How to Tell if Someone is Lying

For most people, lying is unconventional and can cause stress. As a result, many people who lie reveal their dishonesty through unconscious actions that serve as an outlet for their stress. If you understand the physical reactions that humans commonly exhibit while lying, you may be able to infer that someone is lying, regardless of the words they are actually speaking. Realize that it may be more difficult to tell if someone is lying if they are trained to avoid these revealing behaviors.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• a person

1. Look for fidgeting. Lying often makes people restless with guilt. The pent-up energy created by this guilt or anxiety often manifests itself in seemingly pointless physical actions, such as repeatedly tying one’s shoes or obsessively cleaning glasses. This can be particularly true if the subject is lying to someone he has strong feelings about.

2. Ask questions. The responses someone gives while lying can be dead giveaways if you ask the right questions. For example, if you ask the same question to someone a few minutes after the original question, she may give a different answer, exposing their lie. Sometimes, answers that are too complete can also be a giveaway that someone is lying, particularly if the answers seem rehearsed.

3. Listen to whether or not someone speaks in the first person. Liars often want to distance themselves from a lie and therefore avoid saying “I” when speaking.

4. Beware of someone who asserts his honesty. There is usually no need to swear that something is true or make promises on the souls of dead relatives to make a point. Liars often overemphasize the truth of their statements to compensate for the fact that the statements are actually lies.

5. Make eye contact. Liars are often ashamed of their lies and that makes it more difficult for them to maintain eye contact while speaking.

6. Observe physical signs. When someone lies, their pupils often dilate, their breath may become more rapid and their voice may rise in pitch.

7. Analyze yourself. Put yourself in the frame of mind as if you were lying yourself, and see how your words and behaviors change. Look for these same changes in the person you are observing.

8. Use your intuition. Sometimes there are no clear-cut indicators that someone is lying, but your intuition may still raise suspicion. In this case, you are probably picking up on a number of minor or subconscious indicators that something isn’t quite right. In aggregate, these indicators may give rise to the accurate impression that someone is indeed lying.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't tell someone you know they're lying if it's not a big deal or they won't like you very much. Just keep in mind whatever they said is not true and be satisfied with knowing it.

• Some people are just always nervous, are bad communicators, or have A.D.D. and may exhibit these symptoms even if they aren't lying.

References

• CNN: How to Tell If Someone Is Lying
• Forbes.com; Ten Ways to Tell If Someone Is Lying to You