Bombing Professor and Duping Delight

One key microexpression for detecting deception and lies with sociopaths like Hitler and others: duping delight.  The latest example: Amy Bishop, accused of killing three faculty members in Alabama.  When questioned in an earlier case, a witness said: “I don’t know why she was smirking.  It was a funny expression on her face.”

Paul Ekman identified this strange suppressed smile – like the “cat who ate the canary” in his classic Telling Lies.  This microexpression of happiness can seem merely “funny” to the untrained, but offers an important clue to deception to those trained in Paul Ekman’s methods of detecting deception.

And yet it’s not easy for many to recognize in real time.  In my training classes on Negotiation 101, Lie Detection for Lawyers, and when I taught Homeland Security and other clients, I include examples of duping delight, microexpressions, and other clues to deception.