As most people do not speak the truth, we need to find some ways to detect liars. Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Paul Ekman, says. “Lies occur between teacher and student, doctor and patient, husband and wife, witness and jury, lawyer and client and salesperson and customer.”
In fact, you cannot find a man or woman who has never told a lie. A saint would tell the complete truth all the time. The rest of us tell white lies in social transactions. Sometimes, telling the hard truth would land you in trouble. Therefore, children and adults tell white lies to make others comfortable. Research shows that social liars are more popular than those who tell the truth all the time.
As we are surrounded by liars, we need some mechanism to detect liars. Otherwise, you might end up as a victim of trickery and cheating. It is very common for someone to say that they had sent you a letter or gift when they had not done so.
A friend would tell you, “I phoned you several times,” although he had not done so. Your neighbour swears he loves your new car when he really cannot stand the sight of it. You walk into a shop which displays a notice announcing an annual sale. However, you find only a few items are marked down with a lower price. When someone congratulates on your examination success, you do not know whether they are genuinely happy.
Paul Ekman has been studying deceptive behaviour of people for more than four decades. In one of his books, he says, “Lying is such a central characteristic of life that better understanding it is relevant to almost all human affairs.” If you can spot lies, it will help you to do business properly. Therefore, psychologists have been trying to come up with certain ways to separate the truth from lies. One such tried and tested method is to pay attention to voice changes.
Vocal changes
One day, a psychologist observed a woman referring to beautiful flowers she was looking at. He detected some hesitation in her voice. Her words lacked genuine joy and she did not seem relaxed. The observer labelled her as a liar and it was found to be correct. Liars can be detected when they deviate from the norm with vocal changes. Sometimes, liars speak too fast or too slow.
People tend to tell lies when they write letters and applications for jobs. Psychology Professor James Pennebaker at the University of Texas developed a computer software known as ‘Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count’ which analyses written and verbal content in written documents. For instance, liars tend to use fewer first person pronouns such as ‘I, me’ or ‘mine’ than truth tellers. They are also unable to do complex thinking.
When someone talks to you, look at their eyes. Unfocussed eyes are a sure sign of lying. Sometimes, they tell lies while looking away. People find it difficult to maintain eye contact when they tell lies. However, some liars increase their eye gaze while speaking.
Ultra-brief facial expressions are difficult to spot. Even police officers, judges and lawyers find it difficult to detect liars by studying facial expressions. Highly trained liars know how to disguise their lies with facial expressions. Liars are capable of masking smiles which deceive observers. However, a well-trained observer can see emotions leaking through when people tell lies.
Pinocchio’s nose
Body language plays a vital role in detecting liars. Your eyes, nose, ears or hands can tell us the whole story when it comes to lying. We are quite familiar with Pinocchio’s nose which lengthened whenever he told a lie. The most reliable clues to lying are the gestures you make automatically because you have no control over them. According to James Patterson, author of “The day America told the truth,” 91 percent of the people tell lies both at home and at work. This view makes it difficult for us to spot liars easily.
To spot liars, you need at least a nodding acquaintance of body language. In simple terms, liars attempt to cover their mouths, eyes or ears with their hands like the proverbial three wise monkeys. Children often use hand-to-face gestures openly when they tell lies. If a child tells a lie, he will cover his mouth with his hands in an attempt to stop the deceitful words from coming out of his mouth. When he becomes an adult, he will use the same gestures which are less obvious.
When someone uses a hand-to-face gesture, it does not always mean that they are telling lies. However, they may be holding back some information. To spot liars, you should look at their faces. This is because their attitudes and emotions are revealed from their facial expressions.
Research shows that women are better at reading emotions than men. Women are good at telling complicated lies while men tell simple lies. People tend to believe lies told by attractive people such as the former US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton. On the other hand, professional liars such as politicians, lawyers, actors and television announcers have refined their body language to the point where it is difficult to spot the lies.
Bill Clinton
When telling lies, some people touch their noses. This is because when you tell a lie, chemicals known as ‘catecholamines’ are released causing the tissue inside the nose to swell. In the process, when the nose actually expands with blood, it is known as the Pinocchio Effect.
While giving testimony to the Grand Jury on his affair with Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton touched his nose 26 times. However, he did not do so when he was telling the truth. Men usually rub their noses when they tell lies. Women, however, are less likely to do so. Instead they look away while telling lies. Some people use the collar pull when they tell lies. This is due to the increase of blood pressure around the neck.
Sometime ago, a lie detector, known as the polygraph, was used to discover if someone was telling lies. However, some people refused to take the lie detector test. Today, psychologists use highly advanced video cameras to study facial expressions and gestures. Although we need not worry too much about white lies exchanged between spouses, friends, lovers and strangers, lawyers and judges have to elicit the truth from witnesses to dispense justice.
