People lie. There is no doubt about that, but it’s how we react to lies that give us away. If I give away an emotion that doesn’t correspond with the lie, others will figure out the truth. But if I hide my emotions and create new ones, people will think the lie is truth. It’s not as easy as it sounds, because even one flicker of the real emotion will give it away.

In special cases, it’s still not easy to locate the flicker and uncover the lie. The over-hyped story of the boy who supposedly flew in a weather balloon turned into a complete hoax. But, authorities and the public didn’t realize this until the boy slipped up. Why? “Emote Control,” by Chris Wilson states, “[Richard Heene] is a devoted thespian who shows no apparent remorse at manipulating his family or the pubic in the pursuit of fame.” He didn’t feel any guilt when he played the role of a “scared father.” He didn’t have to mask any emotions, so it was easier for him to fake them. He wanted people to believe he thought his son was in the balloon, and not making up the idea to get on television.

People believe they are very accurate at judging other’s emotions. People thought they could tell if Heene was lying. In “Emote Control,” Wilson describes what Psychologist Jack Mayer stated. He explained, “Because people so differ from each other, evaluating whether an emotion is valid or not is very complicated for an observer.” Therefore, unless they are trained, people aren’t experts at deciding weather a person is lying, even though they believe they are.

“Emote Control,” describes two stories the help explain why people believed Heene’s story. The first story tells about a Soviet spy who would smirk every time he didn’t tell the truth. He felt an excitement of people believing his lies. He couldn’t control his emotions, so he got caught. Unlike Heene, who had no emotion when lying, so he didn’t get caught. Heene didn’t have any emotions to cover up, and the people believed his fake emotions.

People don’t realize they can’t read emotions like they think they can because: people may react to a situation differently than they thought, people may be able to hide all their emotions and create new ones, and people may not have emotions to cover up. Heene had no emotins to cover up. He didn’t care if he put his family in jeopardy. He wanted fame.