Identifying the Cues that Trigger a Mugger into Action

Pedestrians, through their body language, may signal to prowling robbers that they are “easy marks.” Men and women walking down a city street were secretly videotaped for sev- eral seconds, about the time it takes a criminally inclined person to size up a potential victim. The tapes were then shown to a panel of “experts”—prisoners convicted of assaulting strangers—who sorted out those who looked as if they would be easy to corner from those who might give them a hard time. Individuals who received high muggability ratings tended to move along awkwardly, unaware that their nonverbal communication might cause them trouble (Grayson and Stein, 1981).

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