Lie to Me

Over the weekend, Dan and I started watching the Season 1 of  Lie to Me on Netflix streaming. We often get a glimpse of the show because it comes right after our favorite doctor, House on FOX.  We thought it is interesting, so we decided to watch the premiere episode to check it out.  After six episodes and counting, we are hooked. 

The show is about Dr. Lightman (played by Tim Roth) and his team, whose private company located in the nation's capital is hired to assist in investigations by interpreting "micro-expressions" through the Facial Action Coding System and interpreting body languages.  They are hired by government agencies to expose the truth and find answers when people chose not to tell the truth (at first).  So basically, the more the person lies, the more Dr. Lightman and his team discovers the truth.  Very interesting premise.

What strike me was how they present photos of famous people and their expressions and how similar the expression was to their subject's expression or reaction.  For instance, when their subject has a reaction or expression of shame, they would bring out the photo of Bill Clinton at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.   Or the disgust in Richard Nixon's face when he was being asked difficult questions during the  Watergate scandal.

What caught my attention was the seven universal emotions: disgust,  anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and contempt.  The contention was that regardless of sex, age and race, our expression these universal emotions are the same. It made me more aware of people's reaction or response during normal conversations.

Here are samples of the universal emotions as illustrated by Tim Roth, the lead actor from the TV series:

For example, just today, I got the good news of a job promotion.  Co-workers started talking to me, congratulating me and telling me how happy they are for me.  I now find it amusing that because of my awareness of these micro-expressions, I can see which one is truly sincere and happy and which one are just for show.

There was actually one person who was congratulating me and telling me how happy she/he is for me, but guess what, the eyes were focused downwards and I could see a slight tightness on the edges of the mouth. Slight anger or sadness?  On the other hand, another person was congratulating me and her/his eyes lit up, he/she grabbed my hand and held it tight while looking at me directly in the eyes. Definitely happiness. Both individuals were actually almost saying the exact thing but the expressions says it all. Isn't that amazing....

It is an eye-opener for me to learn these things.  It makes me more aware and sensitive to people around me and at the same time, it makes me aware of my non-verbal reactions.

So the next time you want to learn what the other person is trying to say (whether it's the truth or a lie), check out the universal expressions.  You might want to check some episodes of  Lie to Me, too.