When I was younger, my mom had this uncanny ability to know when I was
lying. In less than an instant, she knew that I hadn't practiced piano, finshed my homework or walked the dog.
I always assumed that all mothers had this innate super power, but what I later realized is that my face is just really expressive. I've always been criticized for not being able to hide my emotions, which can work for and against me, depending on the situation.
When I started acting, I learned to become better liar. Acting is just convincing yourself that fantasy is reality. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but my skills have surpassed my mom's. According to her, I've never kissed a boy, I eat three balanced meals a day, and I attend church every Sunday.
Of course, sometimes, she still surprises me. When I simply mention the name of someone, she can tell if I like him, no matter how vehemently I deny it. She'll know if I'm in trouble, even when I insist I'm fine. She just knows... everything.
As a way too trusting person, I could really have used some of that magic intuition. It could have saved me much heartbreak from cheating boyfriends and manipulative friends.
It's a little ironic-- don't you think-- that such a good liar could be so gullible?
But not for long.
Can you read these faces?
In "
The Naked Face," Malcolm Gladwell suggests that you can read a person's thoughts just by looking at them.
He presents several stories of extremely perspicacious face readers who have called bluffs (or truths) in the most precarious of situations.
For example, John Yarbrough, a Los Angeles policeman was on patrol when he pulled a car over. As he was walking toward the vehicle, a man jumped out from the passenger side and pulled a gun on him.
"‘There was a tree behind him, to his right,' Yarbrough recalls. ‘He was about seventeen. He had the gun in his right hand. He was on the curb side. I was on the other side, facing him. It was just a matter of who was going to shoot first. I remember it clear as day. But for some reason I didn't shoot him.'"
Yarbrough fought every police instinct he had to shoot him and instead, trusted his intuition. Luckily, his gut was right: the gunman was bluffing. He backed down, and no one was harmed.
Yarbrough was a gifted face reader, not unlike Silvan Tomkins, who may be considered the greatest face reader there ever was. A Princeton psychology professor, Tomkins "felt that emotion was the code to life, and that with enough attention to particulars the code could be cracked."
Among other things, "Tomkins, it was said, could walk into a post office, go over to the ‘Wanted' posters, and, just by looking at mug shots, tell you what crimes the various fugitives had committed."
Tomkins taught psychologist Paul Ekman the importance of studying facial expressions, and not just the ones you can see. Ekman eventually coined the term microexpressions- facial expressions that flash so quickly, they are practically imperceptible, but invaluable when it comes to catching a lie.
According to Ekman, "Many facial expressions can be made voluntarily...But our faces are also governed by a separate, involuntary system."
The
microexpression, albeit brief, is raw, automatic emotion. It is the truth before the lie. By studying President Clinton's microexpresions, Ekman was able to decipher the "inner bad boy" in his face.
He cites evidence for microexpressions from stroke victims who have suffered a certain kind of brain damage in the pyramidal neural system. While they can laugh at a joke, they are unable to smile when asked to. Meanwhile, others that have suffered another kind of brain damage experience the opposite effect-they can smile on cue but are unable to laugh when told a joke.
Can you believe this?
Moreover, Ekman discovered that emotions weren't the sole dictators of facial expression. In a sense, you can control your own emotions by choosing to make certain facial expressions.
For example, Ekman says, "And when I lower my brows... and raise the upper eyelid, ... and narrow the eyelids... and press the lips together... I' m generating anger. My heartbeat will go up ten to twelve beats. My hands will get hot. As I do it, I can't disconnect from the system. It's very unpleasant, very unpleasant."
Gladwell continues, "In the facial-feedback system, an expression you do not even know that you have can create an emotion you did not choose to feel."
Clearly, this is a particularly useful tool to employ when you have a case of "the Mondays" as I do right now.
Just smile-- Do you feel better? You should.
Ekman and other researchers compiled an extensive catalog of facial expressions and combinations and created the Facial Action Coding System. It includes every detail or movement of the face, be it ever so slight, including "bulges, bags, pouches, and lines" and every way your mouth can move.
It is an impressive system, where "researchers have employed the system to study everything from schizophrenia to heart disease; it has even been put to use by computer animators at Pixar (‘Toy Story'), and at DreamWorks (‘Shrek')."
There are only about 500 people who are trained to use this system (my mom is not one of them), "[b]ut for those who have [been trained], the experience of looking at others is forever changed."
As I think about it more and more, I don't know if I would want to have this ability. With this gift comes a lot of responsibility. Once you know someone is lying, there is some sense of obligation to fix the situation, right?
And while honesty is most certainly the best policy-generally speaking-there are times when ignorance is bliss and I just want to hear what I want to hear.
Because, sometimes we just don't want to know the truth to, "Does this make my butt look big?"
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