# Is dark psychology real? Six claims, checked against the studies

Source page: https://underthebehavior.com/myths/dark-psychology

Is dark psychology real? Six common claims about lying, eye movements, hidden ads, obedience and bystanders, next to what the original studies measured.

Dark psychology is "not a scientific concept," a psychology lecturer told VICE in 2023. Its claims lean on real studies that found less. VICE, 2023

## Which dark psychology claims hold up?
- The myth: The record
- You can read a lie in someone's body language.: In a review of 206 studies, people were right 54% of the time. Experts did no better. Bond and DePaulo, 2006
- A liar looks up and to the right.: In three tests, including 52 real public appeals, eye direction did not tell lies from truths. Wiseman and colleagues, 2012
- Hidden messages in ads make people buy things.: A brand flashed too fast to see nudged drink choice in a lab, mainly in thirsty students. Nobody measured shopping. Karremans and colleagues, 2006
- Milgram proved anyone will hurt someone when told to.: In 1963, 26 of 40 men went to the end. Across 21 versions, fewer than half did. Milgram, 1963. Haslam and colleagues, 2014
- The Stanford prison experiment proved power makes people cruel.: An archive study found the guards were given precise instructions on how to treat the prisoners. Le Texier, 2019 [Watch the part that checks it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RGCwyy1tZY&t=115s)
- When others are around, nobody will help you.: In 219 filmed street conflicts, at least one bystander helped in 9 of every 10. Philpot and colleagues, 2020 [Watch the part that checks it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s11l3z8RNpc&t=606s)

## Questions

### What is dark psychology?

A 2023 VICE article described it as "basically, the art of manipulation." A psychology lecturer it quoted said dark psychology is not a scientific concept.

### Is dark psychology real?

A psychology lecturer told VICE in 2023 that dark psychology is not a scientific concept. The studies its claims borrow from are real. This page puts six of those claims next to what the studies measured.

### Can you tell when someone is lying?

Not well, on average. In a 2006 review of 206 studies, people judged lies and truths correctly 54% of the time, and experts did no better.

### Did the Milgram experiment prove anyone will obey?

In the best known 1963 version, 26 of 40 men went to the end. Across 21 versions with 740 people, 43.6% did. Small changes to the setup moved it from 1 in 40 to 37 in 40.

### Do subliminal messages work?

In two lab studies, a brand flashed too fast to see nudged which drink students picked, mainly when they were thirsty. Nobody measured real shopping.

## Sources (9)
1. Bond, C. F., Jr., and DePaulo, B. M. (2006). Accuracy of deception judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(3), 214 to 234. [doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1003_2](https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1003_2)
2. Wiseman, R., Watt, C., ten Brinke, L., Porter, S., Couper, S.-L., and Rankin, C. (2012). The eyes don't have it: Lie detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. PLoS ONE, 7(7), e40259. [doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040259](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040259)
3. Karremans, J. C., Stroebe, W., and Claus, J. (2006). Beyond Vicary's fantasies: The impact of subliminal priming and brand choice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(6), 792 to 798. [doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.12.002](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.12.002)
4. Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), 371 to 378. [doi.org/10.1037/h0040525](https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525)
5. Haslam, N., Loughnan, S., and Perry, G. (2014). Meta-Milgram: An empirical synthesis of the obedience experiments. PLoS ONE, 9(4), e93927. [doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093927](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093927)
6. Le Texier, T. (2019). Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment. American Psychologist, 74(7), 823 to 839. [doi.org/10.1037/amp0000401](https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000401)
7. Reicher, S., and Haslam, S. A. (2006). Rethinking the psychology of tyranny: The BBC prison study. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45(1), 1 to 40. [doi.org/10.1348/014466605X48998](https://doi.org/10.1348/014466605X48998)
8. Philpot, R., Liebst, L. S., Levine, M., Bernasco, W., and Lindegaard, M. R. (2020). Would I be helped? Cross-national CCTV footage shows that intervention is the norm in public conflicts. American Psychologist, 75(1), 66 to 75. [doi.org/10.1037/amp0000469](https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000469)
9. Sharma, R. (2023, February 2). 'Dark psychology' TikTok is just pickup artistry for women. VICE. A news article, not a study. [vice.com](https://www.vice.com/en/article/dark-psychology-tiktok-trend/)

Updated October 20, 2026

## Keep going
- [Bystander effect: the experiments](https://underthebehavior.com/studies/bystander-effect)
- [Psychology myths, checked](https://underthebehavior.com/myths)

Stanford Prison Experiment What the Guards Were Told First

10:31 · Episode 4 · YouTube [Watch the episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RGCwyy1tZY)