April 9, 2015

TODAYS NEWS
PSYCHOLOGY | PAUL EKMAN | MICRO EXPRESSIONS

Childhood
Paul Ekman was born to Jewish
parents in 1934, Washington, D.C.
He grew up in New Jersey,
Washington, Oregon, and
California. His mother was an
attorney and his father a
pediatrician. He also had a sister,
Joyce, who is now a
psychoanalytic psychologist in
New York. Ekmans mother
committed suicide when he was
14. He dropped out of high
school at age 15 and enrolled at
the University of Chicago.

Education
Ekman never graduated from
high school, he dropped out at
age 15 and enrolled at the
University of Chicago where he
completed his undergraduate.
Then in 1954, he studied for a
year at New York University where
he earned his BA. Soon after he
was accepted into the Adelphi
University graduate program for
clinical psychology. His Masters
thesis was focused on facial
expressions and body language.
He then went on to receive his
Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
Psychology

Micro Expressions
Helping Law Enforcement
Dr. Paul Ekman, the founder of The Paul
Ekman Group (PEG) and co-discoverer of
micro expressions, has been working to
translate his research findings into practical
tools that would help those in law enforcement
to more accurately evaluate truthfulness. So far
his emotional skills training tools have been
used by governments, security organizations,
teachers, therapists, physicians, salespeople,
nurses, doctors, and corporate executives all
over the world.$

April 9, 2015

Why He Became A
Psychologist

New Guinea
In 1967, Dr. Paul Ekman visited
Papau, New Guinea. He asked a
man who was living in an
isolated, preliterate culture
which had never seen outsiders
before what he would look like
if: $

Dr. Paul Ekman originally wanted to become a

psychotherapist, but when he was 14, his
mother developed a severe mental illness which
led to her suicide, it is because of this that he
decided to spend his life helping people like his
mother. He began his research into deception
with trying to discover who might be lying
about attempting suicide. He studied filmed
interviews with patients who were trying to
conceal suicide plans in slow-motion, which in
1967 led to his discovery of micro expressions.$

His child had just died$

His friend had come to visit$ $
He was about to fight $

He had stepped on a smelly

dead pig$
Here is how his test works:$
You try to guess each emotion
posed in each black and white
photograph. If you guess
correctly, that is evidence that
facial expressions are universal.
If you guess incorrectly, that is
evidence that facial expressions
are culture specific.$
Psychology

April 9, 2015

Psychology