The Truth Behind Lie to Me
Many fans are in anticipation of the second season of FOX’s hit TV show Lie to Me, which premiers in less than 2 weeks.
While the TV show is loosely based on Dr. Paul Ekman’s work in the field of microexpressions, it must be remembered that Lie to Me is a television drama series where plot lines are fabricated, characters are fictional and the truth is often exaggerated.
How accurate is Lie to Me’s depiction of The Lightman Group? Do people like Ria Torres even exist? Is the science that is depicted in the show accurate?
In this blog we try to answer some of these questions and more.
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The Lightman Group is headed by Dr. Cal Lightman, a “human lie detector” who spent years working for the FBI before he formed his own company. He and his team are hired to assist in cases where they question people’s honesty. In the show we see Dr. Lightman talk to someone in regular conversation and within a few seconds, be able to tell if they are lying or not.
A misconception one might have from the show is that a company like The Lightman Group actually exists, when in fact, the company that is portrayed on the show does not exist in real life.
While it is true that psychologists can assist corporations and law enforcement groups to determine if someone is being honest, this takes countless hours of research and analysis of video footage.
This is contrary to the false depiction that a psychologist who studies facial expression and nonverbal behavior can know if someone is lying to them from 2 minutes of conversation. The work these psychologists engage in is often tedious; it involves facial coding, establishing a baseline for the person being observed and comparing their nonverbal and verbal actions.
Although a company like the Lightman Group does not exist in real life, people like Ria Torres do. Torres, who is a “natural” at detecting deception, is based off of Maureen O’Sullivan’s study called the Wizards Project. Of the 13,000 people that were tested in their deception detection techniques, only 31 were wizards, who were able to tell “whether the person is lying, whether the lie is about an opinion, how someone is feeling or about a theft”. An interesting blog by one truth wizard can be found here.
So how accurate is the science depicted in the show?
While much of the show is “rooted in actual science” much of it is exaggerated and the information should be taken with a grain of salt.
In one of the first episodes, there is a great quote by Dr. Lightman where he says “The body contradicts the words- he’s lying”. What’s important to remember is that if a person’s body, or nonverbal behavior, contradicts the words, or verbal behavior, it doesn’t automatically mean they’re lying. It simply means you need to investigate the situation a little more and try to understand why they were trying to hide something. (See common misconceptions about microexpressions part 1)
There are other parts of the show that are exaggerated for dramatic effect. The show often mentions manipulators, which are nonverbal behaviors. These behaviors are usually those that a person manipulates (e.g. scratching the nose or neck) Many of these behaviors can be a clue to detecting deception if they change from a person’s baseline (what they normally do). This extremely important detail is often left out of the show. Just because a person scratches their nose doesn’t mean they’re automatically lying. It could be a sign of deception, or just a nervous tick.
Everyone has their own “tells”- what they do when they lie, but this differs from person to person. What is important to note is that there is not one signal that tells someone that they are lying- there is no Pinocchio.
5 Responses to “The Truth Behind Lie to Me”
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Oh gosh!! You really must hate this show! Because you’re questioning every little of the show! of course some parts are exaggerated but you CAN NOT question the science!! all those things that you point out like “Just because a person scratches their nose doesn’t mean they’re automatically lying. It could be a sign of deception, or just a nervous tick.” was exactly explained in the show!! Dr. Lightman NEVER judged like that! He always said it’s 70% science, at best ! and sometimes they exaggerate it to just add a little humor to the show, like when Dr.Lightman buys a hot dog from that hot dog vendor in the first season and Dr. Lightman finds out that he was lying about his hands being clean! (Which he first asked the hot dog vendor that does he have pain (or nervous tick, I don’t really remember this part!) in his neck or not, then he judges him! (Just for the humor of the show!
So stop thrashing the show and the science!
White, you should take a look at what many people were saying about Lie to Me and how it lost much of its science over the course of 3 seasons. We agree that the first season focused much more on the science than the latter two. However, by season 3, Dr. Lightman was similar to a mind reader and there was little or no science explained. Its important to distinguish fact from fiction because people often believe what they see on TV. Take a look at this study: http://www.humintell.com/2010/07/lie-to-me-viewers-impact/
Hello white.
i totally agree with Humintell about the Lie-To-Me TV-show.
It’s just a fiction and it must be considered in this way only.
As a consultant and trainer in communication, you can’t imagine how many people i see who refer to Lie-To-Me. They take this tv-show like a mine of information where everything is correct. They are way away truth.
Eyes glare, a slight move of a shoulder, or a smile, is not, and will never be a proof of lie. It’s just a clue that you have to investigate to find more about what’s upsetting the person.
Moreover, in the show, sometimes Dr Lightman tries to establish the “baseline” of the man/woman. (his/her habits of communication).
In the real life, it is never instant. Unfortunately, everything is too quick and often away of science.
43 minutes to solve a case, that’s not a lot…
@Eric Goulard, most of your post is right except the 43 mins part, the time the case is solved is not similar to the time the episode lasts just to get that straight, in some episodes lightman CLEARLY specifies in a discussion with loker about him spending hours of researching a video and putting them to the trash bin because someone gave him a lot of money, so clearly a case does not last 43 mins >_>
Wow. Let’s admit genius when we see one. Sure, there might be a few exaggerations or quirks for the sake of humour and entertainment but, this stuff makes a lot of sense. Funny, my friends (make a show that they) can’t stand me coz I’m alwayz studying their eyebrows and stuff but, most of the time, I’m right, there’s usually something they’re trying hard to leave unspoken. And, I didn’t get to study micro expressions or stuff, just watched ‘Lie to me’ really attentively.
And, Eric, lay off the steam a lil. People are often fanatics about things they believe in. It doesn’t make the stuff untrue. You might, maybe, correct a few exaggerations and stuff.