please remember me. I might not be a famous author, philosopher or professor, but I do help what I taught here could be used later on in life. And remember this: While you might not be Sherlock Holmes, you are your own person with wonderful skills, so use them, and don’t let anyone bring you down.