'How to spot a liar'

We have all come across a person talking to us and even though what he or she is saying makes sense and appears genuine we still have a bad feeling about that person.

We experience a gut feeling that all is not right with the other person’s words. This gut feeling we get  is a message from our brain trying to protect us, and is our first and best sign that we might be dealing with a liar.

People communicate using verbal and nonverbal communication.  When there is no contradiction between the verbal and non-verbal cues, we take the other person’s words to be genuine and honest. However, when we perceive some kind of contradiction between these two forms of communication,  we experience a negative vibe, we start feeling uncomfortable with the other person and without even realising we start doubting his intensions or credibility.

Nonverbal Communication is the way the subconscious mind speaks. No matter how much one tries to control it, it gives clues to how that person truly feels. This makes it an ideal medium for detecting lies. Eyes, head, voice and hands leak out cues of withholding and deception or cues that can establish credibility. 

Body Language of Lies

Physical expression will be limited and stiff: Liars tend to keep their hands hidden and still. They stick them in their pockets, clench them together or hold them behind their backs. Hand, arm and leg movement are towards their own body, the liar takes up less space.

Too much or too little eye contact: People tend to look up to the right to visualize or create a new response or down to the right to create the sounds of a new response. We recall information that occurred in the past by looking up to the left or down to the left. Spot a liar by listening for pauses and right eye movement.

Hands: Touching their face, throat & mouth. Touching or scratching the nose or behind their ear. 

Face: Excessive blinking, dilated pupils, pitch changes, less smiling, and shrugging shoulders.

Emotional Gestures & Contradiction

Delayed display of emotion, stays longer it would naturally, then stops suddenly.

Timing is off between emotions gestures/expressions and words. Example: Someone says "I love it!" when receiving a gift, and then smile after making that statement, rather then at the same time the statement is made.

Gestures/expressions don’t match the verbal statement, such as nodding when saying no.

Expressions are limited to mouth movements when someone is faking emotions (like happy, surprised, sad, awe, )instead of the whole face. For example; when someone smiles naturally their whole face is involved: jaw/cheek movement, eyes and forehead push down, etc.

Interactions and Reactions 

•  A guilty person gets defensive. An innocent person will often go on the offensive.
•  A liar is uncomfortable facing his questioner/accuser and may turn his head or body away.
•  A liar might unconsciously place objects (book, coffee cup, etc.) between themselves and you.

Verbal Context and Content

• A liar will use your words to answer a question. When asked, “Did you eat the last cookie?” The liar answers, “No, I did not eat the last cookie.” 
• The guilty person may speak more than natural, adding unnecessary details to convince you, they often pick some obscure point and talk about it a lot instead of focusing on the key issue. 
• Liars have longer pauses, shorter answers and longer times between a question. It makes sense that liars need time to create the lie, recalling the truth takes less time.
• A liar may leave out pronouns and speak in a monotonous tone. When a truthful statement is made the pronoun is emphasized as much or more than the rest of the words in a statement.
• Speech hesitations. Pausing, throat clearing, or other stalling techniques may indicate that a person is embellishing the truth.
• Answers questions not asked. Without even asking them a question, liars will defend themselves

Obviously, just because someone exhibits one or more of these signs does not make them a liar. The above behaviours should be compared to a persons base (normal) behaviour whenever possible.

Body language comes in clusters of signals and postures, depending on the internal emotions and mental states.  Therefore, recognizing a whole cluster, a combination of body language and other cues is thus far more reliable than trying to interpret individual elements.