Seven Signs That You Are Being Lied To
Would you know if someone was lying to you? Most of us like to think we would but every once in awhile we have to admit to ourselves that someone has pulled the wool over our eyes.
Psychological research suggests that liars no matter how good they are always give off subtle clues that they are not being truthful if you know what to look for. The list below will help you go some way to 'spotting a liar'.
1. EYE CONTACT. A common misconception is that a person who is lying is unable to maintain eye contact. Nonsense: people break eye contact all the time - our eyes are moving constantly. In fact a person who is lying is more likely to unnaturally hold eye contact with you for this very reason as he thinks if he breaks it you will know he is lying.
2. BLINKING. A person who is lying will blink a lot,as blinking seems to correlate to the amount of mental stress we are under. In a normal conversation where a person is attuned to you, he will blink at roughly the same rate as you, often at moments when you pause in your speech. Be wary of someone who is blinking frantically as they speak with you.
3. SHOULDER MOVEMENTS. A person who is in easy rapport with you will often mirror your body position, which means if he was stood in front of you his shoulders would be parallel to your own. If he is uncomfortable with his own statements and is lying - he is may express this by turning his shoulders away a little. A shoulder shrug at the same time may again signify a lack of conviction in his own statements.
4. NOT USING I. A liar likes to distance himself from the lie and will normally be reluctant to refer to himself, whereas in normal conversation we usually refer to ourselves a lot. Watch out for less use of 'I', 'my', 'me' and so on.
5. BRIEF EXPLANATIONS. Although a person will probably become a little long winded when lying, he will conversely tend to be rather superficial in his descriptions of significant events. Embellishments are suddenly skipped over, and details ignored. If you ask a liar to expand upon his story, the chances are you will just get a repeat of what you've just heard, rather than filling in with more details.
6. SLOWING DOWN. Because a liar has to juggle different thoughts with one another and be careful of tripping himself up - his speech will slow accordingly. His language may become stiffer and more formal and there will more slips of the tongue and pauses in his speech that may be filled with 'er' and 'um' to give himself more time to think
7. I'M BEING HONEST. Liars are of course always worried that they won't be believed and can't resist reinforcing the idea that they are being truthful. Consequently they pepper their speech unnecessarily with phrases such as ' Honestly........' or 'You won't believe this but.....,' and so on.
It is important however when trying to work out whether someone is being honest that you do not go jumping to conclusions. Spotting lies is fascinating but even for the professional it can be an extraordinary tricky skill to master!
About the Author
LINDA PRESTON WORKS AS A PROFESSIONAL PSYCHIC & WRITER.HER WORK HAS BEEN
FEATURED POSITIVELY IN NATIONAL MAGAZINES AND SHE IS A FREQUENT EXPERT GUEST
ON VARIOUS RADIO SHOWS. SHE IS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN WHAT MAKES PEOPLE TICK
. SHE CAN BE CONTACTED VIA
HER WEBSITE.
