Blue Eyes Don’t Lie, Do They?

I am reading one of multiple books by psychologist Paul Ekman, the “Lie To Me” guy (here). Ekman is an expert on the non-verbal, involuntary signaling we do with our bodies. He focuses particularly on our faces, in relation to the words out of our mouths.

Eyes of lesser pigment (like those of stippled actor Z.Efron), be they blue, green, or otherwise, put the pupil on full display (over brown eyes) and this is more telling than you might think. It seems that our pupils, which control the amount of light that enters the eye, are under the control of our autonomic nervous system. When we are in love, or attracted to someone our pupils dilate – get bigger – so we can take in more of a good thing. Evolutionary instinct makes us more, or less, consciously aware of watchful eyes, but we often miss this subtlety in the mad rush.

Lighter eyes more readily show emotional response, and blue eyes show it the best. This is mostly good, but sometimes bad. Our pupils also dilate when we are afraid, or lying. So, in matters of the heart light eyes will likely betray false words, communicating to the audience the person’s truer intent. By example, some high-stakes poker players wear dark glasses, so any dilations do not give away their true position on any given hand, during the game.

So, if you follow Dr. Ekman, the next time a blue-eyed suitor/suitress is listening to you go on and on, with big pupils, take it as a positive sign. But if they are talking, with big eyes, be wary, there is a good chance they are lying their pants off, and perhaps yours too.

James C. Collier

FTR, brown eyes lie, too.

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