Friday, June 03, 2011

Blue Eyes Don’t Lie, Do They?

I am reading one of multiple books by psychologist Paul Ekman, the “Lie To Me” guy (here). Ekman is an expert on the non-verbal, involuntary signaling we do with our bodies. He focuses particularly on our faces, in relation to the words out of our mouths.

Eyes of lesser pigment (like those of stippled actor Z.Efron), be they blue, green, or otherwise, put the pupil on full display (over brown eyes) and this is more telling than you might think. It seems that our pupils, which control the amount of light that enters the eye, are under the control of our autonomic nervous system. When we are in love, or attracted to someone our pupils dilate – get bigger – so we can take in more of a good thing. Evolutionary instinct makes us more, or less, consciously aware of watchful eyes, but we often miss this subtlety in the mad rush.

Lighter eyes more readily show emotional response, and blue eyes show it the best. This is mostly good, but sometimes bad. Our pupils also dilate when we are afraid, or lying. So, in matters of the heart light eyes will likely betray false words, communicating to the audience the person’s truer intent. By example, some high-stakes poker players wear dark glasses, so any dilations do not give away their true position on any given hand, during the game.

So, if you follow Dr. Ekman, the next time a blue-eyed suitor/suitress is listening to you go on and on, with big pupils, take it as a positive sign. But if they are talking, with big eyes, be wary, there is a good chance they are lying their pants off, and perhaps yours too.

James C. Collier

FTR, brown eyes lie, too.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is clearly an evolutionary advantage for groups with large numbers of light-eyed people; they can't tell lies well so they are forced to tell the truth, leading to a higher level of cohesion and trust.

Anonymous said...

It is said that the subconscious always picks up on all these nonverbal cues and that is why one is said to be "uneasy" and "unsure" when faced with a person that is lying to or trying to deceive us. People with dark brown eyes are indeed the best liars because one can barely distinguish the widening or narrowing of their pupils, although the subconscious will always detect it. and I can vouch for this as I have a couple of friends like this and they are the best manipulators and fibbers I know lol! (but in a good way of course)!

As for the blue eyed person not being able to deceive, well perhaps that's why I find them so cold and repulsive, because in the majority it is so easy to read their total disdain and dislike for us brown people! That's my theory and I'm sticking with it! ;)))

Anonymous said...

Also, I've read that when a person/speaker touches his nose it's a sure sign that they're lying! Time and again, I've see so many politicians doing this LOL! And they know about it, but it's a powerful subconscious action and almost cannot be helped!
Nonverbal communication fascinates me!

Anonymous said...

Light skin is also more of a give-away to what is really going on inside, as you can see when the person is embarrassed or angry,unless they have their emotions under strict control.

Jael

Jim-Jim said...

Is this why James Earl Jones is a great actor?

Anonymous said...

As for the blue eyed person not being able to deceive, well perhaps that's why I find them so cold and repulsive, because in the majority it is so easy to read their total disdain and dislike for us brown people!

At least they can't hide their "lyin' eyes" as "brown" people can do so well.

I find no human features "cold and repulsive" ... or anything derogatory. I would not want this type of person around children.

We can't help what we are born with, whether we are midnight black or pale moon white, or the shape or color of our eyes. Only spirit, words and deeds are cold and repulsive to me. And that's not my "theory" but my experience!

Jael

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Light skin is also more of a give-away to what is really going on inside, as you can see when the person is embarrassed or angry,unless they have their emotions under strict control.

Jael
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Darker skin tones noticeably blush also! The vascular dilation that causes blushing floods the face with warm blood so there is a change in color no matter what the skin shade and a slight warmth which quite often is also perceivable.

Anonymous said...

It's impossible to see a person with dark skin blushing. There is not one person in this world who I will believe if they told me they could see Tyrese Gibson or Akon or Kevin Hart "blushing"

Anonymous said...

I'm a Blue-eyed blonde white boy, and i can attest to making several dark skinned honeys blush, a blush is not merely the flushing of subcutaneous blood, its a combination of responses from the whole of the face, and much of a blush is shown through the eyes...