Vivian Wong
By learning to read people’s faces and gestures under body language expert Paul Ekman, Vivian Wong has become a professional lie detector, and trains others to evaluate truthfulness and credibility. She sits down with Lorraine Ng to share some tips.
HK Magazine: How can you tell when someone is lying to you?
Vivian Wong: Sadly, there is nothing as obvious as Pinocchio’s nose, so you have to combine different signs to come to a conclusion. Many believe shifty eyes or looking in a certain direction is a sign of nervousness. Yet it’s quite the opposite—steady eyes are proven to be an indication of lying. They are likely to look at you to see whether you believe their lie or not, and will also try to avoid exposing their lie [by avoiding] rapid eye movement. Shrugging your shoulders slightly and quickly while talking is also a proven sign of lacking confidence.
HK: What makes a good liar?
VW: I would say a good liar is someone who’s good at suppressing his own expressions. They will make up an emotion to cover and hide the real one. Some of these talents are inborn, while some are trained. In some extreme cases, they may also have fooled themselves, too, and really believe they‘re telling the truth. This happens when one repeats a lie 1,000 times, until he barely remembers it is not true.
HK: What if you come across someone who is a sociopath or an accomplished liar? Surely this system isn’t foolproof?
VW: By combining five different communication channels including face, body, voice, voice style and voice content, we can achieve 90-percent accuracy. Even if someone is a sociopath or an accomplished liar—such as an actor—they still show micro-expressions on their face subconsciously and involuntarily. They can be trained to have a certain face while giving a speech, but if I ask them some more questions—in an impromptu way—I can observe the change in their expression and tell what they truly think in a scientific way.
HK: Can you tell us a little bit more about micro-expressions?
VW: Micro-expressions are subconscious and flash across the face. There are seven proven universal expressions including sadness, happiness, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt and anger. For instance, one corner of the mouth will rise a little bit during contempt; and for sadness, our eyebrows will pinch together in the middle, and rise a bit like a reverse V shape, while the corners of our mouth will go down. Eighty-five to 90 percent of people can’t do sad expressions voluntarily. In other words, it is hard to act sad.
HK: Are your methods are more effective than a polygraph?
VW: A polygraph uses measurements like the heartbeat, yet a certain or single psychological response may not necessarily mean someone is lying. We study five communication channels, and combine all of the signals to come up with a more accurate and holistic evaluation.
HK: Are some groups of people harder or easier to read?
VW: Once you have the skills to read, you will find all groups of humans have few differences. Whether it’s a man or a woman, an adult or a kid, or even a cat or a dog (yes, animals!), they share the same seven universal expressions. We have to account the bone structure of animals’ faces, or faces of the elderly due to their wrinkles.