Signs Of A Liar!

 Good poker players know how to tell if someone is lying.  Police officers do their criminal investigations based on some of these signs. Liars use signs in their behavior that can easily give them away.  What are the ways you can tell if someone is lying?  How about we tell you:

• Facial Expressions:  Facial expressions are hard to control so they can give away phony performances.  An example of picking out a lying smile is a relaxed expression and lots of “laugh lines” especially around the eyes.  A phony smile seems forced and unnatural, with fewer wrinkles around the mouth and eyes.
• Voice:  Tone and patterns of speech contain clues to deception because they are hard to control.  Especially when trying to hide a powerful emotion.  A person cannot easily prevent the voice from trembling or breaking.   A person may speak more quickly (suggesting anger) or slowly (indicating sadness).  Nervous laughter, inappropriate pauses between words, or non-words, such as “ah” and “ummm,” also hint a discomfort. (Sounds like a certain President doesn’t it?)
• Words:  Good liars mentally rehearse their lines, but they cannot always avoid a simple slip of the tongue.  This is something that the performer did not mean to say.  The more complicated the deception, the more likely a performer is to make a revealing mistake.  An example is if a a young man who is deceiving his parents  that his roommate is a male friend rather then a female lover might mistakenly use the word “she” instead of the word “he”.  You have to be listening intently to find these variations.
• Body Language:  A “leak” from a body language may tip off an observer to deception as well.  Subtle body movements, for example, give the impression fo nervousness, as does sudden swallowing or rapid breathing.  These are great clues because few people can control them.  Sometimes if the person doesn’t not confirm words that suggest excitement also reveals deception.

Sources: Based on Ekman (1985) and Golden (1999b).