Identify A Liar By Facial Expression

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Difficulties in understanding facial expressions arise from the fact that people look little at each other. Since most expressions of emotion are short-lived, you often miss important messages. Some facial expressions are especially short-lived, lasting only a split second. We call them micro expressions. Most people do not notice them or they fail to recognize their importance. Even more familiar macro expressions last only 2-3 seconds. It is extremely rare that expressions of emotion on the face persist for 5-10 seconds. In such cases, the feeling should be strong, and so much so that it may be simultaneously expressed in a voice through crying, laughing, roaring, or a stream of words. However, much more often the longest expressions of emotion on the face are not sincere, but feigned, when the observed person exaggerates the emotion. This becomes apparent when you observe a person playing a role on stage. Sometimes a person does not play a role, but uses feigned expression to express emotions without taking responsibility for it.

Controlling facial expressions is not easy. Most people manipulate expressions, but they are far from perfect. People are more used to lying with words than with their faces (and their faces are more familiar than body movements). This is likely due to the fact that people are more responsible for their words than for their facial expressions. More often, what you say is commented, and not what you express with facial expressions. It is easier for you to observe your words when you speak than to observe your face. Facial expressions can be very short-lived, meaning they appear and disappear in a split second. In the case of using words, you can easily put yourself in the place of the person receiving your message and hear everything that he hears. With facial expressions, everything turns out to be much more complicated. You can hear your speech, control your every word, but you cannot see the expression on your face, since this is simply not given to you. Instead, you have to rely on a less accurate source of information about what is happening on your face - the feedback provided by your facial muscles. Since people have less control over facial expressions and have fewer opportunities to observe, falsify or suppress them than their words, it is the analysis of facial expressions that can provide a correct definition of a person's real feelings. But because people are taught to control facial expressions, because people can suppress involuntary facial reactions or portray what they don't really feel, then facial expressions can very well deceive you. What to do? Most people use the following simple rules for this:

• The eyes most often "tell the truth."

• If a person speaks words that he is experiencing some kind of emotion, but does not show any emotion, then you should not believe the words. For example, a person may say that they are angry or joyful, but they appear completely dispassionate.

• If a person claims to be experiencing a negative emotion, but at the same time shows a smile on his face, then you can believe either his words or his smile. Everything will depend on the situation. For example, if a person says that he is afraid of the dentist, but at the same time smiles, then you interpret the smile not as a denial of words, but as a social comment and believe the words. If a woman deceives a man's hopes, does it easily and naturally, and he declares with a smile that he is terribly angry with this, then such words should not inspire confidence.

• If a person does not express his feelings in words, but shows them on his face, then you believe what his face says, especially if in words he denies the emotions he is experiencing. For example, if a person says, “I'm not surprised at all,” but looks surprised, then you believe that he is surprised.

These rules are probably not always true. If you do not want to be misled, and if you are not dealing with someone who is professionally lying with their face, then you need to recognize the signs of information leakage and symptoms of deception. Leakage can be defined as an unintentional "treacherous" expression of an emotion that a person is trying to hide. With the symptom of deception, you understand that face control is really happening, but you do not understand the true emotion - you just find out that you are receiving inadequate information. When a person tries to neutralize anger that he really feels, but does not do it very well, then you may notice traces of his anger (leakage). Or he can successfully neutralize the expression of anger by making an impenetrable face; however, it looks unnatural, and you understand that the person is reflecting a different feeling than in reality (a symptom of deception).

Four aspects of facial expression that will tell you that the person is in control of the expression of various emotions. The first such aspect is morphology - a specific configuration of the elements of the appearance: short-term changes in the shape of the elements of the face and wrinkles that express emotions. It is important that one part of the face is more often masked than others, but where to look for the false and where the true feeling depends on the particular emotion. The second aspect is the temporal characteristics of the expression of emotion on the face: how quickly it appears, how long it lasts and how quickly it disappears. The third aspect is related to the place where the emotion is expressed during the conversation. The fourth aspect has to do with micromimics resulting from interruptions in facial expressions.

More details with photographs in the book by Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen "Recognize a Liar by Facial Expression."