Feb 25 2008
Signs Of Lying?
What are the definite signs of lying? Study after study shows that most people might as well flip a coin to determine if a person is lying, rather than trust their lie-detecting skills or intuition. But research also shows that some people ARE consistently good at detecting lies - a rather important fact, and although it is typically ignored, it is not disputed by the researchers. It is more often just ignored, as though the small number of people who have these skills makes it insignificant to the research.
Instead of brushing them off as insignificant, it may be better to look at what these people are doing to detect lies. This seems like a more useful approach, right? When we do look, we find that one thing these human lie-detectors do is to use what they know about the individual who is lying.
How To Tell If Someone Is Lying
When watching for signs of lying, you need to use what you know about the behavior of the person in question. In other words, you should try to think like a polygraph operator, by comparing behavior in persons under suspicion to their “base” behaviors - how they normally react to questions. You look for a change in those behaviors which may indicate a lie.
For example, if a man always blinks a lot, then this trait can’t be considered as an indication of lying. On the other hand, if he is normally very calm under pressure, but starts blinking a lot after certain questions, that is more likely to indicate lying. Look for these personal habits and indications - some may blink more when they lie, and some less.
This shows the flaw in the scientific opinion which says you can’t tell if someone is lying. The research typically tests for things like eye-avoidance or sweating or hand movements, and it finds that none of them reliably indicate lying. But the indicators are only looked at based on a general testing of a group, without relation to any known character traits or habits of the individuals.
An extreme example shows the flaw in this approach. Suppose that in a group of 100 people, 50 always looked down when they lied, and 50 always focused more directly on you when they lied to you. These would be great indicators once you learned which people in the group had which behavior.
However, a researcher asks the question, “Is looking down correlated with lying?” He instructs all 100 subjects to lie when answering a question, and when 50 look down and 50 look right at him, he determines there is no correlation between looking down and telling a lie. There is also no statistical correlation between direct eye-contact and lying. This would be the conclusion of his research despite the fact that in our example all 100 people give clear signs of lying.
The problem is that researchers look for “universal indicators” of dishonesty. Some good universal signs of lying, some things that everyone did when lying - these would be good to know. But even if there are some signs that are better than others, the success of this approach has been limited. Take what you know about the individual into account, though, and you can be more successful at detecting lies.
To take this to the next level, note exactly how a person behaves when he or she is lying. Then you’ll have a decent indication he or she is lying the next time you see that behavior. The more personal indicators you become aware of, the more certain you can be about the person’s honesty or dishonesty.
If such psychological “tells” or signs of lying were truly meaningless, there would be far fewer consistent winners at the poker tables. But there ARE consistent winners at poker, and they often win because they are good at spotting a “bluff,” which is essentially a lie. This is good evidence that there are signs of lying which are useful when used right.
Copyright Steve Gillman. Want to know the signs of lying, how to trap a liar, and much more? Read the new e-book
Tags: lying, signs of lying
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