The Science of Deception

My family is hooked on the new Fox show "Lie to Me". The show is a new drama series inspired by the scientific discoveries of Dr. Paul Ekman, a real-life specialist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose both the truth and lies in criminal investigations.

The great part about the show is that it is all based upon a field of scientific study that has been around for a long time, the Science of Deception. This is the science that studies nonverbal communication which is often referred to as body language. This involves facial expressions, gestures, touching (haptics), physical movements (kinesics), posture, body adornment (clothes, jewelry, hairstyle, tattoos, etc.) and also the tone, timbre and volume of the voice. Spoken content is ignored.

For greater understanding, you have to study the part of the brain called the "limbic system". The brain, including this system, controls all behaviors, whether conscious or subconcious. The limbic is where we need to focus to understand nonverbal behavior, as it is the part of the brain that reacts to the world around us reflexively and instantaneously, in real time, and without thought. So this area actually gives off a physical manifestation that is a TRUE response to stimuli coming in from the environment. The limbic is also the center of our emotions, and it is from this area that signals ro out to other parts of the brain, which then direct our behaviors as they relate to our emotions or our survival.

Big explanation, small take home: The limbic system is responsible for our survival and reacts without thought. If is like a reflexive behavior. For this reason it is also referred to as the "honest brain". These behaviors can be observed and decoded as they appear in our faces, our hands and feet, and our bodies.

The manifestations of these behaviors are called "tells" since they tell us about the person's true stste of mind. People usually aren't at all aware that they are communicating non-verbally so the speaker doesn't try to control them the way he/she does verbally in order to persuade the listener to accomplish the speaker's goals.

Anyway, back to "Lie to Me". On the site you can test yourself to see if you can spot the tells, and tell whether or not someone is lying. On the show, which you can watch on www.fox.com my favorite part is when the tells are revealed, and are compared to pictures of famous people, like politicians, who are shown exhibiting the same behavior. Funny funny stuff.

Here is a link to the show. Try the tests, they are really fun. www.fox.com/lietome/

An excellent book written by a former FBI Agent named Joe Navarro called "What Every BODY is Saying" goes into excellent detail explaining how to read a multitude of emotions using nonverbal behavior. His research is excellent, I've paraphrased information concerning the limbic system above,and there are many examples and pictures shown. If you are interested in this area of science, I most highly recommend his book.