Lie to Me-Sarita Madrid

Lie to me is a really interesting show on Netflix about a company who solves crimes and one way they get leads is by observing micro expressions. Paul Ekman was a man who first started studying micro expressions and their importance. Defined by the Internet, a micro expression is the innate result of a voluntary and involuntary emotional response that conflicts with another. This helps people identify when a person is lying because they are able to see the persons face react to what they are saying and if they are lying it will disagree with their words. For example, if a man who murdered people is saying that he did not/would not do that his mouth might turn up briefly into a smirk because he has pleasure in knowing he did it and he is lying about it. Micro expressions are important because everyone has them without their knowledge which can help with deception detection. The only down side to micro expressions is that, hence the name, they last for less than a second, about 1/25th of a second. What helps in detecting micro expressions (in a detective setting) is a video camera to slow down when looking at footage. In general, this can be helpful to use for detecting emotions and reactions to is being said. I have learned in school that non-verbal language is about 70-80% communication and eye contact/facial expressions are a part of body language. Paying attention to body language and facial expressions is not only important to solving crimes in this show but also in real life. In social work, we practice active listening and paying attention to body language while active listening which has influenced me to observe non-verbal communication among people. Non-verbal communication is important to look at because it can indicate concealed emotions as well. Because of learning about active listening in class, I now pay attention to eye contact, body language, and facial expressions when interacting with others. I really enjoy being able to point out things about others in my head when their words say something other than their body language. You can really learn a lot about how someone feels in a situation by what they look like. Unfortunately though, when I see the discrepancy I do not know how to point it out or think it would be weird to so I do not. I just think it is ironic how someone can say something with their words but their body literally contradict what they are saying. Paying attention to body language can uncover emotions that a person is hiding but not lying about which can enhance the conversation if you bring them up. This is why it is so important to give people our full attention because even when you do think you are paying attention you can miss something so easily. I sometimes wonder if it is even possible to give someone our complete attention because of how our minds are going so quickly thinking about other things.