How good are you at spotting a lie? Research conducted at the University of California claims that our instincts are the best tool we have for spotting a lie, a perfectly geared ancestral mechanism to which, however, we pay little attention. In fact, we often fail because we use our rational mind and it plays tricks on us.
The good news is that our extraverbal language reveals many clues about the veracity of what we say, so we just have to keep an eye out for these signals. Lillian Glass, one of the leading experts on body language today, gives us some clues about how she detects lies in her daily work interviewing criminals, top executives, and ordinary people.
How to find out if a person is lying?
1. Quickly change your head position. If you ask a question and notice that the person immediately moves their head, it is likely that they are trying to hide something. This is an unconscious movement with which our interlocutor tries to hide or escape. The most common way is to look down, but it could also be to the side, looking away for a few seconds.
2. Your breathing becomes labored. When a person is lying, their breathing is usually more labored, as if it were harder for them to breathe. This is a vegetative reaction caused by the increased heart rate. These changes make the body tense up and, as a result, it is harder for us to breathe.
3. Stay very still. We all know that when we tell a lie we have a tendency to fidget. So some people try to control this reflex by staying very still. However, in a relaxed conversation, we usually move around to emphasize our message, not just stay still. So if someone is staying unusually still, they are probably trying to hide their nervousness.
4. Repeats words or phrases. Since the person knows he is lying, he tries to convince us of what he is saying and does so by repeating his phrases or words several times. This tendency may also indicate that he is trying to validate the message in his mind or that he is buying time to better structure the lie.
5. They provide too much information. When you ask a question and a person gives you too many details that are not even relevant, they are probably lying. They do this to reinforce the information and appear more sincere and open. However, this story will almost never contain temporal, spatial or sensory details, as these are harder to invent.
6. Touching the mouth. When people lie, they have the impulse to put their hands over their mouth. This is a very revealing automatic sign that tells us that our interlocutor does not want to face that question and prefers to close off communication, or lie. On other occasions, the person puts their hand to their neck, an unconscious reaction to calm the nervous tingling caused by muscle tension.
7. Blinking a lot. We tend to blink at regular intervals, so if you notice that someone suddenly starts blinking faster, they are probably telling a lie. This is because lying requires more cognitive resources, which activates the blinking reflex.
8. It is difficult for them to speak. If the person lies for several minutes at a time, you will notice that it becomes increasingly difficult for them to speak. This is because the stress caused by lying activates the sympathetic nervous system and decreases the flow of saliva, which causes the membranes of the mouth to dry out and makes it more difficult to keep up the pace of the speech.
9. He moves his feet too much. Often, people manage to control their hand movements but forget about their feet, which move when we are very nervous or feel uncomfortable. Therefore, nervous foot movements can also be a telltale sign that allows us to detect a lie.
10. He or she will throw your words back at you. When a person is lying, they tend to take on a defensive and hostile attitude, as they are unconsciously preparing to defend themselves in case you discover them. Therefore, it is very likely that if you ask them a question, they will throw it back at you or respond using practically your same words.
A word of caution: remember that many of these signs are also signs of nervousness or discomfort, so they don’t always indicate a lie. One sign alone isn’t enough to detect a lie; you need to evaluate the behavior as a whole and in the context in which it develops.
References:
Brinke, L. et. Al. (2014) Some Evidence for Unconscious Lie Detection. Psychological Science; 25(5): 1098-1105.
Glass, L. (2014) The Body Language of Liars. New Jersey: Career Press.
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