Science+Experiment

=Scientific Method Template =
 * Topic:** Body language and lying


 * Question:** Can you tell if a person is lying by their body language?

Studies show that when a person is lying several occurances things happen to their bodies. Some of these occurances include eyes casting down, a higher pitch in voice, body and face stiffen, nostrils flare, face and hands become more pale as blood is with held from extremities (a sign of stress), and breathing becomes much heavier. http://www.learnbodylanguage.org/body_language_lying.html
 * Background Information:**

Recent research on lying showed that males lie more than females by up to two to three times. It also says that up to 60% of people lie. People lie an average of 25 times a day, mostly to get out of trouble, make themselves look better, or to avoid discomfort to others. At the age of about 2.5 - 3 years old 70% of children are capable of lying. The University of Massachusetts conducted a test on children 10 years of age. They told the children that they were not supposed to cheat and look on the last page. 40% of those 10 year olds did cheat and 100% of those children lied about doing so. When using fast event-related MRI, the brain didn't have to work as hard to tell a lie**. **The brain actually had to work harder when a person told the truth!** http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/truthful-brain-lying-easier-than-truth.html
 * http://faculty.css.edu/dswenson/web/OB/lying.html********************

Hypothesis: I think that if I test someone's lying ability I will be able to tell whether or not they are lying.

Procedure: 1. Type or write up at least 10 science questions for the test that you will be asking people. 2. Choose 14 people at random to take your test. 3. Sit them in a chair directly across from you, in a quiet, non - interuptive area. 4. Ask them their name. 5. Tell them to place their hands flat on their legs. 6. Tell them that they may move their hands anywhere they please after the first question is asked. 7. Begin asking the questions on the test and study their entire body's movements.

Materials: For this experiment you will need the following: Experiment: Do the experiment.
 * several willing test subjects
 * a pencil and paper to write and record the experiment
 * 2 chairs

Data/Results:
 * Lied during test || Were truthful during test ||
 * Boy 1 ||  ||
 * Boy 4 || Boy 2 ||
 * Boy 5 || Boy 3 ||
 * Boy 6 || Boy 7 ||
 * || Girl 1 ||
 * || Girl 2 ||
 * || Girl 3 ||
 * || Girl 4 ||
 * || Girl 5 ||
 * || Girl 6 ||
 * || Girl 7 ||

I tested fourteen people in all, an equal amount of females and males. I think that 7 out of 7 or 100% of the females that I tested told the truth on the test that I gave them. I also think that 3 out of 7 or -% of the males that I tested told the truth.

Conclusion:** In Conclusion I stated in my hypothesis that I would be able to tell if someone was lying to me. Through my experiment my hypothesis was correct in that I was able to tell if people were lying through their answers on my test. Also, through this experiment I learned that out of the 14 people I interviewed females told the truth much more than the males! If I were to do this experiment again I would have watched the people's reactions and body languages to my questions more carefully so that I might be able to be more accurate with my results.