How to Spot a Lie

Thanks for checking out my first blog post! I’m calling the blog “D-Code” because I’m going to focus my articles on something that fascinates me – decoding non-verbal communication. I’m a believer that being able to read non-verbal cues and being aware of one’s own can not only help you with your career, but also in your personal life as well. Double win!

                This week, I wanted to share some insights into spotting lies. Here are some facts about lying that will maybe one day help you spot dishonesty. Much of this is taken from Dr. Paul Ekman’s research into microexpressions ( source: paulekman.com , also there is actually a TV show called Lie To Me that further explores his ideas).

Generally, most people who lie will subconsciously display one of two emotions. They won’t be as dramatic as the photos, and will probably last less than a second. Pay attention.

Fear – will be a lot more subtle than below

                Guilt – similar to sadness, but avoids eye contact and lowers head, often, no guilt felt when the liar is of a higher authority

Here are some things that are a bit easier to notice:

1) Eye contact: contrary to popular belief, people that are lying often make more eye contact than usual in order to give the appearance of being honest. (This is one of my most favourite ones because that’s how I crack all of my brother’s lies about where he actually took my car).

2) Telling a story backwards: If you are recalling a story from your memory, it will be easy to tell the exact same one backwards. If you made it up...not so much!

3) Multi-tasking: while someone is telling you a story that you think might be a fib, ask them to do a simple task, such as make a cup of coffee. Then ask them questions while they are doing the task – if they pause what they are doing for a few seconds to answer, it’s possible they are lying because sometimes you can’t multitask and tell a lie.

4) Shifting eyes to the left: looking in this direction usually means a person is telling a lie. If they are retrieving something from their memory, the eyes tend to shift to the right.

Remember, sometimes these cues are not displayed by the individual, are too quick to notice, or mean something else depending on the context of the situation. It takes practice to read the cues correctly, but  hopefully you hang out with honest people and won’t be getting a lot of it.

Happy d-coding,

Darya

P.S. Feel free to leave any more tips you know in the comments or suggest some other body language topics you’d like to read about in the future.