Dec 28, 2025
Lie detection pt2
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Lie detection pt2
i loved your post on MBPT and why it is pseudoscientific bullshit, can you do a similar take down of body language analysis used in "criminal psychology"
I don't have the level of expertise on body language that I do on psychometrics, but I can recommend this article by an expert.
To sum up: body language is entirely dependent on context, so much so that it's impossible to know with certainty from a single conversation what any one person's gestures mean. If I ask my sister "How was dinner last night?" and she smiles big while throwing out both arms and exclaiming "it was great!", then I know dinner sucked. I know that because she isn't the type of person to use those behaviors, except occasionally in sarcasm. If I ask my dad "How was dinner last night?" and he smiles big while throwing out both arms and exclaiming "it was great!", then I know dinner was great. I know those because he is the type of person to use those behaviors in everyday life. If I ask a stranger about dinner and get that response, then it's probably safe to assume sincerity rather than sarcasm, but I don't have enough info to know. Celebrities, tiktokers, suspects, and other strangers just aren't informative enough to draw conclusions.
Body language "analysis" also forgets that we humans actively choose how to present ourselves. Many people report making eye contact and holding still during lies, because of the stereotype that liars fidget and look away. I try to smile and nod more often during unpolished presentations, because seeing students smile and nod makes me feel better when I'm presenting badly. But I also nod and smile automatically during insightful and well-made presentations. So if you see me smiling and nodding during your presentation, it's a sign that I think your presentation is good or that it's bad. And I'm the only person who knows for sure which one it is; my body doesn't offer enough info for you to know.
A Semblance of Reasoning, Part 5
Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. How long has it’s been? Eh, who knows. Anyway, We’ve covered the Semblances of the Main Heroes, the Assisting Heroes, the “Mentor” Figures, and the Main Villains. So, perhaps now we should get into the Supporting Allies.
Sun Wukong, probably the first supporter. His Semblance is called Via Sun, and functionally it manifests clones of pure energy. Unlike Blake and her Shadow clones, these clones are bright yellow and translucent. Also unlike Blake, who’s clones stand still, Sun’s clones are capable of movement and have physical force, allowing them to attack or hold down a target.
How exactly Sun created his Semblance I won’t know precisely, but, if flashbacks in “RWBY: Before the Dawn” are any indication, when Sun was a child, his youth is what prevented him from helping out with his tribe. And there’s an old proverb “Many hands make a lighter load.” perhaps Sun created his Semblance as a means of helping out.
I’ve always been of the belief that characters who have duplication Semblances are secretly lonely. However, Sun is an interesting display of this belief. He’s first introduced not as part of a team, and clearly sees no problem with going off without them at a given notice. As he explains in the beginning of Before the Dawn, his semblance lets him be a team of his own, so there’s no need (in his mind) to worry about having help. Of course,
He’s from Vacuo, where people die very easily, (And Sun lost his parents as a child) so I theorize that this is a subconscious preventative action- If losing people hurts, don’t forge close bonds so it won’t hurt when you lose them.
Technically, Oscar Pine doesn’t have a Semblance. However, much like Watts, that lack of Semblance is something to talk about. After the Fall of Beacon in Volume 3, Oscar becomes the next vessel for Ozpin’s soul (I will not say reincarnation). As such, much of his sense of self from Volume 4 onward is that he’s “The new Ozpin”, something more or less all of the adults he spends any time with treat him as. Because of this distorted self, Oscar probably hasn’t been able to manifest his own Semblance.
Of course, Oscar does have access to Ozpin’s magic, which is not necessarily a good thing. Each usage of magic speeds up the merger between Ozpin and Oscar. If Oscar doesn’t find his own self, he’ll lose it in the tide of Oz’s wave…
Every fantasy show needs an old, quirky mentor, and RWBY has Maria Calavera! Her power is called “Preflexes”, a form of heightened sensory perception that lets sense what’s happening around her and predict her opponents movements. Kinda like Mantra or Observation Haki from One Piece.
Growing up, Maria was made aware that, according to her father, there used to be Silver Eyed Warriors around the world, but they’ve vanished, which meant some force was doing away with the SEWs. With instructions to keep her powers secret, Maria began to do her work from behind a mask. What if her Semblance was born out of always being on guard from some unknown assailant? An underlying worry about what is lurking just out of sight?
And finally, Robyn Hill. Her Semblance is Lie Detection, and the name is rather misleading. Rather than “Detecting” lies, what Robyn does is take someone by the hand, and if they are telling the truth, the aura around their hands glow green. Presumably, it a glows a different color if the person she’s testing lies.
Given that she grew up in Atlas, where the leaders lie and break promises at the drop of a hat, it’s no wonder that Robyn gained this power. Of course, this is also has made things difficult for her as well. As she tells Qrow, people give her space out of fear that she’ll expose their secrets.
But what makes her Semblance really interesting that it’s not just detecting lies, but also demonstrating truth. In most shows, a character with this sort of power just goes, “Oh, I can sense that you’re lying.” But, Robyn doesn’t do that. We don’t take it on her word, she has the power to visually show whether or not someone is being honest. And she never uses it as weapon! It’s never, “You’re lying and I can prove it” but always, “If you’re telling the truth, let me show it”.
Micro Expressions
So I was thinking about what the next post should be about and I thought this would be a good topic to introduce again, especially since it's something you can start practicing right now if you want, so let's get to it
/I N T R O D U C T I O N
So what actually are micro expressions and how are they even remotely useful in deduction? well there are a few concepts needed to understand what they are, but very basically micro expressions are small, uncontrollable twitches that occur when someone experiences a less intense version of an emotion, or when one wants to hide their normal facial expressions, they correlate to certain emotions, and because of this one can learn to read them and interpret them by keeping the context in which they occur in mind, essentially (among other things) acting as a lie detection tool. But to fully use them and understand them we need to first discuss facial expressions
/F A C I A L E X P R E S S I O N S
Circa 1990 Dr. Paul Ekman conducted a series of studies that revealed a now generally accepted truth in psychology: emotions, and the physiological reactions they cause, are universal. This means that no matter where you go, and what people you interact with, be it a person from new york, from Egipt, or a member of a secluded tribe in the Amazon Rainforest, their physiological reactions caused by their feelings of joy, or anger, or disgust (to name a few) are always going to be the same, these ways of expressing said emotions are not learned, but rather a naturally acquired manifestation of them.
You may be wondering how all of this is relevant, but it's the foundation that allows micro expressions to be useful. You see, there are 7 basic emotions that we have inherent, universal facial expressions for, Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Contempt, Disgust, and Surprise, their facial expressions look like this:
(Cue the picture you've probably seen a million times if you know about this subject)
These are what we call, macro expressions, they are the obvious, "normal" facial expressions that are easy to spot and recognize, they last anywhere from half a second to 4 seconds. But here comes the important part: micro expressions come directly from macro expressions, basically, the only difference is the time they last and the context they're found in
/M I C R O E X P R E S S I O N S
One of the many neat things about facial expressions is that they are unconscious reactions to what we feel, this means if we try to hide them (which isn’t the only thing that causes them, but one of the most useful situations nonetheless), we generally do a pretty good job at doing so, but never a perfect one, which leads to small, almost imperceptible movements and twitches of our facial muscles to occur, movements that correlate with the facial expression of the emotion we're experiencing. Micro expressions are the same as macro expressions, but they last much, much less (hence the name "micro" expressions), and they can be the result of trying to hide our initial emotions in a given situation. They can last for half a second or less, and so they're almost impossible to detect for someone who doesn't have the necessary training
(I couldn't find any micro expression GIFs on Tumblr, but I did find this sherlock one, keep in mind it's slowed down, and you can still see a very quick, very faint movement of the lips upwards, faint crows feet and wrinkles around the eyes, and the cheeks moving slightly upwards, the closest thing I could find to a happiness micro expression. For a bunch of clearer, real life examples watch this video)
So what exactly is this training? Don't worry, it's not strenuous or anything, it just requires a bit of time. The training usually involves looking at clips or gifs of each micro expression and remembering which one corresponds to each emotion and then taking a small test where similar clips are played and you have to recognize each micro-expression. The point of this exercise is to train your ability to see micro expressions and recognize them in your everyday life, but as everything Deduction related, it takes time and quite a bit of practice.
Now, Paul Ekman himself offers training tools on his website if you don't mind spending money to get them, but if you're looking for economic alternatives to this there are plenty of apps, websites, and videos out there available in different regions of the world
/H O W T O U S E T H E M
Once you know how to spot and recognize these micro expressions you need to learn to apply them in context, knowing what someone's feeling in and of itself isn't useful if you can't relate it to what is going on around them. Keep in mind these emotions are displayed as micro expressions because the person in question is trying to hide them, so ask yourself why. Are they attempting to hide anger because they don't wanna hurt the person they're arguing with? or because they see who they're talking to as an authority figure and they're scared to show their anger? why are they flashing a disguised expression of fear when their significant other is visibly rageful? there's a lot you can know about a person by simply looking at the context in which they hide things.
One disclaimer that I think is important is that while micro expressions are an incredibly powerful tool, like everything in the realm of body language, and deduction in general, they should be taken as part of a cluster of signs that point towards a certain conclusion. Just because a micro expression shows surprise doesn't mean it's positive or negative, just because a micro expression shows fear doesn't mean it's fear towards a person and not a situation, or simply a thought, be mindful about what conclusions you reach because reaching the wrong ones can become a problem
I thought it might be fun to explain how Kya “detects” lies.
She detects them with very keen hearing. This ability is always active, save for when she uses methods to block her hearing (headphones, for example). To her hearing, a person telling a lie has a “disharmony” to their voice when they are knowingly lying.
However, while she can detect lying with her hearing, the ability does not work to detect lies in written work. She also is unable to lie herself. Another weakness is that if a person hears a lie but does not know it is a lie and repeats it near her, she won’t be able to detect it, since the speaker doesn’t know it is a lie.
Lies are also not as straightforward. A lie and uncertainty sound very similar and can easily be misinterpreted if the Kyanite who is listening misinterprets the phrase.
There’s also other things that can mess with lie-detection. such as if an event from along time ago is being recalled, uncertainty or unknown false memories can muddle the detection.
Let me know if you have more questions about her lie detection abilities, or if you have questions about other powers she has!
Ok so this has to be in my top 5 moments from the entire series if only because of Zukos face right here. Mostly that realization that Kat could’ve fucked him up at any point. Like, he has no idea about the gaangs special abilities does he? He has no idea blood bending is tied to the moon. He probably thinks she could just whip this out at any point. How much does he actually know about them? He knows Katara can heal at this point, but does he know about plant bending? Does he know that Toph sees with her feet? Or that she can sense when people are lying? Does he know about metalbending? I need his reactions to all the gaangs sub skills.
Spotting Liars Is Hard, but Our New Method Is Effective and Ethical The AIM technique is almost 40% more accurate at lie detection than traditional methods.
Could this be the show that I should credit for my appreciation for ‘subtle comedy’?
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(Hopefully by this point you’ve finished all seasons of ‘Lie to Me’, the kind of person who isn’t bothered by spoilers, or are just deciding if you still want to keep watching.)