Irish Pauline L.

Ereo

PS3B

1. How important was the non verbal cues in the resolution of the conflict? Nonverbal communication, or body language, is a vital form of communication. When we interact with others, we continuously give and receive countless wordless signals. All of our nonverbal behaviorsthe gestures we make, the way we sit, how fast or how loud we talk, how close we stand, how much eye contact we makesend strong messages. And these nonverbal communications are the main focus of the whole show. The skills that Dr. Lightman developed, and that some people naturally have, are used to spot lies and challenge the subjects to tell the truth. When people lie on the show, it proves they're covering something up and helps the lie detection experts to get the answers need to solve the crimes. Because they can read more than just deceit, the experts can tell how the subject is feeling about something which helps them further in the investigation. With Dr. Lightmans expertise, he immediately got the necessary information from RJ, the only witness to the crime, even though he hasnt have the ability to speak. RJs nonverbal communication were so useful that they managed to pinpoint who the real killer is exactly and immediately. 2. Provide specific aspects of the series that indicate the "scientific-ness" of what the lightman group is doing. First of all, science is a particular discipline or branch of learning, especially one dealing with measurable or systematic principles rather than intuition or natural ability. In the case of Dr. Lightman and his group, I can say that the thing they are doing are scientific because in addition to detecting deception in subjects they interview such as Sophie, Lightman and his team also use various interviewing and interrogation tactics to elicit useful information. Rather than by force or intuitions, they use careful lines of questioning, provocative statements, theatrics and healthy doses of deception on their own part. Its a step by step process. They didnt just immediately can tell whether the person is lying or not, theyve got to study and measure the persons nonverbal cues first. In some of the scenes in the episode, a polygraph, or mostly known as a lie detector test, were also used to find out whether Sophies telling the truth or not. With this test, her facial expression, body language and tone of voice were measured. Other than that, the main protagonist here called Dr. Lightman, was also based on a real person named Paul Ekman, an expert in the study of body language and facial expression called microexpressions. Based on what I've seen from Lie to Me, they got the idea right, but it's a lot harder than they make it look. The expressions that they are talking about (the ones that are involuntary but betray one's true emotions) are usually too small and brief for an untrained observer to notice them consciously. There has been evidence that suggests that the information in these microexpressions can be processed in a

subconscious manner. That is, people can tell when someone is lying but might not be able to explain exactly why they can tell. It is something you can get better at, with extensive training. Most of the research on this, however, has used cameras and slow-motion to see the microexpressions. They aren't as obvious as the actors on the show make them out to be. 3. How do you think the academically trained (Dr. Lightman) and the naturally gifted (Ria Torres) characters handled differently the cases at hand? Is it possible to account these differences into other internal or external variables? Lightman uses various interviewing and interrogation tactics to elicit useful information. Rather than by force or intuitions, they use careful lines of questioning, provocative statements, theatrics and healthy doses of deception on his own part. He needs to make sure that his subject is looking at him directly in the eye first to study his or her expressions and reactions more closely. While on the other hand, Torres doesnt need to. Shes a natural. Her innate talent in the field clashes deeply on Lightmans academic approach. She lacks the academic training but still can detect whether a person is lying or not depending on their tone/pitch of voice and facial expressions. I think I can relate their differences on the Nature vs. Nurture principle Lightman was the nurturetype and Torres was the nature-type. The nature principle suggests that certain things are inborn, or that they simply occur naturally regardless of environmental/situational influences. While the nurture principle states that the mind begins as a blank slate. Everything that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experience. Torres already has the ability to detect people when they were lying while Lightman still need to work on it to have it.