How to Spot a Liar

Why do people lie and how can you tell when they are doing it? If you know what you are looking for, you can spot a liar about 90% of the time.

There are several reasons people lie. We must understand why people lie, to know when they are lying. People lie to bridge a gap between reality and fantasy. They lie to get what they want . They lie to escape accountability. These are the main reasons a person is motivated to lie.

There are many types of lies. Some are more sophisticated than others.

Only 7% of what we communicate is verbal, so it is very important to watch actions rather than words when you wish to expose a liar. For example, there are experts that assist attorneys in reading jurors body language to know which way the court case will go. They dont need the jurors to tell them , they can know the jurors intentions through their body language, because they know what to look for.

What do liars do? First, they answer questions that are not asked, and they give you too much information. For example, Mary comes home from shopping and her husband asks, what did you buy? She goes into a monologue about the lack of parking at the mall. This would be an indicator for her husband to ask more specific questions, as Mary is obviously trying to divert the conversation away from her purchases.

Liars give too much detail and become very formal in their conversation. They stop using contractions.  They go off on a tangent to avoid answering your question. A major red flag is if you hear, “to be completely honest with you”. This basically means they are about to lie their pants off. Liar , Liar pants on fire.

No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips (Freud)

A nonverbal cue you are being lied to is when a person says yes, but shakes their head no. Really, this happens. Alot. This is an involuntary nervous system reaction to lying. The liar absolutely can’t control it.

Another cue you are being lied to is facial touching. A liar takes their hand to their face, and literally tries to cover their mouth unconsciously. They also might touch their nose. They begin to show tic behaviors when they are lying, for instance rapid eye blinking. Another is shallow breathing and pursing their lips. Watch for this. The nervous sytem naturally abbreviates breaths when we are lying, and our breathing becomes labored and short.

The liar will guard their personal space when lying. They might put their backpack in their lap to feel safe, or they might do other things to wall themselves off. They might put a piece of furniture between you and them. For example a chair or desk.

If someone wants to help they will have a good attitude. You ask an honest person for something and they provide it. You ask a liar for something, and they are too busy and very unavailable. They won’t provide the information you need to determine truth or lie. Liars are not helpful.

Use this knowledge to get to the truth. Lying is a cooperative act. When you agree to believe a lie, then you are agreeing to get lied to. Don’t trust the person that looks you in the eye too much. They read the books on lying, and they know liars don’t look people in the eye. So they overcompensate.

A trained liar spotter can find the discrepancies in someones words and actions. Liars are known for leaking information. When you see clusters of red flags, you might be interacting with a liar. And that’s the truth.