Seven Tips to Tell Whether Someone is Lying to You
by Have you ever wondered whether someone was lying when they told you a story or answered a question? Well, following are some helpful hints for how to tell if someone is lying to you!
- Liars fidget a lot. They shift their feet, sway as they speak, and even gesture awkwardly and inappropriately with their hands. Subconsciously, when we lie we feel on display and this makes some people feel uncomfortable. It is this discomfort that makes people act all fidgety.
- Liars don’t like to look you in the eye for too long. Or, if a liar has read this or a similar article, that person may look you in the eye way too long, so that it feels awkward. Liars also blink less frequently than people who are telling the truth. If a person is looking at you too much or not enough, they may be lying.
- If a person has shifty eyes, or is looking away and looking back and glanging all around way too much, it’s another sign that they may be lying.
- Liars will touch their faces and mouths more than people who are telling the truth. This is something that most liars can’t control even if they are aware they are doing it. This is most often seen in liars who feel bad about being untruthful, or who are being untruthful for what they believe is a good reason.
- Liars tend to look down toward the ground when trying to recall details. People who tell the truth, however, tend to look up at the sky or ceiling.
- Liars mix up little details. Liars usually remember the important, big pieces of their lies but forget the little pieces, like the color of someone’s shirt or a house number.
- Liars tend to get defensive or take a defensive posture when accused of lying, or sometimes even if they are not being accused at all. If you ask them to repeat their story, for instance, they may get angry.
Remember, these are not all 100% accurate in telling whether a person is lying. Actors, for example, probably study the ways in which liars behave in order to avoid those behaviors, to make a character more believable. Don’t go over-the-top and accuse someone of lying just because of what you read here; these are only helpful hints, to indicate whether that gut feeling you have about someone’s story may be right or wrong.
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Post CommentI Have Had Enough
On September 16, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I’m pretty good at reading body language. That’s why I play poker.
I will get to the rest of your stuff soon.
Duff D Moss
On September 17, 2009 at 12:14 am
Some good pointers there for sure. Point 2 you need to be careful about, as the very introverted will always avoid eye contact. 5 is also interesting. I’ve heard that our eyes reflect the part of our brain we are trying to access – so we look a certain way when recalling details, a different way when trying to think of something creative, like in a story. I dare say closely related to what you said here.
Interesting article
Seth
On September 21, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I have to wonder though if these telltale behaviors exist across the world, in all cultures, or if they are centered in a specifically studied demographic?