How to Tell If Someone is Lying

How to tell if someone is lying? What are the signs that someone is lying to you? The knowledge to effectively discover lies can be helpful to most people, especially for law enforcement officers.

UCLA professor of psychology R. Edward Geiselman has spent many years studying these questions. He is so good at detecting when someone is lying that he is regularly hired by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the Marines, the police and many international agencies. Does this remind you of Dr. Cal Lightman (played by Tim Roth) from the American television series Lie To Me?

After analyzing about 60 studies on detecting deception, he presented his findings in the American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry.

Geiselman, with the help of his colleagues, have identified several signs that a person is lying. These signs include:

- When people behave in a deceptive way, they usually talk very little when questioned.

- Deceptive people, without being prompted, give an explanation for what little they are saying.

- Before answering questions, these people often repeat them. They do this in order to give themselves enough time to think up an answer.

- Deceptive people frequently do one thing - they carefully monitor how listener reacts to what they are saying. In other words, they are reading you to make sure if you are buying their story.

- In the beginning, they are talking slowly because they must concoct their story and keep an eye on your reactions. Once they have the story, they begin to talk faster, even within a single sentence. They believe that slow speech looks very suspicious. Honest people never do this; they do not change their speech rate.

- They often use sentence fragments. It means that they begin an answer, back up and never finish the sentence.

- An obvious sign of lying is when deceptive people engage in various "grooming" behaviors, such as playing with their hair. They also press their lips when asked a very sensitive question.

- When asked about details, these people avoid to give more specifics. On the other hand, honest people deny that they are lying and provide even more details.

- When asked a tough question, dishonest people look away only for a few moments. Sometimes they do not look away at all. This is not the case with truthful people.

- Some deceptive people knew a few of these signs of lying and they will try mask them. But the problem is (for them, of course) that this attempt only makes them more apparent.

- If you are still not sure if a person is lying, tell them to repeat their story backwards. Tell them to start at the end, and slowly work their way back. Tell them that they must be very detailed. They will not be able to handle this heavy cognitive load.

- In the beginning ask more general questions, and then ask them for very detailed answered. "Tell me exactly..." should be your favorite question. And do not interrupt them, this will only give them more time to work on their story. Let them talk.

Now that you know how to tell if someone is lying, the question is how you will use this knowledge. Are you going to use it to discover deceptive people or to become a better liar?

Source: Guide for Better Health