Advancements in lie detection technology may pose significant ethical implications.
Paul Ekman, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, discussed the effects of lie detection technology on modern society Thursday as part of the Kenan Distinguished Lecture in Ethics series. Ekman—whose work inspired “Lie to Me,” a Fox television series that aired 2009 to 2011—has conducted research on facial expressions to determine how humans convincingly manipulate emotional behavior to conceal their true feelings.
The moral considerations, however, cannot be ignored, Ekman said. Teaching people how facial expressions can be used to detect lies is essentially teaching them how to trick the system.
“Some of the people that are using our tools are using them to be better torturers—that wasn’t my goal,” he said. “You can’t control how people use your information. It is used by countries whose policies are as deplorable in human rights as the world has ever known.”
Although technology that could definitively detect lying may not appear within the next 20 years, Ekman noted that only 4 to 5 percent could successively lie without being detected.
The most common motive for lying is to avoid punishment, but people also lie to protect friends, deceive people or maintain privacy, Ekman noted. The likelihood that a person lies also varies based on an individual’s personality. For example, people who are religiously observant, risk-averse or simply poor at lying are less likely to engage in the practice.
Ekman’s research has identified behavioral indicators of lying and has been instrumental in developing training tools to detect concealed emotions. Organizations, including Fortune 500 companies and police forces, use Ekman’s training programs to read microexpressions, or slight, passing flashes of emotion.
“[Ekman’s] work on deception and on emotion brings together traditional ethical questions and science,” said Noah Pickus, director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics. “It has applications to everything from homeland security to marital relations.”
Michael Platt, director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, said he appreciates Ekman’s skepticism of reaching any ultimate conclusion about truth-telling.
“It’s a hopeful blend of the positive and negative role of lying and deception in normal life,” Platt said. “There’s a real danger there that our own embrace of a society of technological solutions to our societal problems can be problematic, and especially the idea that neuroscience can solve everything.”
Ekman’s work reflects Duke’s interdisciplinary approach to anthropology, psychology, neuroscience and ethics, Platt said.
“Duke is a special place where all these fields come together,” he said. “So [Eckman] is really a perfect person and a perfect fit for helping to illustrate how all of these things can mutually inform each other.”
Platt said he was impressed by Eckman’s ability to recognize ways in which his work might be used in unintended ways.
“We should all examine what we do in a similar ethical sense and weigh the costs and benefits in the long run,” he said.
Freshman Anna Lamb said she attended the event because she is a fan of “Lie to Me.” About two-thirds of the show is accurate, Ekman said, while the other third is either contested by experts or incorrect.
“What I found most interesting is that so much stuff is still contested,” she said. “I was happy to know what things in the show were actually true.”
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