How to Tell If Someone Is Being Honest

Video Transcript

"I'm Joe Cuenco with Family Resources. Today, we're going to be talking about how to tell if someone has a poker face outside of the actual card game. Specifically, how to tell if someone is being honest with you. The easiest way to detect this is ask their mother. Mothers are often the best source of determining if their children are lying. But if you can't do that, there's really no iron clad way to tell if someone is being honest or dishonest. It really is a matter of boiling down the actions or the behaviors. The results are obvious. For example, if somebody is not being honest with you, then what they say or what they represented to you will ultimately be very different. And for example, if they lie about where they're going to be or what they've done, you know then it's a matter of the facts basically uncovering themselves. Or a pattern of behavior. They may become unreliable over time or just exhibit the behaviors that are really suspect. Telling by action is a little more difficult. Example: even polygraph, or lie detectors, can't really detect if someone is being honest. And pathological liars, those who lie very frequently, are often difficult. They cover their lies over very well. But there are generally some very detectable signals that someone is being dishonest. You may talk to them, and they may not look you in the eye. They may be fidgeting. They may have nervous behavior. They may have a quickened heartbeat. Sweaty palms and also nervousness. But the fact is, it's really hard to detect many of these things if you're not a practitioner. Continue your line of questioning is another way. And generally, if someone who's lying to you or dishonest, ultimately they will trip themselves up or their facts will not be congruent, the same. And therefore, it'll be uncovered they're not telling you the truth. So there are some subtle signs. There are some more direct signs. But just pay attention to these things as much as you can, and ultimately at the end of the day, this is how you can tell if someone is being honest with you. I'm Joe Cuenco, relationships for life, Family Resources."