A gloomy and angular bore, overgrown with bristles, with a heavy look, always as if sleepy and always distrustful – such is the new hero of the television series in America, Europe and Russia. His name is Dr. Lightman, he is a psychologist who reads truth and lies on people’s faces.
A gloomy and angular bore, overgrown with bristles, with a heavy look, always as if sleepy and always distrustful – such is the new hero of the television series in America, Europe and Russia.
65% of adults around the world believe that lying from time to time in order to spare the feelings of other people is quite normal.
His name is Dr. Lightman, he is a psychologist who reads truth and lies on people’s faces. His task is to investigate crimes, determining the feelings of suspects by facial expressions, speech patterns and body movements. His acting incarnation is the brilliant Briton Tim Roth, who endows the tough pro with his own elusive charm. Its prototype is the outstanding American psychologist Paul Ekman. In January, the first season of the series Lie to Me (an inaccurate translation of the American title Lie to Me, Lie to Me) started in America, in the summer – in Russia, since October, episodes of the second season have been released in both countries with a difference of one week. The success of the series is largely predetermined by this combination – the documentary basis and expressive means of cinema, scientific truth and spectacular editing. There is an attractive sensation for everyone – the ease of penetration into the secret, the simplicity of exposure. The feeling that the border between people – the border of misunderstanding, alienation – becomes quite unsteady. It is enough to master a set of rules, formulas – and we are already almost magicians, able to understand and feel not only our loved ones, but also a colleague, neighbor, investor … Especially if trust in people and ease of communication are not our strongest points: in this sense, the image Dr. Lightman is incredibly persuasive.
How to recognize a lie?
Listen to the rhythm of speech
Signs of deceit in the voice are manifested in unusually long or frequent pauses. People who have difficulty deciding what they want to say are less likely to orchestrate their speech by waving their arms.
Watch for momentary outbursts of feelings
It is difficult for us to hide our true feelings: they appear even for a split second. For example, contempt reveals itself with a momentarily raised corner of the lips (you can test your ability to interpret micro-emotions at www.facetest.notlong.com).
Flag inappropriate gestures
Some emblem gestures have a clear meaning for a particular cultural group. Let’s say a person shrugs his shoulders with his palms turned up, which means “Who cares?” or “I’m powerless.” When people lie, they can unconsciously turn up the palms lying on their knees – this fragment of the emblem betrays their sense of their own powerlessness due to the fact that they cannot lie convincingly.
Ksenia Kiseleva
“I rarely see real lies”
Psychologies: What is your involvement in the series?
Paul Ekman: Paul Ekman: Be sure to read the script of each series and give my recommendations. Sometimes I say: “I think this doesn’t make sense at all” or “That didn’t hook me.” But more often my comments relate to the accuracy of the depiction of facial expressions, gestures and other signs of a lie. The script for each episode goes through five revisions. Most of my comments relate to the first one, but I read each one to see what has been changed and whether my advice has been taken, i.e. whether I should be angry at them or not. The script writers use about 80% of my recommendations. For the film, I sometimes take (via Skype) shots that accurately illustrate different emotions. I also lead blog on the Fox website. As a rule, after each episode, I write a text of about 500 words, where I try to separate the truth about lies from television fiction.
Paul Ekman – the world’s most respected specialist in the field of psychology of emotions and interpersonal communication. A professor at the University of California at San Francisco, Ekman is famous for being able to identify and describe facial expressions corresponding to the seven universal (common to all people) emotions: joy, surprise, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and contempt. He also advises law enforcement agencies, helping them to identify liars.
“Psychology of lies”, P. Ekman, Peter, 2010
A lot of people are probably afraid to talk to you…
It calms people when I explain to them that I can only understand what they feel, and I can’t read minds. This is what we fear the most! But of course, once you have learned to distinguish between truth and falsehood, you can no longer “turn off” this ability. I’m not interested in everyday deceit. I don’t consider them real lies and I don’t expect people to tell the truth when they play poker or sell stuff, or when they say they had a great evening. I am only interested in serious deceptions, when a person’s life may depend on whether a person is caught in a lie. In fact, it is only in such situations that a liar can be detected: a lot is at stake, a person is excited, and these emotions give him away. But I rarely come across such lies.
Is it difficult for those close to you?
Of course, I notice if they are cheating, but I never bring them to clean water. Now my daughter tells me a lot more than I can guess, but when she was 15, she didn’t do that. I saw when she took forbidden pills and when she spent the night not with her friend, but somewhere else, but I didn’t tell anyone about it. I try not to put my loved ones in a position where they have to lie. And I myself, since the birth of my daughter, decided never to lie on serious issues. And I’ve been doing this for 29 years.
Is it possible to say that some people lie better than others?
If you believe in the lies you are telling at the moment, you will not be caught by any means. But about 5-10% of people have never tried to lie and think that they do not know how to do it at all. These are very valuable people. Once the American government asked me a question: how to prevent terrorists from being workers in nuclear facilities? And I replied: “I can select for you people who do not know how to lie, and no terrorist will ever contact such people.” They ignored my advice.
Does Dr. Lightman look like you?
The condition of my participation in the series “Lie to Me” was connected precisely with the image of the main character. He wasn’t supposed to be like me in any way. He has a different age, a different citizenship, he is not married, he has only one child, and he is completely different in character – sharp, impulsive. So I wanted to protect my personal life … The series is not a show about me, but about a person who does the same thing that I do, but faster than me, and with more confidence.
Prepared by Ksenia Kiseleva