If you want to learn how to tell if a person is lying, then read on. I have outlined 8 very important points which can help you quickly and easily identify if a person is probably lying to you.
The body gives clues to help know if someone is lying
Lying has always been part of human nature; we can argue that it is second to making war. If it were possible to read someone’s mind then it would be very easy to know whether a person is lying to you. Unfortunately, there is no machine which can be used to read one’s thoughts to know if they are telling the truth. Luckily, the body usually gives away clues to help you know if someone is lying or not.
You can use the following tips I have illustrated below to help you know if someone is lying. But before you continue reading further you should first know two things.
One is that there are some of us (conmen in particular) who have mastered the art of lying that makes it difficult to know if they’re lying. They are probably reading this article like you and using it to brush up their lying tactics!
Secondly, in certain instances ignorance is bliss. Knowing that someone is lying to you especially if you are very close to them might only end up hurting you. So if you are ready you can proceed.
How to Tell if a Person is Lying – 9 clues to help you out
1- Eye Contact
Most people who lie to you will generally avoid eye contact. People usually make eye contact for at least half of their conversation, so anything less than this should warrant your suspicion. However, eye contact is not always effective because there are some people who will deliberately try to make eye contact with you so that you can believe them. So the popular phrase, “You know I am telling the truth, you can see it in my eyes.” Is just a cheap drama which has no relevance whatsoever in the real world.
2- Lie Detector
Perhaps the most famous lie detector is the polygraph. We have all seen reality TV shows where people are hooked up to a polygraph to determine if they are lying to their spouses. Seems to be very effective, right? Then why don’t we adopt these machines into our court systems? The answer is that a polygraph is only accurate less than 95% of the time. Moreover, people have discovered ways to cheat the polygraph e.g. by taking pills that will help them relax or undergoing polygraph training in advance. Besides, a polygraph is an expensive and bulky piece of machinery which you can’t carry anywhere you go.
Sometimes when somebody is telling a lie they will try to be overly defensive even if nobody is confronting them directly. They may even accuse you or somebody else of lying. In that case you should know that he/she has something to hide. People who tell the truth don’t need to defend themselves aggressively since they know they are backed up by real hard evidence, in which case they will only refer to it in their defense.
4- Inconsistent and Unclear
This will largely depend on you closely examining what the other person is telling you. If you ever been in an encounter with a conman you will notice that their story tends to be too much exaggerated or not is clear. In fact most lies tend to be inconsistent with facts and unclear because most are very short and ambiguous in nature. A liar will avoid telling you too much information because this will only increase their chances of being caught. So if you feel you do not understand what someone is telling you, you should probe him more by asking them more questions to remove the ambiguity. If they are lying they will admit it to you before you are done with the probing. But don’t try this technique very often because it will not rub well on most people.
5- Unusual Body Movements
If a person starts fidgeting with their hands, tapping their foot, or turning away from you (in short they are acting nervous) it could mean that they are telling you a lie. However, this technique is only effective if you know someone very well including their behaviors.
6- Changing the Subject
A guilty person will often try to change the subject once they realize that you are on their tail. They will usually try to use sarcasm or humor to change the topic. In that case you should be more alert and try to refer back to the topic they were trying to avert.
7- Trust your Intuition
Most people are actually able to know when they are being lied to by simply following their intuition (Some may call it experience that comes with age). This is the only line of defense that you have against a true master of the art of lying. So never dismiss that gut feeling you get when someone is lying to you. But you should be careful not to mistake general suspicion or misplaced beliefs as a “gut feeling”.
The above steps should only help you to be more accurate in assessing whether someone is lying to you. But there is no foolproof technique which is 100% effective, so I would advise you to use two or more of the tips concurrently. If you’re still not sure, the best option is to get some evidence to back up your accusation.
8- Use the techniques recommended in the “Bust Liars” Guide
If you want more help (professional) on how to tell if a person is lying, then I suggest your try out the tips recommended in the “Bust Liars” guide. “Bust Liars” is a great and effective guide that contains all the necessary things you need to know so as to identify, with precision each time someone is telling a lie. Thousand of people round the world have used this guide and most, if not all of them can now quickly tell when someone is not speaking the whole truth.
Do you want to be able to quickly identify when someone is lying to you, and get them to tell the truth?
Click here: Bust Lairs to instantly download a copy of this guide.