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TV show depicts deception detection science as too exact

FOX TV is heavily running previews for a new mid-season drama called "Lie to Me" that purports to portray a scientist with perpetual five o'clock shadow and his hotter-than-thou research team who are experts in the "science of deception detection" - i.e., telling whether someone is lying.Says a promo: "Dr. Cal Lightman and his team are effectively human polygraph machines, and no truth can be concealed from them." Of course, as human "polygraph" machines that would make their work discredited, pseudoscientific and too unreliable to use in court, but I'm sure that's not what the producers meant by that line.The lead character is based on the work of behavioral scientist Paul Ekman whose landmark research cataloging and interpreting facial expressions has led him to create a lucrative consulting business teaching lie detection techniques to various official and corporate entities...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 10, 2009 (boomark / email).