sixes_and_sevens comments on Trivers on Self-Deception - LessWrong

33 Post author: Yvain 12 July 2011 09:04PM

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Comment author: sixes_and_sevens 12 July 2011 09:44:59PM 2 points [-]

I cannot remember where, but I'm fairly sure I've read that Ekman's Truth Wizards are more likely to come from a background of childhood domestic violence. Google is failing me, though, so if anyone else can corroborate this (or alternatively let me know if it was spurious bullcrap I saw on Lie To Me), that would be appreciated.

Comment author: Prismattic 12 July 2011 11:31:18PM 9 points [-]

Apparently, most of what one sees on Lie To Me is spurious. At any rate, viewing the show causes people to make more false positive identifications of deception relative to a control group, without being any more accurate at catching real deception:

The Impact of Lie To Me on Viewers' Actual Ability to Detect Deception

Comment author: Peterdjones 16 July 2011 12:17:01PM 1 point [-]

You mean, you can't detect lies by standing three inches from someone and squinting up their nostrils?

Comment author: pjeby 12 July 2011 10:39:09PM 2 points [-]

I'm fairly sure I've read that Ekman's Truth Wizards are more likely to come from a background of childhood domestic violence

I don't know if if that's true or in print, but I do remember it being mentioned on Lie To Me, in the context of Torres' background. But at least one Truth Wizard believes it's bunk, and I couldn't find anything on Ekman's blog about the subject one way or another.

Comment author: sixes_and_sevens 12 July 2011 10:56:37PM 0 points [-]

See, I haven't actually seen that much of the show, and I've definitely not seen that storyline. I still can't seem to find anything to substantiate it, though, so provisionally chalking it down as spurious bullcrap seems safe.