What are the methods of detecting lies?

There is no doubt that honesty is a good quality that we all strive to possess, yet everyone lies without exception. They can be small lies to gain attention and impress others, and other times they turn into big lies to avoid punishment, blame or deceive others.

Although many white lies, as some call them, do no harm, they may grow up little by little to inflict heavy losses on their owners or the people who believed them.

How do you know if someone is lying to you?

Behavior analyst and body language expert Dr. Lillian Glass, who has worked with the FBI to detect signs of lying and deception, says that to be able to tell if someone is lying, you have to first become familiar with their body language or facial expressions when they are even honest. You can notice the difference in his behavior.

In her book “The Body Language of Liars”, Dr. Glass presents us with a set of signs that help us know whether the person in front of us is truthful or not. What are these signs?

Lie detection signs

Here are 10 signs and signs by which liars unconsciously or unintentionally reveal themselves, which if you focus on them, and train yourself to notice them, you will be able to detect liars wherever they are, and no matter how much they try to hide the truth from you.

1- Changing the position of the head

One of the most telling signs that someone is lying to you is a sudden change of head position when asked a direct question. “The person may turn their head back a little, or lower it, or bend it slightly to one side,” says Dr. Glass.

If the person in front of you suddenly changes their head position when you ask them a question, they are probably not being honest.

2- The way of breathing

When someone is nervous about lying to you, you will notice that their breathing becomes heavy, and their voice becomes lower. The reason behind this is the change in the heart rate (due to stress and fear of being exposed) and thus the blood flow in the body. This leads to difficulty breathing and speaking.

3- Standstill without moving

You’ve probably seen how nervous people are portrayed in movies and TV shows as stiff, standing still. In fact, liars exhibit similar behavior as well. If you see someone behaving like this even though there is no obvious reason for being nervous, they are probably trying to hide something.

4- Repetition of words and sentences

When someone repeats the words or sentences they just said, they are actually trying to gain more time to collect their thoughts and build a compelling story. He’s trying to convince you and himself that he’s telling the truth.

5- Touching or covering the mouth

Another behavior that people do when they lie is to cover certain parts of the body with their hands or by any other means (cap, bag, etc.). If you see someone putting his hand on his throat or chest, or covering his head or stomach area as soon as a question is asked of him, there is a good chance that his answer will not be honest.

6- Covering some places on the body

Another behavior that people do when they lie is to cover certain parts of the body with their hands or by any other means (cap, bag, etc.). If you see someone putting his hand on his throat or chest, or covering his head or stomach area as soon as a question is asked of him, there is a good chance that his answer will not be honest.

7- Waving and pointing with hands

Liars tend to be defensive when they are suspicious of what they are saying, which results in an exaggerated gesture and wave, sometimes in a way that does not fit the context of the conversation.

8- Going into detail

When someone tries to hide the truth, the best way for them is to bury it among the insignificant details. When you ask someone a question, and they answer your question with a lot of useless detail, they are probably lying. He hopes that being open and honest will make you believe what he says.

9- Difficulty speaking

Liars find it difficult to speak, not because their lies are uncomfortable or because they cannot tell, but rather because of purely changes in the body. When feeling stressed, the throat dries up and speech becomes difficult. Be careful if your person is biting or licking their lips while they are talking, this could be a strong indication that they are lying.

10- Stare without blinking eyes

Liars believe that if they maintain eye contact with you, they will be able to convince you that they are telling the truth, so you find that they exaggerate, and they keep staring without blinking their eyes.

“When people are telling the truth, some of them look around from time to time, unlike liars who keep a cold look and keep staring at you to impose some kind of control over you,” says Dr. Glass.

11- Not being able to tell the story again

Suppose someone tells you a story, and you have some doubts about its truthfulness. All you have to do is ask him about the same story again after a few days. And if he is a liar, you will find many loopholes in his account.

You can also ask him to tell you the story again in reverse, in a different chronological order, or ask him questions about the events of the story, which happened before the other? And which one happened first?

He probably won’t be able to answer correctly, because he composed the story the moment he tells you, so his focus is distracted, and with his nervousness, he won’t be able to remember every detail of it.

This was a set of signs that detect liars, but sometimes it may be a natural habit for someone… Before you judge whether someone is lying or not and before you start interpreting his behavior as signs of lying, first make sure that he does not act in this way in a normal situation.

How do you spot liars through writing?

In the past, we learned about signs and behaviors that you can use to reveal someone who is lying to you, and these are things that you must see in the speaker in front of you so that you can judge. But, what if you are talking to someone through email or messages through social media applications? How can you in this case reveal the truth?

Don’t worry, detecting lies through messages is also possible, just look for one of the following signs of lying:

1- long sentences

As with a liar who seeks to bury the truth in unimportant details, someone may try to lie to you by hiding the truth between the lines of their message. According to research conducted at Cornell University, a truthful sentence is usually shorter and simpler than a false statement.

2- Ambiguous formulas

Liars tend to use ambiguous words and phrases in their messages, which express doubt and possibility. They don’t want to use direct sentences, they may not want to hurt the person on the other side, but they don’t want to give a correct answer either. These people may use words such as: “maybe”, “I will try”, “I think”…etc.

3- Repetition of information

Just as in face-to-face communication, message liars try to convince you of their lie, so they may have to repeat their statement (in other words, their lie) several times to believe them, believing deep down the truth of the phrase: “Repeat the lie a thousand times, and it will come true!”.

Pay attention to the sentences of the person you are talking to, and notice if there is unjustified repetition in his words

4- Delayed response

When you send someone a question, and they take a long time to respond to your message, they may be busy, or they may not have seen your message. But it could also mean he’s lying to him. He needs some time to think about what to say. Some people take a moment to think about whether they should lie or not.

Suspicion increases in particular, when the conversation between you is going on naturally, and this person responds to you quickly, then suddenly delays when you ask him a question.

5- It takes a long time to write

Of course, there are people who are slow to type while messaging through various social media apps. However, when you are used to someone who writes quickly, and then suddenly finds that it takes a long time to write an answer to your question so that the answer is just a word or two…this is where it becomes suspicious, and the percentage of him lying to you increases.

6- Never respond

Hiding the truth is also a form of lying, and it’s very easy to do when communicating via text messages. So if someone tries to avoid answering your question, by suddenly changing the subject, or asking another question, or even ignoring your message and not responding to it for several days, this is strong evidence that he is hiding something from you.

7- Manipulating emotions

Humans are very fragile creatures. Liars often take advantage of this point to their advantage, manipulating the feelings of others and trying to make them feel guilty. If you suddenly find yourself feeling guilty for asking someone a question, and they respond with tired and sick sentences or tell you an unfortunate event that happened to them, they are probably lying to them, and it’s time to stop feeling that you are the bad person in the story.

8- Making accusations

It’s another way to manipulate emotions. In this case, the liar takes the reins and starts asking you questions instead of answering your question. These questions may be embarrassing to you and make you feel the need to justify your position or behavior, so you forget about the question that you asked.

It’s a smart way to avoid answering embarrassing questions, but it’s also a strong sign that the person on the other side of the screen is lying to you, and doesn’t want you to know the truth.

9- Test your reaction

Have you ever asked someone if he had done a certain thing, and his answer came: “What if I told you that I did?”.

Many liars resort to this method to test your reaction and see if you will get angry or not. They may back down from a lie if you give them a peaceful reaction, but they will never tell you the truth if you show them that you are angry or shocked by what they did.

Don’t fall prey to this trap, and don’t let them change the subject, make sure you stay in control of the whole situation.

10- Grumbling

Do you remember how you sometimes pretended to be sick to avoid school?

In fact, this trick is still effective even among adults, who begin to complain and fabricate arguments to evade telling the truth.

You and your friend are talking normally, then you ask him about something, and his condition turns suddenly and he tells you that he is sick or feels very sleepy, or his boss asked him to do an urgent matter..etc of excuses and arguments.

Such answers are strong evidence that this person is lying to you and is trying to evade telling the truth. Don’t let this trick fool you in the future.

In addition to the above, intuition also plays an important role in detecting whether or not someone is lying to you. By this, we don’t mean to mistrust everyone, but if you are used to someone, and you suddenly see them behaving in a strange way, or different from what you are familiar with, and if you feel that they are not normal with you, there is a good chance that it is true. Do not hesitate to ask him openly what is going on in his head before you suspect him and accuse him of lying, and pay close attention to his reaction.