What I Know and Why I Investigated the Topic
I have been watching the show “Lie to Me” which involves a detective who is also a Psychologist. What makes it interesting is that he also knows a lot about micro-expressions which gives him an edge. He is hired by the police or any other person who needs something investigated and he questions them, knowing all the while if they are lying. I think this is such a wonderful and exciting job, it’s like no one can get past you with lying.
Since I am so fascinated by him I want to find out more. I believe that since it is a TV show it may be a little over exaggerated. I know that studying psychology is a hard task along with micro-expressions. I want to know what it takes to get all of these down in order to become a professional, how many years it takes. I also want to know how it is in the day of a professionals life in the real world, is there job in demand? Do many people really come and hire them?
With so many questions racing through my mind I’ve formed one solid question that wraps it all up but can spread into numerous topics; how does one gain the skills to analyze and detect micro expressions, and how could this knowledge benefit me?
The Search
The first part of the paper was really easy just as Mrs.Shizz said it would be. It went by really smooth I just described all that I knew about my topic. This part of the essay also included the questions I would be answering throughout my essay.
Since I had the first part done I went right into doing research which was kind of hard. When I was trying to find books they were usually psychology based and barely had anything about micro expressions. I began to think I was looking in the wrong place. I asked the librarian for ass...
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... to kill themselves if sent on a home visit (Telling Lies).
Works Cited
"About Ekman." Dr. Paul Ekman. 2009. Web. 5 May 2010. .
Craighead, W. Edward., and Charles B. Nemeroff. The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. 3rd ed. Vol. 3. New York: Wiley, 2001. Print.
Donovan, Patricia. "Lying Is Exposed By Micro-expressions We Can't Control." Medical News Today. 10 May 2006. Web. 5 May 2010. .
Ekman, Paul. Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage. New York: Norton, 1985. Print.
Henley, Jon. "Microexpressions: A Psychologist’s Guide to Uncovering Lies." Taepia Times. British Trade and Cultural Office, 15 May 2009. Web. 16 May 2010. .
“A good liar uses the truth.” This is a technique used by notorious imposters Frederic Bourdin, and Frank Abagnale. Although Bourdin posed as a child for a second chance at adolescence, Abagnale posed as an adult to gain financial means and respect. Bourdin and Abagnale’s success in deception can be primarily attributed to their careful observation of their surroundings, as well as their ability to detect the emotions of those around them.
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
One of the last types of ways investigators are coached to detect deception is in the behavioral attitudes of a person being interviewed such as being unconcerned or over anxious (Kassin, 2005). The success rate of looking for these cues are very successful in telling if an individual is being deceitful and has surpassed any laboratory tests conducted on the subject. The laboratory test however did reveal some interesting facts. The research showed that people who had training and experience did not score better than the control group who received no training. In fact all individuals scored at the chance level with the people who had training scored just above chance or at the chance level. To check if special training in the detection of deception was more accurate a study ...
22). People mindlessly respond to avoid their true emotions. Truthfully, I was not fine, but exploding inside with nervousness. However, I didn’t attempt to burden anyone with my lack of confidence, so I told this untruth. Even though white lies may be harmless, they can lead to other deceptive lies labeled by the authors as gray, red, blue and colorless lies. Why do we tell lies? Interestingly, according to the (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013), “evolutionary biologists have proposed that Homo sapiens is indeed hard-wired to tell lies,” (page 25). Furthermore, we want to appear favorable to our friends and family and this may pressure us to justify our lies. According to (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013) it is referred to as “impression management,” by social psychologists (p.27). Thus, lies allow others to see us as we want to be seen, such as I wanted the group to see me as a confident person who could handle obstacles and superbly interact with
Munsey, Christopher. “A long road back”. Monitor on Psychology. 38.6. June 2007. 34. PSYARTICLES. Web. 5 March 2014.
Smolowe, Jill. "Untrue Confessions: Mentally impaired supsects sometimes make false admissions. Is Girvies Davies about to die for one?" Time V 145 (22 May 1995): 51-52.
In their essays both Buckley and Ericsson analyze the different ways we use lies to help and hurt our self in our every day lives, and how this effects American culture. Ericsson shows the way lies can , as she puts it, “ lubricate the daily machinery of living”(128). Buckley, on the other hand uses examples of lies as a way to deny himself; and do exactly the opposite of Ericsson. But they both show how we as Americans use lies these ways and others so much that most of us may not realize it.
In my head I think I have gone over tons of different degrees and career ideas and none of them seemed to really jump out at me. That was until I found Psychology it was very interesting to me and I found that I could be passionate about it. A Psychologist is a professional who studies behaviors and mental issues in order to help them cope with life. A Psychologist tries and diagnoses people who people might call crazy and in other words are unable to cope with day to day life. There are many types of Psychologist and one of them is someone who studies criminals and their behavior to get a better idea of how or why they committed a crime. They also make guesses based on the evidence at hand so they can try and recreate how the criminal committed
From the start Bhattacharjee immediately grabs the reader's attention with a narrative on history famous cases of deception. In the case of James Hogue otherwise known as Jay Huntsman or better yet Alexei Santana, a young man who “barely received any formal schooling. He had spent his adolescence almost entirely on his own, living outdoors in Utah, where he’d herded cattle, raised sheep, and read philosophy.”(36) One would assume that creating such intricate lie would be highly difficult to maintain and fallible to scrutiny, yet it became one of many charade that continued with none the wiser. Therefore, establishing a point of interest wherein the rest of the article further elaborates on the topic. From there several studies and lab experiments are reference by Bhattacharjee. In one study by Bella Depaulo, a social psychologist at The university of California, found that on average subjects lied“ one or two times a day.”(38)Therefore, demonstrating that to lie is an ingrained human habit that is done almost seamlessly on the daily. Next comes the personal accounts from Bhattacharjee that evoke a sense of relatability and to some extent nostalgia that makes the topic more personal for the readers.
Smith, R. A., & Davis, S. F. (2013). The psychologist as detective: An introduction to conducting research in psychology. Boston: Prentice Hall.
(8) has suggested that the inhibition hypothesis is related to what is currently known about cognitive processes. Mainly, the limited cognitive resources the brain possesses can only be divided between so many tasks; as cognitive demand increases past a particular point [i.e. through high emotional intensity/complex lie] emotional leakage will occur while the individual attempts to be deceptive (8). It is this concept of emotional leakage, precipitated from the inhibition hypothesis, that has been of great interest to researchers as it offers a glimpse into the inner affective state of the subject (8). The applied applications of the concept have been particularly useful in fields concerned with deception detection - especially in regards to high stakes lies (8).
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
The words, “Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind” were said by George Orwell. Similarly, the essays “The World of Doublespeak” and “The Ways We Lie” from William Lutz and Stephanie Ericsson point out the distinct types of doublespeak and lies. Doublespeak and lies have many differences regarding their purpose, form, and consequence. Nowadays, people tend to pretend others by manipulating words to be dishonest or making them sound inversely. Lutz believes that doublespeak assists to effectively misleads the public. On the other hand, Ericsson believes that when people lie, they should think about it one more time before lying to someone. However, without knowing the ability to know when they are being used, one would struggle to know anything about the truth.
Most of the importance and significance of the polygraph lies in its two primary applications: screening government employees and interrogating suspects (DeClue 2003; Walczyk 2013). Failing a polygraph that is used for either of these purposes has an incredibly high potential for causing lifelong repercussions for the subject, whether due to job loss or jail time. When screening a potential or current employee, the goal of the polygraph is to uncover any undesirable traits or behavior, such as spying, that may warrant rejecting an applicant or firing an employee. When polygraphs are used during the interrogation of a suspect, the objective is to determine guilt through physiological reactions and hopefully coax out a confession (DeClue 2003). In terms of their accuracy, polygraphs are most useful when trying to gather information about a particular incident, yet, in most cases, a confession is necessary because the majority of U.S. judges will not accept conclusions from poly...
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 3. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.