The Science Behind “Lie To Me”

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person who enjoys the show Lie To Me on Fox. I am a fan though. What’s not to like about a team of scientists that can tell when people lie? It’s awesome. Let’s look at the science behind this TV series.

If you’ve ever seen an episode, you know that the protagonist of the show is Dr. Cal Lightman, who has spent 20 years studying nonverbal communication and facial expressions, which allows him to point out other people’s deceptions. He also, on many occasions, shows that he is adept at deceiving in order to get to the truth. How fictional is the science behind this series? Or is there really a lot of truth behind this science of reading human emotions through involuntary expressions? Lie To Me is based on the works of Paul Ekman, whose work focuses on mapping facial expressions. He has proved that facial expressions are the universal indicator of emotion. How? I don’t really know, but feel free to hit up Wikipedia or some other website and find out for yourself. Oh and by the way, Dr. Ekman is Lie To Me’s scientific advisor and has a blog, where he will blog about the science behind each episode of the series. Most experts are critical of the thought of there actually being a dictionary-like book of body language. I mean, sure there are books like that out there, but experts are warning those who use it that human emotions cannot be simply reduced to the primitive and basic gestures and assumed because they are in the book. In other words, be careful about generalizing and analyzing nonverbal communication data. A quote from the show: “The truth is written on all our faces.”

Let’s move on to a little bit of a summary from Paul Ekman’s blogging. I guess in essence I’m trying to make a repository or dictionary-like post of body language. Rather I’m just posting snippets from his blog. Don’t rely on it too much though. All of the stuff below is word for word from Dr. Ekman’s blog, so visit it for it’s entirety. Have fun with it, and make sure you tune in to Lie To Me on Fox!

• While there is no facial expression unique to signaling shame, often people who are feeling this emotion try to hide part of their face.
• The hands get cold during fear, because the blood flows away from the hands to the large muscles of the legs to prepare for flight. Just the reverse happens with anger, when blood flows to the hands and arms to prepare for fighting, raising the temperature of the hands. It is not that we have to either flee or fight, but evolution has prepared us to do what most people who survived over the history of our species did do.
• When people know the answer to the question they are asked, often the brows are raised; when they don’t know the answer, the brows may be lowered.
• Innocent people often are angry when they are under suspicion of a crime.
• Micro facial expressions are involuntary; the person showing a micro expression is unaware of doing it. Most people don’t see micro expressions unless they have obtained training.
• The prisoner also showed what we call an emblematic slip, the equivalent in gesture of a slip of the tongue. I use the term ‘emblem’ for any gesture that has a precise meaning known to all members of a cultural group – such as the A-OK emblem in the U.S.
• More than a hundred years ago Charles Darwin predicted that facial expressions of emotion are universal.
• People look away when they are thinking carefully and considering each word before it is spoken, not just when they are making it up.
• Breaking eye contact doesn’t prove lying; that’s just a myth.
• Oblique eyebrows are a very reliable sign of sadness.  Very few people can make this movement voluntarily, so it is virtually never faked. And few people can prevent it if they feel sad.
• Distancing language is a sign that there is some strong emotion about the topic that the person using that language is trying to step away from. As in “I did not have sex with that woman…”
• Liars prepare a frontwards story and have a much harder time telling the story backwards.
• Touching your ear can occur for many reasons; while it is not a sign of lying it may be a sign of a nervousness.
• The person showing such a gestural slip is aware of the anger or disdain that he or she feels, but is unaware that the message has leaked out: giving someone the finger.
• The absence of an emotion can be just as important as the presence of an emotion.
• Lightman often uses the guilty knowledge technique, mentioning something that only the guilty not an innocent person will know about and watching for who shows a reaction. This technique is sometimes used in polygraph exams: ‘was the person strangled, shot, stabbed, bludgeoned to death?’ Only the killer knows and is likely to show a physiological reaction when the actual weapon is mentioned.
• There are still a few people not classified as either liars or truth tellers – they are what I call natural performers. They don’t lie more often than other people, but you can’t tell when they do.
• Lip biting in response to critical questions suggests an increase in stress. It could be generated by the fear of being caught or the fear of being disbelieved.
• Profuse sweating when someone is not engaged in effortful activity is usually a sign of strong emotional arousal. Both sweating and swallowing are driven by the same mechanism.

By the way, visit Dr. Ekman’s personal website for everything you need to know. Once again, enjoy Lie To Me on Fox.

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