Research Review
Research Review: Reading Between The Lies
General Psychology
Researchers Stephen Porter and Leanne ten Brinke studied the theory that facial expressions are uncontrollable and can reveal a person’s true emotion when lying. People like police officers and judges are trained in recognizing micro-expressions to make easier decisions on whether a person such as a criminal is lying or not. Recognition of micro-expressions can be very important when deciding whether a criminal is guilty of a crime. The main focus of their research was how well observers can identify when a target is faking an emotion. The research conducted included 41 undergraduate students from the local university. Participants consisted of 35 females and 6 males at a mean age of 21.5 years old. The students were told they would get extra credit in their psychology courses if they participated in the research. Research was conducted by sitting down the participants in a room with only a laptop with a video camera. They were shown 17 images each that consisted of pictures to trigger a happy, sad, disgusted, neutral, or fearful facial expression. Their facial expressions would be recorded and used for playback later on. Participants were first instructed to look at 17 different images and told what facial expression they should make, that way the researchers could see what a faked or unnatural expression looked like, this was also recorded for future playback. Two people trained in recognizing micro-expressions were then brought in to watch the videos of the people’s facial expressions and decipher what expressions it was, and whether or not it was natural or faked. This research would be classified under a case study, there was no proof beforehand that you could be able to identify when a person is faking an emotion and the research was done on a group of people. The conclusion that the researchers came to was that most participants revealed 14 micro-expressions in the upper and
General Psychology
Researchers Stephen Porter and Leanne ten Brinke studied the theory that facial expressions are uncontrollable and can reveal a person’s true emotion when lying. People like police officers and judges are trained in recognizing micro-expressions to make easier decisions on whether a person such as a criminal is lying or not. Recognition of micro-expressions can be very important when deciding whether a criminal is guilty of a crime. The main focus of their research was how well observers can identify when a target is faking an emotion. The research conducted included 41 undergraduate students from the local university. Participants consisted of 35 females and 6 males at a mean age of 21.5 years old. The students were told they would get extra credit in their psychology courses if they participated in the research. Research was conducted by sitting down the participants in a room with only a laptop with a video camera. They were shown 17 images each that consisted of pictures to trigger a happy, sad, disgusted, neutral, or fearful facial expression. Their facial expressions would be recorded and used for playback later on. Participants were first instructed to look at 17 different images and told what facial expression they should make, that way the researchers could see what a faked or unnatural expression looked like, this was also recorded for future playback. Two people trained in recognizing micro-expressions were then brought in to watch the videos of the people’s facial expressions and decipher what expressions it was, and whether or not it was natural or faked. This research would be classified under a case study, there was no proof beforehand that you could be able to identify when a person is faking an emotion and the research was done on a group of people. The conclusion that the researchers came to was that most participants revealed 14 micro-expressions in the upper and