A guy named TJ who lives across the pond in the US recommended a show called Lie To Me. I saw it was on Sky1 here now so I started watching it. The basic premise of the show is to solve mysteries using the power of body language and, more importantly, the spotting of microexpressions.
Now I’ve always been fairly into body language. It shows what people truly mean when you’re around them. You pick it up, but you wouldn’t necessary know you’ve picked it up until you’ve thought about it afterwards. Things like the inability to stand still when you’re nervous and sticking only your thumbs in your pockets when talking to someone indicates your attempt for sexual dominance – they’re all picked up on by your brain and the people around you will act on it, but they won’t know they’re acting because of it… if you know what I mean.
Microexpressions are on the same level. They’re involuntary expressions which show how we’re really feeling when we’re trying to conceal the obvious expressions (like smiling when we’re happy). They only last around 1/25th of a second, but they’re vital things.
We all share seven microexpressions – Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise and contempt. They’re virtually universal indicators for all of us. You’re probably thinking "Yeah, that’s basic enough. When someone’s angry, they scowl." but do they?
If someone’s being interrogated for example, they aren’t going to just scowl at everything and say "Why, I have no idea how those drugs got there…" because they won’t be believed. What they do is blank out all expression from their face. But everyone shows some expression unless they’re hiding something, so it’s usually an indicator if they do ‘go neutral’ that something awry.
What you then look for are muscle contractions usually associated with certain emotions. Not all at once, just the odd one or two. For instance, if someone’s trying to hide the fact they’re angry, they’ll tense their lips or wrinkle their forehead. It’s only really prevalent if you’re looking over a meeting again that you’ve recorded that will show these clearer.
Like I said before, you’ll know something’s not right at the time, but you don’t know why you know. That’s because all our brains have evolved to recognise certain emotions. You know when your pet’s happy because you’ve just evolved into noticing the tiny triggers the let off. It’s also the reason behind your ‘hunch’ – You know, that gut feeling you have whether someone’s legit or not.
So next time you’re greeted by a smiling, happy salesperson down Abington Street, just look to see if they are always smiling, whether it looks forced, or whether there’s signs of any other emotions in there especially when you tell them you don’t want to know.
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