Monday, March 14, 2005
Microexpressions -- Test Yourself
by Eyes
at 9:39 AM
Monday, March 14, 2005
Microexpressions -- Test Yourself
__________________________________
You've landed on the blog of a real "natural"
as depicted on the show "Lie to Me".
To read more about me on my website,
click here.
This is an old post from 2005.
__________________________________
You probably haven't heard of Paul Ekman. He is a world-renowned face reading expert. He has studied the human face for most of his career, which I am going to guess spans some 30 plus years.
Dr. Ekman wanted to understand what information facial expressions say about a person. What he found, contrary to what most people believe, is our expressions are an accurate and telling window into the mind. Even more surprising, you can't fake people out with fake expressions because if you do, your face will likely give you away with truthful and honest microexpressions. Just not everyone sees them!
A microexpression is a flash of emotion that tells what you are really feeling. For instance, if you ask someone how they are feeling and they reply they are doing great, when let's say they are dying inside, people who can see microexpressions will potentially see a flash of despair, regardless of what this person is actually saying.
In essence, your face has a natural lie detector built right in, which may indicate that you are being deceptive. And guess what, no matter how hard you try, you can't fake it out or stop your true expressions from flashing themselves. They are involuntary.
Isn't that wild?
But it is important to know that not all situations cause people to flash microexpressions. It's just one piece of the detection puzzle.
Microexpressions may appear in the middle of a fake expression for an instant or a flash.
Even more interesting is that when you make a fake smile, you don't use the same muscles you use when you genuinely smile. Isn't that bizarre? The muscles you use for a fake smile are completely different according to Ekman. If I ask you to genuinely smile for me when you are not happy, guess what, you can't do it. The smile will not be the same.
I find that fascinating!!
Before I knew microexpressions existed, I never noticed them (consciously, I suspect). Then once I heard about them, I suddenly noticed them all the time, as if someone turned the lights on. I'll never forget the first one I was conscious about: I saw Scott Peterson flash an excited microexpression to Barbara Walters when she asked him a question. Instead of answering the question excitedly, he played the sad, downer-guy denying her the truth. It was clear as day what his true feelings were, and they didn't match what he had just said and the expressed emotion on his face. He couldn't hide them--just most people didn't see it.
I believe I have always seen microexpressions and registered them, but I wasn't consciously aware of them. I think for years, I have innately processed this information in my subconscious mind without ever being consciously aware of how I knew what I knew. I just knew it. (Finally, my world is making sense!!!)
In an odd twist, just because someone tells you microexpressions exist doesn't mean you will see them like I do. I think in real life only handful of people out of 100 actually see microexpressions without training. Most people are oblivious to them. It's not a common trait most people possess: the ability to see microexpressions.
When I saw the Scott Peterson microexpression, I asked my husband to see if he saw it. He missed it. Since that time, I have taped shows and I rewind them and repeatedly replay microexpressions to my husband and no matter what I do, he doesn't see them. According to Dr. Ekman, I need to play them in slow motion for him and that is what I have done! And while he sees them in slow motion, he still misses most of them in real time.
So, do you want to test your ability to work with and identify microexpressions?
Dr. Ekman created training for professionals to help them become better at reading faces, and he posted a small section of the training.
I'll warn you: This test is difficult. I believe it was difficult because all other verbal clues and hints from the face and body are stripped away. You have to solely rely on the face to do this test -- and that is challenging. I am used to processing lots of clues and not just focusing in on one. Yet I think I scored 6 out of 10 on this test (I was too busy taking it and I didn't keep score but I think I remember missing 4).
See how you can do... Good luck!
Facial Expressions Test
Article from which the test links
Update 2-11-2008:
I would say the microexpressions that I see consciously assist me in deception detection about 10-15% of the time. I wonder if I register a lot more subconsciously.
Update 3-25-2008:
See a new poll taken by my readers. It asks them what they think are the biggest clues to deception for me.
And here is what I think are my biggest clues.
You've landed on the blog of a real "natural"
as depicted on the show "Lie to Me".
To read more about me on my website,
click here.
This is an old post from 2005.
__________________________________
You probably haven't heard of Paul Ekman. He is a world-renowned face reading expert. He has studied the human face for most of his career, which I am going to guess spans some 30 plus years.
Dr. Ekman wanted to understand what information facial expressions say about a person. What he found, contrary to what most people believe, is our expressions are an accurate and telling window into the mind. Even more surprising, you can't fake people out with fake expressions because if you do, your face will likely give you away with truthful and honest microexpressions. Just not everyone sees them!
A microexpression is a flash of emotion that tells what you are really feeling. For instance, if you ask someone how they are feeling and they reply they are doing great, when let's say they are dying inside, people who can see microexpressions will potentially see a flash of despair, regardless of what this person is actually saying.
In essence, your face has a natural lie detector built right in, which may indicate that you are being deceptive. And guess what, no matter how hard you try, you can't fake it out or stop your true expressions from flashing themselves. They are involuntary.
Isn't that wild?
But it is important to know that not all situations cause people to flash microexpressions. It's just one piece of the detection puzzle.
Microexpressions may appear in the middle of a fake expression for an instant or a flash.
Even more interesting is that when you make a fake smile, you don't use the same muscles you use when you genuinely smile. Isn't that bizarre? The muscles you use for a fake smile are completely different according to Ekman. If I ask you to genuinely smile for me when you are not happy, guess what, you can't do it. The smile will not be the same.
I find that fascinating!!
Before I knew microexpressions existed, I never noticed them (consciously, I suspect). Then once I heard about them, I suddenly noticed them all the time, as if someone turned the lights on. I'll never forget the first one I was conscious about: I saw Scott Peterson flash an excited microexpression to Barbara Walters when she asked him a question. Instead of answering the question excitedly, he played the sad, downer-guy denying her the truth. It was clear as day what his true feelings were, and they didn't match what he had just said and the expressed emotion on his face. He couldn't hide them--just most people didn't see it.
I believe I have always seen microexpressions and registered them, but I wasn't consciously aware of them. I think for years, I have innately processed this information in my subconscious mind without ever being consciously aware of how I knew what I knew. I just knew it. (Finally, my world is making sense!!!)
In an odd twist, just because someone tells you microexpressions exist doesn't mean you will see them like I do. I think in real life only handful of people out of 100 actually see microexpressions without training. Most people are oblivious to them. It's not a common trait most people possess: the ability to see microexpressions.
When I saw the Scott Peterson microexpression, I asked my husband to see if he saw it. He missed it. Since that time, I have taped shows and I rewind them and repeatedly replay microexpressions to my husband and no matter what I do, he doesn't see them. According to Dr. Ekman, I need to play them in slow motion for him and that is what I have done! And while he sees them in slow motion, he still misses most of them in real time.
So, do you want to test your ability to work with and identify microexpressions?
Dr. Ekman created training for professionals to help them become better at reading faces, and he posted a small section of the training.
I'll warn you: This test is difficult. I believe it was difficult because all other verbal clues and hints from the face and body are stripped away. You have to solely rely on the face to do this test -- and that is challenging. I am used to processing lots of clues and not just focusing in on one. Yet I think I scored 6 out of 10 on this test (I was too busy taking it and I didn't keep score but I think I remember missing 4).
See how you can do... Good luck!
Facial Expressions Test
Article from which the test links
Update 2-11-2008:
I would say the microexpressions that I see consciously assist me in deception detection about 10-15% of the time. I wonder if I register a lot more subconsciously.
Update 3-25-2008:
See a new poll taken by my readers. It asks them what they think are the biggest clues to deception for me.
And here is what I think are my biggest clues.
Labels: deception tests, Microexpressions
