Lie detection is all the rage on TV these days, with newcomer “The Mentalist” drawing viewers like flies to honey and “The Closer” and “Psych” burning up the Nielsens. And now a new show has joined the mix, called “Lie to Me,” about a man with a near-preternatural ability to tell when someone is lying.

The show stars Tim Roth (forever Mr. Orange) as Dr. Cal Lightman, a behavioral science expert who makes bank as a consultant for clients who want him to catch liars. His near-perfect skills supposedly come from interpretation of body language and facial expressions that let him in on whether this week’s murder suspect or shifty spouse is spinning a big one.

Both the main character and his skills are reportedly based on the persona and work of Dr. Paul Ekman, the facial expression expert who advises the Department of Defense on lie detection. Ekman’s method is based on what he calls “microexpressions,” small facial movements that he says present evidence of what you’re really feeling. We don’t necessarily know we’re doing them, so we can’t necessarily control them—say “I am saddened by my wife’s death” but flash a happy or disgusted microexpression, and a detective should take note.

(more…)

Lying is part of human nature: People spend 25 percent of their time doing it. But if you really need to lie, pick up the phone. In two separate studies, researchers have found that it’s easier for people to lie in an email than in any other written form of communication, including hand-written notes.

The researchers asked a group of 48 MBA students to divide $89 between themselves and an unspecified person in the class. The students were told that they had to make an offer their partner was willing to accept, and that their partner knew the pot was between $5 and $100. The MBA students were asked to disclose in writing the amount they were giving to their partner. The disclosures were shown only to the researchers. When the students used email to write the amount, they lied 92 percent of the time, as opposed to 64 percent of the time when they hand-write it.

On average, the emailers wrote that they were giving $29 out of a total amount of $56. Then ones who hand-wrote the responses, on average, said they were offering $34 out of a pot of $67.

(more…)