On this show “lie to me”, the whole premise is that people show micro expressions that show how a person really feels (as opposed to controlled expressions). Is there any truth to that, or is it made up? How much control do we have over our expressions?
In: Biology
Generally speaking, you are not consciously thinking about blinking, the tension of your jaw, how you point your toes, etc; it is a lot of information to actively keep track of, especially during an interaction. Personally, I would imagine that there are some general universal expressions (like the non-micro expression of a smile), and other more individual or cultural ones (like avoiding eye-contact). However, I do not believe we have found a way to reliably measure these cues with the naked eye.
Now, I haven’t read Ekman’s works (and had difficulty finding them), but I would be somewhat skeptical of his findings. His works were written during a time when the sciences had less oversight (yes, even in the 2000s) and there seems to have been difficulty in replicating them.
So in a nutshell, reading micro-expressions unaided could *possibly* be a thing, but there doesn’t seem to be enough evidence to support it as of now.
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