Is that smile real or fake?

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You’ve landed on the blog of a “natural”

as depicted in the show “Lie to Me”
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I posted a smile test on my blog back in 2005. I thought I would post about it again for all my new readers.

Can you spot a fake smile? Take the test created by Dr. Paul Ekman, and see.

Last time I took it, I scored 15 out of 20 correct. I had forgotten about this test completely (I had no memory of it!), so I took it again. This time, I scored 18/20.

What did you score?

Off Topic: My garden

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Click to see a larger image. Two hobbies of mine are photography and gardening.

 



Honesty: The Best Policy?

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I see it over and over again: “Honesty is not always the best policy.”

Why do you believe this?

I’d love it if you’d share it with me.

Criss Angel

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Yesterday Oprah had on Criss Angel. I had never heard of the man before. He is an illusionist and his first trick was right up my alley. I rather enjoyed it, and I will have to give it a try myself.

For his first trick, Criss asks Oprah to choose a number between 1 and 100. “I’m a student of humanity, of behavior, and I’m going to show you how I use psychology and your mannerisms to get inside your head, Oprah, and tell you what you’re thinking,” he says.

As Criss closes his eyes, Oprah writes her number on a piece of paper and shows it to the audience. Once she hides her choice from his sight, Chris studies Oprah closely, while talking through several numbers. Then he announces his pick. “It has to be eleven.” And, he’s right!

Thankfully, the camera zoomed into Oprah’s face enough that you could actually see her eyes grow wider when Criss said the number 11.

Criss told Oprah that he was going to asked her outright what the number she wrote down was BUT HE TOLD HER not to respond to him. He even told her she could try to throw him off, if she wanted. Adding more stress to Oprah only adds more clues, if she so tries.

“Is the answer 1-10, 11-20, 21-30,” he asked. As he asked Oprah, he studied her face. He used non-verbal clues to guide him.

He then narrowed it down to 11 to 20. He verbally said while watching her face, is it 11, 12, 13, 14…and as he said “11” Oprah’s eyes grew open wide for a second. It was all Criss needed.

He talked about Oprah blinking as well which was a clue for him (I don’t quite understand that) — but I certainly saw Oprah give a non-verbal clue to the number 11. So much so, I am dying to try this trick on someone!

It’s fun and fascinating — even if I don’t master this one — I love some of the “magic” behind it! Good old psychology and facial expressions. They speak volumes.

Do know that I don’t think this is fool-proof. I do realize this man is an illusionist. But some people will leak clues. How many and how often, I have no idea.

Adam Saleh Found Guilty

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Case Overview:
Adam Saleh was accused and later charged with murdering an aspiring young model, Julie Popovich. Popovich disappeared from a college campus night club and was found three weeks later in a farmer’s field near Hoover Reservoir in Ohio.
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Marie K. wrote the following | 05.02.07 – 7:08 pm |:
You got another one. Adam Saleh was found guilty today on all counts but the most serious aggravated murder charge. He’s getting 38 to life in prison. While there wasn’t any physical evidence to link him to the crime, he made efforts to establish a false alibi, which, when discovered, convinced the jury of his guilt. I no longer disbelieve that lies can be discovered through body language.

Thanks for your comment, Marie. I didn’t know the verdict came in! I have been watching what little snippets I could find about this trial online because I’ve been getting comments this week, and I knew the jury was in deliberation, but I didn’t know a verdict had arrived.

Back in early February of 2006, another reader of mine asked for my opinion on this story. There was a good video of Saleh online. Saleh talked to a news reporter because he was detained for another charge that was subsequently dropped. Saleh talked on and on and on, and acted like he was a at a tea party instead of being questioned about a murder. It was clear he liked attention. It was also clear he was very intelligent. I gave my opinion and wrote about it here.

I had no knowledge about any of the facts in this case because at that time, Saleh was not charged with anything. Then slowly over time, Saleh was arrested and some facts came out. I wrote an update on it last summer. It didn’t look good for Saleh, but I like all of you, I watched eagerly at the edge of my chair wonder what the facts would ultimately support.

Would they support an honest person or would they support a liar? I believed Saleh’s actions, behavior, and expressions supported that he was lying, and I think the facts that came out in court clearly showed for everyone that Saleh was in fact lying.

Justice was thankfully served today for the Popovich family.

I called another person accurately as Marie says above by spotting deception before any facts were known. I will add Adam Saleh’s name on my list. That makes my total accurate calls NINE right to ZERO wrong (or 11 to zero if you count all three in the Duke University rape case).

Do know that I don’t add people in court cases unless I believe a reasonable person can clearly see the truth in a trial. Given the fact that Saleh, in the end, asked an undercover cop to give him an alibi — I think that speaks for itself. (With the Mary Winkler case, while I still don’t believe her, not everyone sees it so hence she is not on my list).

Here is an article on Saleh’s conviction.