11 Comments

1. Dena February 18th, 2009 at 7:26 pm

   Seriously, don’t even think about cancelling this show. It ROCKS!!!! I love love it.

2. Silent Behavior February 20th, 2009 at 9:46 am

   I think it is fascinating to study a person’s nonverbal communication signs after he/she admits to having been deceptive in the past.

   I tend to reflect back on the nonverbal signs that I displayed after being deceptive with someone. When I say “I don’t know” in response to a question, when in fact I do know the answer, I find myself sharply but briefly rising my right shoulder. Or sometimes, both of my shoulders rise partially which seems to indicate lack of sincerity as well.

   In the case of Rodriguez, the one-sided shoulder shrug does appear to confirm that he was not sincere about the comments he made while displaying this micro expression.

3. merville February 24th, 2009 at 10:49 am

   yes,although his middle expression is fear. Dr ekman’s work is superb. i was a federal correctional officer for 24 years. some of these expressions were a matter of life & death.

4. predator March 1st, 2009 at 7:21 pm

   The middle expression is asymmetrical…So I think that, he doesn’t believe his own words….

5. narutofreak March 10th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

   you guys are amatures (the commenters) the middle expression is not fear is contempt the right 1 is fear the horizontal stretching of the lip it even says so in the article…jeez

6. Sofie March 20th, 2009 at 11:04 am

   This show is great, and most of the time very accurate! I especially enjoy it as I’ve been studying the phenomenon of micro-expressions in my social psychology class in university

7. Luke March 24th, 2009 at 9:55 am

   the fact that Dr. Ekman can actually catch the liars BEFORE they tell the truth is absolutely astounding. Keep up the awesome work!! Oh, and the middle picture IS contempt.

8. Teresa Justice May 5th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

   I enjoyed reading this article.
   The shoulder shrug is something I have always felt was a lie. It appeared to me that the subject did not really know what was coming out of their mouth.
   The contempt is always easy to spot. It is like a half smile or the beginning of a leer. It makes me think of the big bad wolf trying to hide his desire to eat you. Someone showing contempt is usually lying for their best interest. I was amazed to find out it included feelings of superiority.
   The last photo showing fear is the one that baffles me. I just don’t see fear on that subject. That facial expression is so bland it could be a poker face, hopeing we would buy his bluff. To me that is calculated and lacking fear. His eyebrows are so furrowed too!?
   I look forward to more on this site and the series!

9. Jeff Cook May 8th, 2009 at 12:19 pm

   A rod’s press conference about steriods is equally interesting. In the presence of his teammates, A rod pauses for almost thirty seconds, grimacing and making facial expressions the whole time, before telling them “thanks” for their support.

   Here is a link to the video. I’m not good enough to interpret it properly. But it’s facinating. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/alex-rodriguez-press-conf_n_167632.html

10. flowerbite July 16th, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    Thanks for the link to the video Jeff.

    It was very interesting. The video was small and I didn’t pause it, but I picked up on a huge amount of repressed rage during those last 30 or so seconds.

    It almost seemed like he was angry because he knows his team mates are not all ‘above the law’ either, and he feels he’s been made an example of. It looked like it took everything he had not to swear and lose it, and say things that for whatever reason, he is not ‘allowed’ to say.

    When he put that bottle of water up to his mouth, it looked like only a drop of it got in. His lips were so tight. He was trying everything in his power to ’stuff back in’ what wanted to come out of his mouth.

    Ok I just tried pausing the last part of the video, and here’s what I get:

    ‘And to my teammates…’

    Fake, forced smile
    Anger – Contempt – Anger
    Distraction by looking down to his left
    Contempt/look of hatred/superiority
    Momentary sadness, then back to anger
    Smirk then quickly back to
    Anger
    Nods as if to say ‘Yeah, I’ll do what I have to do’
    Fake smile with ‘thank you’
    then withdrawing backwards from what he said,
    look of extreme anger (with repression) again
    then turns his head to the side and slight smirk again
    then slight sadness/regret again at the very end.

    I think Rodriquez was trying to make some people sweat with that extremely drawn-out pause.

    Of course I am not an expert and I am interested in what anyone else picks up on/has to say.

11. nash42 September 10th, 2009 at 8:26 am

    These signs have changed in how I hire employees now and God Help the next guy that asks for a date! A few questions and the truth is shown.

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