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Can You Learn to spot a liar?
Can you understand a liar?
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Can you catch a lie if you're a liar?
Can you spot a lie?
Do Good Liars Lie more?
The answer lies in psychology. We spoke to Richard Wiseman, a professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, for an episode of the podcast Instant Genius. He gave us insights into how to better understand a liar.
- Start by asking neutral questions. By asking someone basic, nonthreatening questions, you are able to observe a response baseline. Ask them about the weather, their plans for the weekend, or anything that would elicit a normal, comfortable response.
- Find the hot spot. Once you move from neutral territory to the “lie zone,” you should be able to observe a change in body language, facial expressions, eye movement, and sentence structure.
- Watch body language. Liars often pull their bodies inward when lying to make themselves feel smaller and less noticeable. Many people will become squirmy and sometimes conceal their hands to subconsciously hide fidgety fingers.
- Observe micro-facial expressions. People will often give away a lie in their facial expressions, but some of these facial expressions are subtle and difficult to spot.
- The Majority of Lies Are Told by a Minority of Liars. This 2019 study, along with previous research, reveals that most people are honest most of the time and that the vast majority of lies that are told are told only by a handful of liars.
- Prolific Liars Think They Are Good Liars. According to the 2019 study, prolific liars consider themselves to be good liars. Brianna Verigin and co-authors of the study explain that good liars seem to be responsible for a disproportionate amount of lies in daily life.
- They Tend to Tell Inconsequential Lies. Another finding from the study shows that these expert liars tend to tell more inconsequential lies than lies of serious consequence.
- They Prefer Lying Face-to-Face. In the 2019 study, the researchers found that higher self-reported deception ability was correlated with preferring to tell lies face-to-face, but not correlated with preference in telling lies via text message, phone call, email, or social media.
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