POLITICIANS LIE

The fact that they lie is nothing new. It is the importance of catching them in a lie that matters. With the 2020 Presidential debates coming soon, it is good to refresh your ability to read micro-expressions. Let’s get started.

Many years ago a individual named Dr. Paul Ekman, a psychologist ranked in the top 100 most influencial people in the world by TIME magazine and amongst the top fifteen most influencial psychologist of the 21st century, revealed a study showing people universally share the same major facial expressions. What is more interesting is that everyone leaks these expressions regardless of their intent to hide what they know and how they feel.

This is good news for eveyone. Well, not everyone. If you want to know if someone is communicating in a truthful manner, they you cannot simply listen to their words or observe their macro-expressions of emotion, like what is depicted in the image above. You listen, you observe, and you watch their face carefully, and that should guide your conversation to the truth.

Dr Ekman noted a series of expressions that tend to leak:

• Anger
• Disgust
• Fear
• Surprise
• Contempt
• Happy
• Sad

The basic idea here is that someone will ask another person a question, to which the interviewee offers an answer, but also leak a high-speed, subtle facial expression that informs the interviewer about an intent to hide information or emotion. Micro-expressions cannot infer a specific reasons the interviewee intends to hide information or emotion. But they can give clues for where dishonesty exists, and that they have touched on an area worthy of more exploration. For example, a person might tell you they are sad about some situation, but then leak the micro-expression denoting happiness. This would be your clue to dig a little deeper.

Reading Micro-Expressions

For the remainder of the article I am going to point out some common micro-expressions worth memorizing because they come up a lot for politicians. Let’s have a look.

Non-Symetrical smiles

Non-symmetry means ingenuine - [Hover/Tap]

First - in reading all facial expressions, you have to be sure you have a good baseline. Can they smile in a symmetrical manner? Some people can have conditions that paralize part of their face. If you know they can show a symmetrical smile, but you see a non-symmetrical smile, they are being ingenuine with their emotion of happiness and likely feeling contempt.

Non-emotive or Upset?

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Some expressions are so subtle they are very difficult to read, especially if they are fast. In this case here, while the face seems fairly non-emotive, the lips are pressed together and the brow is furrowed a bit. Pressed lips and a furrowed brow denote feelings of anger. The key to noticing a micro-expression here is the subtle switch to it and then back to relaxed as they attempt to restrain their emotions about whatever you are discussing.

Averting the eyes and head down

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If in the middle of a discussion a person shifts their eyes and head down toward the floor, they are expressing shame, disappointment, and attempting to hide or avoid offering their true feelings.

Creativity and not Memory

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Let’s imagine you ask a close friend where they were last night. They cringe their brow a bit and divert their eyes up and to the right. It really looks like they are digging into their head to find a memory right? Nope. Gazing to the right means they are pretending and most likely accessing their creative capacity. This isn’t always the case, but if what follows is a description containing too many specific details, then it is a creative answer and not a truthful one.

Fast eye blinking or fluttering

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If you observe an answer or a statement laden with fast eye fluttering, then they are not comfortable with the topic and are retreating into themselves, attempting to avoid the conversation. Either they are not comfortable with their answer, the topic, the question, and they are more than likely not confident or truthful about the statement they are making. In addition, according to Psychology Today, rapid eye movement is also a sign of impulsive decision making. It may mean they are making up an answer on the spot to sound confident or strategic, but they are making it up and leaking a lack of confidence.

Tongue Reveal

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This is an interesting one. If someone allows their tongue to protrude out of their mouth, it is nearly like they are manifesting a desire to “hold their tongue.” The research says revealing the tongue in this manner expressed disagreement, disbelief, dislike, and uncertainty. If the answer that follows seems to dodge the topic or not match a historically true fact, then it is a sign of deception about how they feel or that their words do not match what is going on inside them.

Withdrawn with big eyes

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When you see someone subtly pull back, their brows go up and eyes get big, they are genuinely surprised at whatever was just said. “Did you know your secretary was embezzling millions of dollars?” They subtly offer this suprised micro-expression but say, “Of course I did! I was giving him enough rope to hang himself!” The expression implies that the information was likely not something they knew. The person wanted to sound strategic and informed, but their expression shows they were in the dark.

Shrug shoulder tilt

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When people tilt their head and shrug their shoulders in a subtle manner, it means they are acquiescing to someone else’s authority, hiding or denying responsibility, and withdrawing from the situation. Think about a kid who might be asked the question, “Do you know who made the mess in the kitchen?” to which they offer a shrug and head tilt and say, “I don’t know. Maybe the dog?”

Eyeline shift

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A person not maintaining your eyeline can mean a few things: disorganized, hesitant, hiding, untruthfulness, social anxiety, and many other things. The key here is that they subcontiously want to disengage.

Saying Yes/No but expressing the opposite

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You ask someone, “Did you sexually assault that woman?” and they reply “No. That’s not true,” but at the same time they nod yes with their head. This is an extremely common and mind boggling tell. People attempt to directly state a falsehood, but their subcontious leaks a yes using painfully common body language. There are too many examples of politicians and Hollywood types doing this exact thing. If the person says yes or no, but nods no or yes in contradition, then their words are lying to you.

Overly Prepared Answer

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Overly prepared answers aren’t always indicitive of a lie. But they can often be a sign that there is an intense desire to control the messaging on a topic. If two people are interacting, and one is talking while the others seems to be following along as if reading a script, they likely have a plan to ask a specific known question and follow with a scripted answer. Sometimes, they will even track their eyes left to right remember the script and listening for their cues. The subtle difference here is that they are not absorbing information in real time observable by engaged eyelines and other subtle reactions to the person who is presenting a question. Instead they appear to be waiting for their turn to say their lines.

Now watch for the signs

Hopefully, this is a good start on a list of interesting micro-expressions that people employ to hide the truth. We definitely didn’t get through all of the possible leaks people can employ, but enough to clue you in on behavior that helps you identify where to dig in a bit more. In the case of watching political debates, again - micro-expressions are not going to explain the intent for why a person would hide the truth, but it will show you they are hiding something.