I’ve always been intrigued by body language. As an unconscious expression of the brain, it is something that I wanted to become more knowledgeable about. I’ve read articles and watched videos, some of them I found fascinating. But without a professional training I’m still a beginner in this domain!
When I read about psychologist Paul Ekman’s research on universal micro expressions, I was eager to learn how to unveil people’s micro expressions.
What are micro expressions ?
“Micro expressions are facial expressions that occur within a fraction of a second. This involuntary emotional leakage exposes a person's true emotions.
Micro expressions are
Often misinterpreted or missed altogether
Occur in 1/2 a second or less
Unconsciously display a concealed emotion “
The two main benefits of getting the ability to identify micro expressions are to increase emotional intelligence and detect deception.
The below video of Paul Ekman raises some interesting points on whether this is always relevant to detect deception and uncover lies. He also explains that our interpretation of someone’s attitidue is based on our culture.
Again, despite lots of resources on Paul Ekman’s website and elsewhere on Internet, there is a long way to go to acquire those skills!
No matter, it’s interesting to discover some basic techniques to detect deception (or at least identify inconsistance between what is said and the behaviour).
What I learned is that I should not jump into conclusion when I’m seeing a certain micro expression - when I manage to catch it - which seems to contradict what is said. Besides, it’s essential to understand the influences of the context. For instance someone may seem to be lying but the micro expression derive from stress not lie.
Do you think you can pass the micro expression test or you think you know a lot about deception and lying ? Take one of the tests!
Some years back, Paul Ekman was hired as consultant on the TV show Lie to Me (intro below). It’s one of my favorite serie of all times. The way, Dr Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his team conducted their investigations was new and based on science, a very interesting approach !