The othello Error Ekman  refers to the Sheakspeares play of Othello killing his wife who he suspected to love another man All this based upon his wifes distress failing to listen to her alternative innocent explanations   The interpretation of behaviour  When a subject under questioning show signs of fear andor distress it could indicate the subject is not telling the truth The Othello Error refers to the fact that honest people may experience fear during questioning and show signs of fear while perfectly telling the truth  In essence you can not rely entirely on signs of fear as an indicator of truth or lie You have to look beyond the signs