Detecting Liars: Signs To Look For When Detecting Liars

Detecting liars is relatively easy, especially when you know what signs to look for. There are two ways in detecting liars: through what they say and how they act. Hence, you must inform yourself of common telltale signs for you to know whether the person you are talking to is lying.

What They Say.

If a person is lying, they feel uncomfortable discussing it. Hence, they will make an effort to divert your attention or change topics. Observe how they react when you change topics, especially the subtle signs of relief they convey.

Liars also try to erase doubts in your mind by using absolutes such as “always”, “everyone”, or “never”. It is their way of persuading you to believe in their lie or to defend themselves, so always keep this mind when detecting liars.

When confronted with something, liars might also throw a joke as an answer. The reason for this is that they are hiding something and they do not want to respond directly to your inquiry.

In fact, they might even throw the question back at you. They use this strategy to buy time to think of a believable answer, especially if you demand one from them.

If a person gives an honest answer, there is little thinking involved. But liars, on the other hand, have to come up with a legitimate response so they need what little time they can get.

You must also observe inconsistencies in their stories. When a liar says something, it is usually within the spur of the moment. Hence, they tend to forget what they previously said, leading to an inconsistent story.

Body Language Speaks Volumes.

Humans subconsciously emit body signals that give others a glimpse of how you are feeling or your current state of mind. Hence, it is for your own good to know how to read these body language signals in detecting liars.

Eye contact is one way to detect whether people are telling the truth. If they cannot look you straight in the eye, then they could be deceptive.

You might also notice that they tend to become fidgety, they cannot stand still, or they stutter. Other common signals to look for are trembling of the voice or slight shaking of their hands.

One major indicator is when they excessively touch an area in their face, such as nose or ears. This should really send out clues, especially if it is not a person's habit to do so.

These are just some of the most common signs you must look for when detecting liars.