The TSA has spent $1 billion on training airport security screeners to read body language.
Trouble is, critics charges there’s no evidence that the training prevented a single act of terrorism, the New York Times reports.
Scientific experiments show that people are terrible at spotting liars, and law enforcement is no exception. “There’s an illusion of insight that comes from looking at a person’s body,” says Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago. “Body language speaks to us, but only in whispers.”
The conclusion follows an analysis of more than 200 studies, the Times reported.
“The common-sense notion that liars betray themselves through body language appears to be little more than a cultural fiction,” said Maria Hartwig, a psychologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
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