# How to tell if someone is lying



## twilyth (May 17, 2011)

This is pretty interesting and provides a very different technique for detecting deception than what you might normally think of and what you may have seen in shows like "Lie to Me".

It also covers interviewing techniques.  

article



> • When questioned, deceptive people generally want to say as little as possible. Geiselman initially thought they would tell an elaborate story, but the vast majority give only the bare-bones. Studies with college students, as well as prisoners, show this. Geiselman's investigative interviewing techniques are designed to get people to talk.
> 
> • Although deceptive people do not say much, they tend to spontaneously give a justification for what little they are saying, without being prompted.
> 
> ...


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## Bo$$ (May 17, 2011)

twilyth said:


> This is pretty interesting and provides a very different technique for detecting deception than what you might normally think of and what you may have seen in shows like "Lie to Me".
> 
> It also covers interviewing techniques.
> 
> article



thanks for that info


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## HammerON (May 17, 2011)

I use the above technique as well as "reading" the eyes:
http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php

I find this useful in my daily job duties - working with juvenile offenders


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## caleb (May 17, 2011)

In 'Catcher in the rye' guy lied even tho he didn't want to and I have it too. Impossible to detect!


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## Evolved (May 17, 2011)

Should watch a show called, "Lie to Me", on Fox.

It got canceled, but I thought it was a good show. It's all about this stuff.


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## sniviler (May 17, 2011)

You can learn alot watching/listening to all of our US politicians.


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## micropage7 (May 17, 2011)

i remember one article that said one of spy test is how to avoid lie detector


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## MRCL (May 17, 2011)

Lie to me is one of these shows that was based on actual techniques. Even the websites mentioned in the show exist. And the techniques work. On most people. Reading a persons reaction when being questioned is rather easy once you know what you have to look for; also when a person lies in front of a crowd i.e. She tells the crowd the performance of person A was great, but thinks the opposite.


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## Deleted member 3 (May 17, 2011)

Another if not better way would be waterboarding.


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## xenocide (May 17, 2011)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Another if not better way would be waterboarding.



Except for with Waterboarding people have been willing to admit to anything to make it stop...


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## scaminatrix (May 17, 2011)

I got a book called "Never Be Lied To Again" by David J. Lieberman (also comes in .pdf). If you can get hold of it, I recommend that. It's extremely thorough and teaches you how to spot a lie casually and forcefully, and also teaches you about battle tactics when faced with a liar. It's over 140 pages too.

I won't elaborate any more, if you're interested look it up.

EDIT: OT, but has anyone heard of the film Tim Roth was in before (what Lie To Me was probably based on/the reason Roth was cast for LTM), the film was called Liar? Now THAT'S a good film...


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## Deleted member 3 (May 17, 2011)

xenocide said:


> Except for with Waterboarding people have been willing to admit to anything to make it stop...



So you pick somebody off the street, waterboard, make him/her admit something silly and you got yourself a liar. 100% success.


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## Mr McC (May 17, 2011)

OP, I hope you are aware that by drawing this to our attention you are also forewarning any liars, who will undoubtedly be on their guard and keep tell-tale signs and involuntary gestures to a minimum now that they know what we, as honest people, are looking for.

It should also be borne in mind that such detection methods are by no means foolproof, given that certain gestures or behavioural traits might have a number of explanations: grooming may simply indicate nervousness when interacting with other people, rather than a lie.


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## MRCL (May 17, 2011)

You can spot if a person is just nervous, or really lying.
Also, you would have to undergo decades of training to control your body language. Its really not that easy.


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## Deleted member 3 (May 17, 2011)

MRCL said:


> You can spot if a person is just nervous, or really lying.
> Also, you would have to undergo decades of training to control your body language. Its really not that easy.



Or just be a psycho. They are great liars as they honestly don't give a damn about the murder they just committed or the punishment they could receive.


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## Melvis (May 17, 2011)

I find this common knowledge


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## Sasqui (May 17, 2011)

I've known one or two people I'd categorize as pathological liars.  They could convince themselves that whatever they said was true, so (honestly, LOL), they didn't even think they were lying!!!  It was almost impossible to distinguish truth from lies, unless you already knew the truth...  messed up.


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## twilyth (May 17, 2011)

Sasqui said:


> I've known one or two people I'd categorize as pathological liars.  They could convince themselves that whatever they said was true, so (honestly, LOL), they didn't even think they were lying!!!  It was almost impossible to distinguish truth from lies, unless you already knew the truth...  messed up.



That's where you use the interview techniques.  Even if they have no emotional reactions, it still creates what they call a cognitive burden to try to create the details of a story and keep them consistent.  And some things like the eye movements Hammeron linked to are probably involuntary.  Even if the person is aware of these cues, it might be impossible to suppress them completely.  Plus, suppression creates even more of a cognitive burden.


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## erocker (May 17, 2011)

MRCL said:


> Lie to me is one of these shows that was based on actual techniques. Even the websites mentioned in the show exist. And the techniques work. On most people. Reading a persons reaction when being questioned is rather easy once you know what you have to look for; also when a person lies in front of a crowd i.e. She tells the crowd the performance of person A was great, but thinks the opposite.



Love that show, can't believe it's cancelled. Now I would be lying if I said that Americans had good taste in television shows. That's why great shows like Jersey Shore remain on the air and lame shows where you have to think and be somewhat intelligent to watch get cancelled.


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (May 18, 2011)

They forgot to mention people who wink


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## Deleted member 3 (May 18, 2011)

Sasqui said:


> I've known one or two people I'd categorize as pathological liars.  They could convince themselves that whatever they said was true, so (honestly, LOL), they didn't even think they were lying!!!  It was almost impossible to distinguish truth from lies, unless you already knew the truth...  messed up.



I've known such people as well. Still know a few, they seem to honestly believe their own crap. The thing is, some people are actually impressed by their bullshit claims.


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## jsfitz54 (May 18, 2011)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> I've known such people as well. Still know a few, they seem to honestly believe their own crap. The thing is, some people are actually impressed by their bullshit claims.



So, if they believe in their own crap, how do you know they are dishonest?  What are the tells?


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## digibucc (May 18, 2011)

jsfitz54 said:


> So, if they believe in their own crap, how do you know they are dishonest?  What are the tells?



it's impossible to genuinely believe your own lies unless you are, quite literally, a psychopath.

anything short of being psychopathic and having absolutely zero empathy, and there will 
be tells, as they will never truly, 100% believe their lies. it's mental illness that makes
the difference.

note: as dan said "seem" to believe, meaning it was possible to tell that it wasn't true by observation.


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## Deleted member 3 (May 18, 2011)

jsfitz54 said:


> So, if they believe in their own crap, how do you know they are dishonest?  What are the tells?


They have countless improbable stories, once a few don't check out you start to get a feeling for the amount of crap they share. It then turns into a story about a boy who cries wolf. Nobody believes those people anymore, even when they are telling the truth for once.


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## jsfitz54 (May 18, 2011)

I had a room mate in school that was a chronic liar and made stuff up.  I caught him all the time and had to sit him down and explain that he needed to work on a few things.  He was a major bull shittter.  One of his tells was his stutter and that was a problem as well.


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## Sasqui (May 18, 2011)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> I've known such people as well. Still know a few, they seem to honestly believe their own crap. The thing is, some people are actually impressed by their bullshit claims.



I've seen these motivating factors in the people I've known:

1. To impress (this sometimes develops into a delusional fantasy, and is hard to spot unless you know the real truth)... same as "bullshit claims"
2. To avoid punishment or gain something (typically easier to catch)


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## digibucc (May 18, 2011)

there are people though who are mentally ill and seriously cannot help it.
most are not. most are just liars. just be aware that the condition exists.


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## EarthDog (May 18, 2011)

Evolved said:


> Should watch a show called, "Lie to Me", on Fox.
> 
> It got canceled, but I thought it was a good show. It's all about this stuff.


it got cancelled?

Damn, 8 days ago...LOL!


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## digibucc (May 18, 2011)

yeah i was still looking forward to this season.
american tv really does cancel the good ones and leave the crap 5th grader tv on.


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