THE SCIENCE OF

LYINGBy: Omose Ogala

ABSTRACT   The average person lies three times in a ten minute

conversation. So how do you know when people are lying? As many people may think, it does have to do with how one’s reactions are. Body and facial expressions usually occur involuntarily and even though one might tell a lie, his or her body will reveal it in one way or the other.

My study focuses on various symptoms of lying and how they are conveyed by someone during the act of lying. Moreover, I have collected empirical data in order to show how those symptoms can be portrayed, not only through visualization but via tabulated data as well.

I have documented and analyzed the interviews with Alex Rodriguez denying (while telling a lie) about the use of steroids and contrasted it with his interview admitting (telling the truth) to the use of steroids. My hypothesis was to show that the data from the first interview will be significantly different from the latter.

The objective of this project is to show how Alex Rodriquez, my favorite Yankee, lied in his interview when he denied the use of performance enhancement drugs, aka steroids, with his body language.

 

HYPOTHESIS

In my hypothesis, I will show that Alex Rodriguez’s facial expressions and body movements will depict lying behavior. I will use Dr. Paul Ekman’s science of lying to analyze and verify the lies that may occur.

RESEARCH

Dr. Paul Ekman started this research on the science of lying. His research focused on how people’s reactions are portrayed when telling a lie. His research is composed of many different facial reactions.

There seven universal emotions: v

f * Anger * Sadness * Happiness * Disgust * Fear * Contempt * Surprise

ANGERhttp://www.hulu.com/watch/53608/lie-to-me-expressions---anger

FEARhttp://www.hulu.com/watch/53624/lie-to-me-expressions---fearSURPRISE

http://www.hulu.com/watch/53612/lie-to-me-expressions---surprise

CONTEMPT

http://www.hulu.com/watch/53621/lie-to-me-expressions---sadnessSADNESS

http://www.hulu.com/watch/53607/lie-to-me-expressions---contempt

HAPPINESS

DISGUST

http://www.hulu.com/watch/53620/lie-to-me-expressions---happiness

http://www.hulu.com/watch/53627/lie-to-me-expressions---disgust

For the last 50 years, Dr. Paul Ekman has done research and experiments on facial expressions and has spent the last thirty years on detecting lying from the facial reactions. Dr. Ekman and his colleague, Wallace Friesen, published FACS (Facial Action Coding System). One Basic thing that Dr. Ekman does, is to record and to slow down the tape of the questionnaires. When he looks back at the tapes, he is able to see the micro expressions that are embedded in them.

As seen in the reports Dr. Ekman wrote with others, the universal emotions that are often shown when lying are anger, contempt, surprise, fear, sadness, disgust, and happiness. In Anger, there is narrowing of the lips, eyebrows are down and together, eyes glare, and lips are tight together. In contempt, lip corner is tightened and raised on only one side of the face. Sometimes it is also accompanied by a downward looking gesture. In Surprise, eyebrows are raised, eyes are widened, and mouth is open - this reaction should only happen for one second, otherwise, one is believed to be lying. In Fear, eyebrows are raised and pulled together; upper eyelids are raised, lower eyelids are tense, and lips are slightly stretched horizontally back to your ears. Sadness has the drooping of the upper eyelids, losing focus in the eyes and the slight pulling down of the lip corners. Disgust has the common nose wrinkling and upper lip raising. Lastly, in happiness, there are crow’s feet wrinkles near the eyes, and cheeks are pushed upward as the movement from the muscle orbits the eye. These are the seven universal emotions.

There are over 10,000 different expressions, but only 3,000 are relevant to emotion, showing how complex the human body is. There are two types of expressions. Micro - Expressions and Macro –Expressions. A Micro – expression occurs in about 1/25th of a second, and a Macro – Expression occurs from 2 – 5 minutes. As you start to learn this, you will see that what a person is saying is not what is shown the face or body language. The different expressions are coordinated in the brain, and the center of these complex interplay is the cerebrum.

WHAT COMES OUT OF YOUR FACE IS NOT A LIE.

PROCEDURES

First• Watch the video of Alex Rodriguez denying

the use of steroids.• Take note of all “lying” facial expressions

that are recognized.

Second• Watch the video of Alex Rodriguez

confessing to the use of steroids. • Take note of what seen.

Third• Make a report of all data and findings about

these videos.• Make a graph based on the information

collected.

RESULTS

THE DENIAL 1. - Contempt is shown when Alex is asked

about human growth hormones in the begining of the interview.

- Anger is also shown right after. His eyebrows down and together.

2. 0.20 seconds into the interview, he is still showing anger when answering No!.

3. Alex has his eyebrows raised and pulled together with his upper eyelids raised. His lips are slightly stretched back to his ears.

4. Contempt is shown once again when he answered the question of following the crowd with taking steroids.

5. For the third time, Contempt is shown [1:03] when he talks about his teammates and steroids.

6. Anger is shown [1:09] when Kate Courie asks him about the Mitchell Report.

7. For the fourth time, Contempt is shown when he answers questions about steroid use in the 1980s. [1:29]

THE CONFESSION1. When the interview first begins, Alex is

relaxed because he has nothing to hide. At this point, everything big and important is released.

2. Alex shows fear when asked about the time periods he used steroids.

3. Alex shows anger when he tries answering a question. His eyebrows are down and together.

4. Fear is shown when he says he did not know of the substances he used. The odds are, he knows what he took but, is afraid of exposure.

DENIAL VS. CONFESSION TAPES

Ange

rFe

ar

Contem

pt

Surpr

ise

Happin

ess

Disgust

Sadn

ess

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

5

Tape 1Tape 2

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I have taken both videos of Alex Rodriguez lying about the use of steroids, and the videos of his confession to using and have analyzed them. What has become apparent from these tapes is Alex Rodriguez’s denial of steroids use. It depicts fear, contempt, and anger – as explained in Dr. Paul Ekman’s research findings.

In the tape of his confession to using steroids, his real fear, contempt, surprise and happiness are expressed in his face. In the end, your lies are always written in your face. It takes one who understands the interpretations to point out the lies.

REFERENCES

1. Facial Expressions: Chapter 16: Ekman, P(1999)2. Lie Detection and Language Comprehension: p.139: Keltner, D. & Ekman, P. (2000)3. Lying and Deception: Chapter 14: Ekman, P, Stein, N, Ornstein, P, Tversky, B & Brainerd, C4. Lies That Fail: p. 184-200; Ekman, P. & Frank, M. (1993)5. Deception, Lying, and Demeanor: p. 93-105; Ekman, P. (1997)6. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=24737. http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2009/02/02/lie-to-me-paul-ekman-and-biofeedback/8. http://www.paulekman.com/9. http://www.face-and-emotion.com/dataface/facs/description.jsp