How to Read People
The science of reading people, microexpressions, baseline behavior, thin-slicing, leakage cues, and the real limits of interpersonal lie detection.
What is this page about?
An evidence-based examination of how to read people, opening with Paul Ekman's cross-cultural facial-expression research in Papua New Guinea and the popular genre it spawned. It weighs what the replication evidence actually supports, what thin-slicing from brief exposures can and cannot predict, leakage cues and the baseline problem, the crucial role of context, and the real limits of lie detection, concluding that reading people is a genuine skill but works through different mechanisms than the popular body-language accounts claim.
What has been corrected on this page?
Every accepted correction to this page is recorded with the exact change, so readers can see how the page improved over time.
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Ekman's New Guinea Fore fieldwork began in 1967 (1967-1968), consistent with the article's later 'late 1960s' reference; 1966 was wrong.
BeforeIn the summer of 1966
AfterIn the summer of 1967
Why: Verified live: body already correctly reads 'In the summer of 1967', consistent with the article's later 'late 1960s' reference. FAQ does not reference this date. No further action needed.
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1 contributor has checked "How to Read People" on When Notes Fly. Each name below links to that person's public CitePep profile, where every contribution they have made is listed with the exact change they proposed.