Humans tend to communicate in a number of ways apart from verbal expression. We use our arms, our posture, and other gestures to convey what we’re thinking. But did you ever imagine that we may be able to code these movements so that we know what another person is feeling? Now add to that the subject of this classification isn’t our arms or the way we stand, it’s small movements of the face. Sounds almost impossible, right?

Well, this does exist and on this week’s show, we’re devoting the entire episode to the man who has spent the last 60 years deciphering our hidden movements into information we can use. His name is Paul Ekman and if you ever watched the TV show, Lie To Me, then you know who this happens to be.

I have to say I was excited for this interview because he has been one of those rogue researchers that comes around every now and then and manages to change the entire society. We first get into how he managed to shift from the standard types of psychology back in the 1950s and 60s to develop an entirely new branch that has over the last half century become a staple worldwide. His story has a bit of a Hollywood twist to it that definitely makes you believe that dreams can come true.

As for that branch of research, it all has to do with being able to tell emotions through facial movements. Every time we hear something or share our thoughts, our bodies perform small and fast facial gestures which he calls microexpressions. These may be completely missed by an untrained eye but Ekman developed a means to identify how our anatomy can be used as an emotion detector. It eventually led to his ultimate goal of being able to identify deception and even malice in a person.

This discussion was unlike any other I had and his insight into how the research developed over time is a testament to almost all researchers who struggle to make a difference in the world. Thankfully, he managed to succeed and his work is now being shared all over the world to help a variety of people, from sales professionals to airport security, determine what a person is thinking even if the truth is left unsaid.  It’s a show I am really exited to share and hope everyone appreciates not only how research is performed, but also how we can benefit from it in the future.

Guests:

Paul Ekman
Twitter: @PaulEkman
Web: https://www.ekmaninternational.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices