The January 29, 1915 Wall Street Journal describes (p. B1) technology \u201c\u2026That Unmasks Your Hidden Emotions.\u201d The article, by Elizabeth Dwoskin and Evelyn Rusli, introduces software based on the work of Paul Ekman, now 80 years old, who catalogued more than 5,000 facial muscle movements that he believes clue us in about the emotions behind the faces. The software is coded to detect subtle changes in our faces, using those changes to unveil thoughts and feelings that would otherwise stay hidden. Several young companies using this software are cited, including Emotient, Inc, Affectiva, Inc., and Eyeris.
\nThis \u201cI\u2019m gonna detect what you\u2019re feeling and know what you\u2019re thinking\u201d technology has been mostly used for market research, but would seem to have great potential for other uses, privacy concerns aside. Examples in the article: Monitoring truck drivers for sleepiness, gauging classroom attentiveness, an interrogation aid. This blog is focused on people committing fraud. Which leads us to this question: How useful might this software be for detecting committers of fraud by reading their facial expressions?
\nDaven Morrison, MD: \u201cSilvan Tomkins [researched this] before Ekman, and Ekman at one time would have considered Tomkins his mentor. Some in the security business know about [Ekman-based] training methods used by Israel and the CIA, NSA, and others. Unfortunately, the training is losing credibility. The best argument for why this solution is failing despite being in the industry for more than 20 years is Ekman\u2019s own argument: One cannot tell the difference between [facial expressions showing] fear of \u2026.being caught lying from fear of being punished when\u2026.really innocent (i.e. fear of not being believed).\u201d We use this argument in our book (A.B.C.s of Behavioral Forensics, Wiley, 2013) as an argument against the \u201clie-spotting\u201d promises of people like Pamela Meyer.
\n\u201cThis technology has a \u2018god complex.\u2019 It is an unrealistic and limited promise: \u2018If I can read others, the whole world will open up for me and I can manipulate people\u2019 For fraud, the point is more nuanced and not so simple. We make this point on our text and I think it fits the way people work: To inoculate against fraud, we have to see our own affects as well as those of others. This is why we talk about a dance of deception orchestrated by emotion. Two people, one manipulating, the other, not. This technology is about manipulating. And it is trying to find the easy way to detect it\u2026 A bit of snake oil salesmanship.\u201d
\n\u201cThe affects as described can be a flash, unconscious, and they can be ignored. Both by the received but also by the person who is experiencing the affect. So, although these \u2026companies may believe they are capable (with big numbers) to perceive affects and sell stuff, they may not. In fact, they might be wasting money and time trying to interpret emotions (complex affects) in people they really don\u2019t know or with whom they don\u2019t have a relationship.\u201d
\nIn the end, with both lie-detection and marketing, it is important to remember the first rule of the marketplace: caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware!<\/p>\n

Joe Koletar:\u00a0 What Daven refers to as experiential learning over time most of us call gut instinct. I dealt with a contractor when we were beginning to build our house. I didn’t like the way one of them responded and I dropped him. Turns out I was right. <\/span><\/p>\n

Join us for more insights into behavioral forensics (behind fraud and similar white collar crimes) from the authors of <\/span>ABCs of Behavioral Forensics<\/span><\/span> (Wiley, 2013): Sri Ramamoorti, Ph. D., Daven Morrison, M.D., and Joe Koletar, D.P.A., along with Vic Hartman, J.D.\u00a0 These distinguished experts come from the disciplines of psychology, medicine, accounting, law, and law enforcement to explain and prevent fraud.\u00a0 Because we are inspired to bring to light and address the fraud problems in today’s headlines, we encourage our readers to come back and revisit us regularly at BringingFreudtoFraud.com. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The January 29, 1915 Wall Street Journal describes (p. B1) technology \u201c\u2026That Unmasks Your Hidden Emotions.\u201d The article, by Elizabeth Dwoskin and Evelyn Rusli, introduces software based on the work of Paul Ekman, now 80 years old, who catalogued more than 5,000 facial muscle movements that he believes clue us in about the emotions behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bringingfreudtofraud.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}