A couple weeks ago we published a blog and challenged you to catch a liar by watching 4 videos. Several of you weighed in with your thoughts on who was telling the truth and who was lying after drinking either apple juice or vinegar and saying “this tastes good”.
What were the answers? Find out below!
Person #1: Truth Teller
Notice after she says “this tastes good” there’s a slight smile on her face. Lip corners are raised diagonally slightly and her cheeks are raised. This nonverbal behavior is consistent with her making a positive statement.
Watch it again:
Person #2: Liar
While person #2 smiles slightly before saying “this tastes good”, you may have noticed while he is saying the phrase his eyebrows are pulled up and together creating horizontal lines across his forehead. This is indicative of fear, which is contradictory to the positive phrase he said. Essentially he verbally saying “this tastes good” but nonverbally saying “I’m scared”. This is a definite hot spot.
Watch it again:
Person #3: Truth Teller
Person #3 is pretty stone cold in his response and his voice is fairly flat. However, there’s nothing behaviorally that would indicate he is being deceptive.
Watch it again:
Person #4: Liar
Person #4 actually flashes anger twice. Once immediately after drinking the vinegar and once while saying “this tastes good”. His browns are drawn down and together. Essentially saying “this tastes good” but saying nonverbally “I’m angry”. Another hot spot.
Watch it again:
Remember that seeing a hot spot is not always a sign that someone is lying, but often times are situations where there is an underlying or hidden message. If you see a hot spot and you feel the situation is necessary, you should ask more questions, or find out why that individual has hidden feelings about that topic. Don’t jump to the conclusion that they are automatically lying.
Had a hard time seeing these subtle expressions?
We encourage you to check out our SubX subtle expression training that will teach you how to recognize facial expressions of lower intensity. Recent research even suggests that the ability to detect subtle expressions may be especially important for detecting deception!