On lying and other random things

I really am a lazy blogger. I comfort myself with the fact that I could express everything with just photographs, that these could tell the entire story of how my day went. Or sometimes I feel that I'm revealing too much about myself, that some psycho would know my whereabouts and then eventually know my personal number and then send me creepy text messages. or is it just my narcissism that's talking? (Let's call that narcissist alter-ego, Daphne. Don't ask me where that came from. I just happen to really like that name, for no apparent reason. I am a make-believe schizoid.)

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Vampire Weekend - Holiday

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I've been watching Lie To Me, a tv series which gives us very insightful knowledge on microexpressions that help us discern whether a person is lying or not. A microexpression is a brief, involuntary expression shown on the face of humans according to emotions experienced. They usually occur in high-stakes situations, where people have something to lose or gain. (http://www.never-be-lied.com/micro-expression/)

Lie to Me was actually based on the life and work of Dr. Paul Ekman,  the pioneer scientist in the study of facial expression and gesture, and renowned for his breakthrough study of a stone age culture in New Guinea that established the existence of universals in facial expression. (http://www.paulekman.com/)

Body language is a  more obvious indication than microexpressions, which are actually very short-lived (the order of 1/25th of a second) and can be noticed by just a select few. How few? Well, Paul Ekman, together with Dr. Maureen O'Sullivan, worked on "The Wizards Project" in which they studied the ability of people to detect deception. It turned out, only 50 out of 20,000 people have this "gift". 

This particular link is also very informative: http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-tell-if-someone-is-lying/. Among its indications under body movement are listed below. You don't have to be a Truth Wizard (as what they refer to the gifted individuals in the Wizards Project) to spot these.

Movement

• Liars often fidget. This occurs because the person's nervous system reacts to the lie, producing excess energy.⁴ This excess energy can manifest itself in a number of ways:

1. Covering one's mouth or face. This often occurs when the liar feels bad or guilty for telling the lie.⁵
2. Touching the nose. When we lie, the tissues in our nose engorge with blood and cause them to tingle or itch.⁶
3. Nervous hand movements.⁷ This includes wringing the hands together and rubbing, picking or playing with the fingers.
4. Defensive behaviors such as leaning backward and crossing the arms or legs. These act as a "barrier"for the person and reduces their anxiety levels.
5. Holding an object in front of the body as a sort of invisible barrier.⁸
6. Rubbing the neck.⁹
7. Rubbing the eyes. This indicates that the person doesn't believe or disagrees with a statement.¹⁰
8. Shuffling the feet.
9. Clenched jaw.¹²
10. Licking the lips.

One of the truth wizards is blogger who goes by the domain, http://www.eyesforlies.com. EFL is a natural and wants to keep her identity private. She has not undergone training on deception and works in a entirely different field from law enforcement. Dr. O' Sullivan herself told the press (http://jcamillieri.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/img0021.jpg) that "Eyes for lies is quite unusual because most Truth Wizards are professionals; they're profilers, arbitrators, federal judges. She is one of four people who seem to have an interesting ability to understand people [naturally, without training]."

To be able to spot lies is a very rare talent and if you are one of the lucky few, you should really put this to good use. It's not really a responsibility on your part (don't fastforward your brain to crime-busting and court dramas) but a very useful tool for everyday living (like figuring out who dumped their garbage on your front yard, ha!).