Did you know that more than 80% of lies go undetected? Did you ever wonder in a conversation, if the other person might be lying to you, but were not too sure to confront the person?
Lighten up! Here are 7 easy body language tips to detect a lie immediately.
According to behavior analysts, the below signs displayed by an individual, are classic clues which indicate that the person is, in fact lying.
Be warned, sometimes you may not like it when you realize that you are being lied to; but in certain situations, this knowledge can come in very handy and you can easily avoid being duped by fraudsters.
So, read on to find out the facial expressions and body language changes that inadvertently occur when a person lies.
Eye contact
A lying person usually tries to avoid your eyes or can go to the other extreme and stare into your eyes for longer time than necessary as if to dare you to challenge his lie.
Constant movement
The person who is lying, will be jittery and restless. You can usually spot the person constantly moving his legs or showing other indications that he wants to leave the place as fast as possible.
Touching the face
Sometimes, the person speaking untruth keeps touching parts of his face. You can usually observe the lying person touching his nose, ear, or mouth often.
Getting defensive
When you express your disbelief to the lying person, he usually gets highly defensive and dramatic. If the person was actually speaking the truth, he will take the offensive side.
Slow speech
To speak lies, the person needs time to make up stories that corroborate his lies. So, his words will be slow and any questions you may pose interrupting his speech, will slow him down further. This happens because he has to recall what he spoke earlier and repeat it. That is why there might be inconsistencies in his story at times.
Contradictory expressions
Sometimes, the lying person may involuntarily shake his head while saying ‘yes’, if the correct answer is ‘no’ to a question. It will be a micro-expression that you can catch if you pay close attention. The person may shrug while speaking, indicating that he does not agree with his own statement.
Sweating and anxiety
Speaking lies is very stressful and the person who lies can sweat profusely. He might also display repeated behavior like obsessive lip-smacking, combing his hair with his hands and look anxious to change the subject.
Baseline
In some cases, we should be familiar with the person’s normal behavior to identify any changes in his tone or manners when the person lies.
Even when the person is not known to you, his normal behavior can be observed by posing him non-threatening questions (his name, common happenings in the neighborhood, weather etc.) and registering his normal responses to establish a baseline.
Later, when you ask him a question to which you think he may not tell the truth, you can easily identify the behavior changes and detect lies.
Lie Detection
These tips should help you become a human lie detector, but this method is not 100% accurate, because some people are professionally trained to lie 😉
If a person displays more than one of signs listed above, chances are high that he is lying. But do not use the body language alone to make your judgments. Trust your instincts.
Happy lie-detecting! 😉
I have to slightly disagree with the eye contact but in this area that you stated and quote “stare into your eyes for a longer time than necessary as if to dare you to challenge his lie.” I stare at one’s eyes at times but to picture what they are saying. So It’s a 50/50 for me with this one. I agree with the others.
True, that is also possible. We have to look at the body language as a whole. Even then we can’t say these are 100 % true.
This is a great list! I will try to look for these things the next time I think someone may be lying to me! 🙂
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