Abstract
Meta-analyses have not shown emotions to be significant predictors of deception. Criticisms of this conclusion argued that individuals must be engaged with each other in higher stake situations for such emotions to manifest, and that these emotions must be evaluated in their verbal context (Frank and Svetieva in J Appl Res Memory Cognit 1:131–133, 10.1016/j.jarmac.2012.04.006, 2012). This study examined behavioral synchrony as a marker of engagement in higher stakes truthful and deceptive interactions, and then compared the differences in facial expressions of fear, contempt, disgust, anger, and sadness not consistent with the verbal content. Forty-eight pairs of participants were randomly assigned to interviewer and interviewee, and the interviewee was assigned to steal either a watch or a ring and to lie about the item they stole, and tell the truth about the other, under conditions of higher stakes of up to $30 rewards for successful deception, and $0 plus having to write a 15-min essay for unsuccessful deception. The interviews were coded for expression of emotions using EMFACS (Friesen and Ekman in EMFACS-7; emotional facial action coding system, 1984). Synchrony was demonstrated by the pairs of participants expressing overlapping instances of happiness (AU6 + 12). A 3 (low, moderate, high synchrony) × 2 (truth, lie) mixed-design ANOVA found that negative facial expressions of emotion were a significant predictor of deception, but only when they were not consistent with the verbal content, in the moderate and high synchrony conditions. This finding is consistent with data and theorizing that shows that with higher stakes, or with higher engagement, emotions can be a predictor of deception.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The FACS codes for anger were AU4 + 5 + 7 + 23; AU5 + 7, AU23; contempt AUa12 + a14; disgust AU9, AU10; fear AU1 + 2 + 4 + 20; AU1 + 2 + 4, AU20; happiness AU6 + 12; sadness AU1, AU1 + 4, AU15 (without AU17), AU11, surprise AU1 + 2 + 5 + 25 + 26, AU1 + 2 + 5.
References
Aron, A., Aron, E. N., & Smollan, D. (1992). Inclusion of other in the self scale and the of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(4), 596. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.4.596
Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004). The empathy quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 163–175. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JADD.0000022607.19833.0
Bartlett, M. S., Littlewort, G. C., Frank, M. G., & Lee, K. (2014). Automatic decoding of facial movements reveals deceptive pain expressions. Current Biology, 24(7), 738–743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.009
Bernieri, F. J. (1988). Coordinated movement in human interaction: Synchrony, posture, similarity, and rapport. Harvard University.
Bernieri, F. J., Davis, J. M., Rosenthal, R., & Knee, C. R. (1994). Interactional synchrony and rapport: Measuring synchrony in displays devoid of sound and facial affect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(3), 303–311.
Bernieri, F. J., Gillis, J. S., Davis, J. M., & Grahe, J. E. (1996). Dyad rapport and the accuracy of its judgment across situations: A lens model analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(1), 110.
Burgoon, J. K. (2018). Microexpressions are not the best way to catch a liar. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1672. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01672
Burgoon, J. K., & Buller, D. B. (1994). Interpersonal deception: III. Effects of deceit on perceived communication and nonverbal behavior dynamics. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 18, 155–184.
Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: The perception–behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(6), 893. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.6.893
Collins, R., Lincoln, R., & Frank, M. G. (2002). The effect of rapport in forensic interviewing. Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, 9(1), 69–78. https://doi.org/10.1375/pplt.2002.9.1.69
Colwell, K., Hiscock-Anisman, C. K., Memon, A., Taylor, L., & Prewett, J. (2007). Assessment criteria indicative of deception (ACID): An integrated system of investigative interviewing and detecting deception. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 4(3), 167–180. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.73
Darwin, C. (1872/1998). The expression of emotion in man and animals. Oxford University Press.
Denault, V., Plusquellec, P., Jupe, L. M., St-Yves, M., Dunbar, N. E., Hartwig, M., Sporer, S. L., Rioux-Turcotte, J., Jarry, J., Walsh, D., Otgaar, H., Viziteu, A., Talwar, V., Keatley, D. A., Blandón-Gitlin, I., Townson, C., Deslauriers-Varin, N., Lilienfeld, S. O., Patterson, M. L., et al. (2020). The analysis of nonverbal communication: The dangers of pseudoscience in security and justice contexts. Anuario De Psicología Jurídica, 30(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.5093/apj2019a9
DePaulo, B. M., Lindsay, J. J., Malone, B. E., Muhlenbruck, L., Charlton, K., & Cooper, H. (2003). Cues to deception. Psychological Bulletin, 129(1), 74–118. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.1.74
Dianiska, R. E., Swanner, J. K., Brimbal, L., & Meissner, C. A. (2021). Using disclosure, common ground, and verification to build rapport and elicit information. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 27(3), 341–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000313
Doherty, R. W. (1997). The emotional contagion scale: A measure of individual differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 21, 131–154. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024956003661
Dunbar, N. E., Fujiwara, K., & Bernhold, Q. S. (2023). Truth-tellers’ and liars’ synchrony during attitude-inconsistent conversations. Frontiers in Communication, 8, 921446. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2023.921446
Dunbar, N. E., Giles, H., Bernhold, Q., Adams, A., Giles, M., Zamanzadeh, N., Gangi, K., Coveleski, S., & Fujiwara, K. (2020). Strategic synchrony and rhythmic similarity in lies about ingroup affiliation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 44, 153–172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-019-00321-2
Dunbar, N. E., Jensen, M. L., Tower, D. C., & Burgoon, J. K. (2014). Synchronization of nonverbal behaviors in detecting mediated and non-mediated deception. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 38, 355–376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-014-0179-z
Ekman, P. (1985, 2009). Telling lies. WW Norton and Company.
Ekman, P. (2007). Emotions revealed: Recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life. Macmillan.
Ekman, P., Davidson, R. J., & Friesen, W. V. (1990). The Duchenne smile: Emotional expression and brain physiology: II. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(2), 342–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.2.342
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). Nonverbal leakage and clues to deception. Psychiatry, 32(1), 88–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1969.11023575
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1974). Detecting deception from the body or face. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29(3), 288. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0036006
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1978). Facial action coding system. Environmental Psychology and Nonverbal Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1037/t27734-000
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1982). Felt, false, and miserable smiles. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 6(4), 238–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987191
Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., & O’Sullivan, M. (1988). Smiles when lying. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(3), 414. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.3.414
Frank, M. G. (2005). Research methods in detecting deception research. In J. Harrigan, K. Scherer, & R. Rosenthal (Eds.), The new handbook of methods in nonverbal behavior research (pp. 341–368). Oxford.
Frank, M. G., & Ekman, P. (1997). The ability to detect deceit generalizes across different types of high-stake lies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(6), 1429. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.6.1429
Frank, M. G., & Ekman, P. (2004). Appearing truthful generalizes across different deception situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(3), 486. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.3.486
Frank, M. G., Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1993). Behavioral markers and recognizability of the smile of enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 83–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.64.1.83
Frank, M. G., & Svetieva, E. (2012). Lies worth catching involve both emotion and cognition. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1, 131–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2012.04.006
Frank, M. G., & Svetieva, E. (2013). The role of nonverbal communication in detecting and telling lies. In N. Communication (Ed.), Hall JA, Knapp ML (pp. 471–511). DE Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110238150.471
Frank, M. G., Yarbrough, J. D., & Ekman, P. (2006). Improving interpersonal evaluations: Combining science and practical experience. In T. Williamson (Ed.), Investigative Interviewing: Rights, research, regulation (pp. 229–255). Willan Publishing.
Fridlund, A. J. (1991). Sociality of solitary smiling: Potentiation by an implicit audience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(2), 229–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.2.229
Friesen, W. V., & Ekman, P. (1984). EMFACS-7; Emotional Facial Action Coding System. Unpublished manual.
Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge University Press.
Frijda, N. H. (2010). Impulsive action and motivation. Biological Psychology, 84(3), 570–579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.01.005
Fujiwara, K., Otmar, C. D., Dunbar, N. E., & Hansia, M. (2022). Nonverbal synchrony in technology-mediated interviews: A cross-cultural study. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 46(4), 547–567.
Hager, J. C., & Ekman, P. (1979). Long-distance transmission of facial affect signals. Ethology and Sociobiology, 1, 77–82.
Haggard, E. A., & Isaacs, K. S. (1966). Micro-momentary facial expressions as indicators of ego mechanisms in psychotherapy. In L. A. Gottschalk & A. H. Auerbach (Eds.), Methods of research in psychotherapy (pp. 154–165). Appleton-Century-Crofts. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6045-2_14
Hartwig, M., & Bond, C. F., Jr. (2011). Why do lie-catchers fail? A lens model meta-analysis of human lie judgments. Psychological Bulletin, 137(4), 643–659. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023589
Hatz, J. L., & Bourgeois, M. J. (2010). Anger as a cue to truthfulness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(4), 680–683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.02.009
Hurley, C. M., & Frank, M. G. (2011). Executing facial control during deception situations. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 35, 119–131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-010-0102-1
Hwang, H. C., & Matsumoto, D. (2020). The effects of liking on informational elements in investigative interviews. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 17(3), 280–295. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1556
Kennedy, J., & Coe, W. C. (1994). Nonverbal signs of deception during posthypnotic amnesia: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 42, 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207149408409338
Kircher, J. C., & Raskin, D. C. (1988). Human versus computerized evaluations of polygraph data in a laboratory setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73(2), 291–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.73.2.291
Kozel, F. A., Johnson, K. A., Mu, Q., Grenesko, E. L., Laken, S. J., & George, M. S. (2005). Detecting deception using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Biological Psychiatry, 58(8), 605–613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.07.040
Kraut, R. E., & Poe, D. B. (1980). Behavioral roots of person perception: The deception judgments of customs inspectors and laymen. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(5), 784–798. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.784
Lawrence, E. J., Shaw, P., Baker, D., Baron-Cohen, S., & David, A. S. (2004). Measuring empathy: Reliability and validity of the Empathy quotient. Psychological Medicine, 34(5), 911–920. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291703001624
Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. C. (2018a). Clusters of nonverbal behaviors differ according to type of question and veracity in investigative interviews in a mock crime context. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 33(4), 302–315. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-017-9250-0
Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. C. (2018b). Microexpressions differentiate truths from lies about future malicious intent. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2545. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02545
Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. C. (2021). Clusters of nonverbal behavior differentiate truths and lies about future malicious intent in checkpoint screening interviews. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 28(4), 463–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2020.1794999
Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H. C., Skinner, L. G., & Frank, M. G. (2014). Positive effects in detecting lies from training to recognize behavioral anomalies. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 29(1), 28–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-012-9115-5
Moskal, P. M. (2013). Anomalies and nonverbal behavior. In D. Matsumoto, M. G. Frank, & H. S. Hwang (Eds.), Nonverbal communication: Science and applications (pp. 163–172). Sage Publications.
Novotny, E., Carr, Z., Frank, M. G., Dietrich, S. B., Shaddock, T., Cardwell, M., & Decker, A. (2018). How people really suspect and discover lies. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 42, 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-017-0263-2
Novotny, E., Frank, M. G., & Grizzard, M. (2021). A laboratory study comparing the effectiveness of verbal and nonverbal rapport-building techniques in interviews. Communication Studies, 72(5), 819–833. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2021.1975141
Palena, N., Caso, L., & Vrij, A. (2019). Detecting lies via a theme-selection strategy. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2775. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02775
Park, H. S., Levine, T., McCornack, S., Morrison, K., & Ferrara, M. (2002). How people really detect lies. Communication Monographs, 69(2), 144–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/714041710
Patterson, M. L., Fridlund, A. J., & Crivelli, C. (2023). Four misconceptions about nonverbal communication. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221148142
Pollina, D. A., Dollins, A. B., Senter, S. M., Krapohl, D. J., & Ryan, A. H. (2004). Comparison of polygraph data obtained from individuals involved in mock crimes and actual criminal investigations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(6), 1099–1105. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.6.1099
Porter, S., & ten Brinke, L. (2008). Reading between the lies: Identifying concealed and falsified emotions in universal facial expressions. Psychological Science, 19(5), 508–514.
Scherer, K. R., Feldstein, S., Bond, R. N., & Rosenthal, R. (1985). Vocal cues to deception: A comparative channel approach. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 14, 409–425. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067884
Sharma, S., Gangadhara, K. G., Xu, F., Slowe, A. S., Frank, M. G., & Nwogu, I. (2021). Coupled systems for modeling rapport between interlocutors. In 2021 16th IEEE international conference on automatic face and gesture recognition (FG 2021) (pp. 1–8). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/FG52635.2021.9667067
Shen, X., Fan, G., Niu, C., & Chen, Z. (2021). Catching a liar through facial expression of fear. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 675097. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675097
Sporer, S. L., & Schwandt, B. (2007). Moderators of nonverbal indicators of deception: A meta- analytic synthesis. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 13(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8971.13.1.1
Streeter, L. A., Krauss, R. M., Geller, V., Olson, C., & Apple, W. (1977). Pitch changes during attempted deception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(5), 345–350. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.35.5.345
ten Brinke, L., & Porter, S. (2012). Cry me a river: Identifying the behavioral consequences of extremely high-stakes interpersonal deception. Law and Human Behavior, 36(6), 469–477. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093929
ten Brinke, L., Porter, S., & Baker, A. (2012). Darwin the detective: Observable facial muscle contractions reveal emotional high-stakes lies. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(4), 411–416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.12.003
Tickle-Degnen, L., & Rosenthal, R. (1990). The nature of rapport and its nonverbal correlates. Psychological Inquiry, 1(4), 285–293. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0104_1
Vrij, A. (2008). Detecting lies and deceit: Pitfalls and opportunities. Wiley.
Vrij, A., Granhag, P. A., Ashkenazi, T., Ganis, G., Leal, S., & Fisher, R. P. (2022). Verbal lie detection: Its past present and future. Brain Sciences, 12(12), 1644. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12121644
Funding
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Grant BCS-1651118 to the second and fourth authors. We would like to thank Carolyn M. Hurley and Malgorzata Pazian for their assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
AS, MF, and IN contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and analysis was performed by AS and FX. Data collection were performed by AS, FX and MN. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AS, and revised and added to by MF, and edited by MN and IN. AS and MF prepared the tables and figure. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Solbu, A., Frank, M.G., Xu, F. et al. The Effect of Synchrony of Happiness on Facial Expression of Negative Emotion When Lying. J Nonverbal Behav 48, 73–92 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-023-00447-4
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-023-00447-4