Detecting Lies In Body Language
All of us have experienced lying, and many of us may even think they are already good at it.
But how would you know if your partner, friend, sibling, lover, co-staff, acquaintance, or
even a stranger is lying to you? What are the different clues to detect lying? The solution
is simple: read and interpret his or her body language.
Signs To Look For
The most common signs of lying that you should look for are signs of nervousness, stress,
anxiety, tension, defense, and discomfort. These will be evidenced by different gestures,
facial expressions, actions, or mannerisms. And among them are self-touching, speech errors,
speech hesitations, different eye movements, discrepancies in the body and posture, and many
more.
Touching Self
Self touches are also known as adaptors. Liars would tend to touch or rub their nose,
scratch their forehead, play with the hair, wring or twist their fingers, cover the mouth,
and the like. The urge of frequent self touching indicates extreme nervousness and
increasing tension. However, there are some people that have already trained themselves to
avoid using these adaptors. Thus, detecting other clues is relevant.
Speech Errors And Hesitations
People who lie, especially those caught in the act, stumble over their speech, stutter, or
even mispronounce. Voice pitch will somehow ascend and pacing is faster. However, clues in
the speech is tricky. A person may already have speech defects at birth or it may be normal
for that person to speak in a fast pace. These are only helpful if you are already familiar
with how the person speaks.
Eye Movements
The eyes are the loudest channel of honesty and lies. Eye movements that may indicate lying
include lateral movement, squinting, frequent blinking, and looking away. Pupil dilation
also occurs during a state of tension, but this is not easy to observe. For ages, it was
believed that the inability to hold one’s gaze for a long time indicates lying. However,
many people are already aware of this and practice over time how to lie even with eye
contact.
Body and Posture Discrepancies
A person may cover up lies through confident facial expressions and voice pitch and volume,
however their body can reveal dishonesty. Fidgeting, shakiness, trembling of the hands, body
stiffness, shuffling of the feet, and jitters are typical indicators of lying, but they are
not that definitive or reliable. Gestures showing the palm indicates sincerity. But in
lying, the palms are rarely seen and are usually inside their pockets. As a defensive
posture and protection, one would tend to cross his arms across his chest. Liars are also
prone to sweating, increasing heart rate, breathing deeper, and being pale.
Other Clues Of Lying
Aside from those stated above, there are several more indicators of lying. However, they are
less reliable in detection of dishonesty. Among them are forced smiles, slight tightening of
the forehead between the eyebrows, lip biting, hand shrugs, movement of the Adam’s apple,
delay of answers or response, flaring of nostrils, tighter lips, elbows pulled to the sides,
tilting head movements, inability to concentrate on other things, and other unnatural
gestures.
This is the art of understanding body language. Even though sometimes unreliable, several
different gestures can tell you how sincere and honest a person is to you. Simply look for
the typical signs of lying and detect dishonesty instantly.
