1) FIND THE BASELINE
Before you can tell if someone’s lying, you need to know how they
usually behave. Once you understand their basic pattern of
behavior—quirks and mannerisms included—you can start digging up the
lies. People usually deviate from their baseline behavior when they say
something fishy.
2) FACE IT
Asymmetries like a crooked smile or a half-mast eye are telltale
signs of a lie. A wandering eye is another signal, since it’s hard to
lie while looking someone in the eye.
3) LOOK FOR A SLEIGHT OF HAND
Fibs make you fidgety. Liars will scratch their noses, rub their
necks, and pick imaginary lint from their shirts. A fib may send extra
adrenaline to the capillaries in your face—especially your nose—which
sparks an urge to itch.
4) TIME THE BLINK OF AN EYE
The average person blinks every five seconds. But when they lie,
they’ll blink more—every two or three seconds. Liars also take longer to
respond to questions, probably because they have to constantly cook up
creative answers and need to recall previous mistruths.
5) LET THEM TALK
Lies make us chatty. A liar may talk a lot to win you over, but most
of those extra sentences are fluff. Phrases like “The truth is” or “To
be honest” can mean that if they aren’t lying to you now, they were
earlier.
6) DIG DEEPER
If you think someone’s pulling your leg, ask them to repeat their
story. Unless they’ve rehearsed, the tale won’t be the same the second
time around. A liar may also evade your questions, which means they’ve
definitely got something to hide.
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