Typically, in a person who is lying, their micro-expression will be an emotion of distress, characterized by the eyebrows being drawn upwards towards the middle of the forehead, causing short lines to appear across the skin of the forehead.
Listen for sniffles. Sometimes, touching the nose a lot just means that the person is having allergies, or fighting a cold.
Watch the eyelids. These tend to close longer than the usual blink when a person sees or hears something they don’t agree with. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 However, this can be a very minute change, so you will need to know how the person blinks normally during a non-stressful situation for accurate comparison. If the hands or fingers also go to the eyes, this may be another indicator of trying to “block out” the truth. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Be careful about relying on eye movements to catch a liar. Recent scientific studies have cast doubt on the idea that looking a certain direction can help pinpoint someone who is lying. [5] X Research source [6] X Research source Many scientists believe that eye directionality is a statistically poor indicator of truthfulness.
Some liars tend to make more eye contact, because they think it might make them look sincere. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Lack of eye contact is sometimes a sign of stress. For example, if you ask a person a question and they look away, it might be a sign that the question is stressing them out. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001
If you ask someone a question and the person responds right away, it might be a lie. This can be because the liar has rehearsed the answer or is already thinking about the answer just to get it over with. Another tell can be omission of relevant time facts, such as saying “I went to work at 5 AM and when I got home at 5 PM, he was not there. " In this glib example, what happened in between has been all too conveniently glided over. [7] X Expert Source Maria AvgitidisMatchmaker & Dating Expert Expert Interview. 20 December 2019.
If you question their story, a truthful person will often give you more details. A liar is more likely to just repeat what they already said, because they don’t want to make their story even more complicated. [4] X Research source Listen for a subtle delay in responses to questions. An honest answer comes quickly from memory. Lies require a quick mental review of what they have told others to avoid inconsistency and to make up new details as needed. Note that when people look up to remember things, it does not necessarily mean that they’re lying — this could just be a natural instinct.
No contractions. A liar may avoid contractions, like saying “I did not do it” instead of “I didn’t do it. " This is an attempt to make it absolutely clear what the liar means. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Short answers. Some liars give the shortest possible answers they can (like “Yes” or “No”), to avoid giving away extra details. Run-on sentences. A liar may speak in muddled or unclear sentences. They often stop mid-sentence, restart and fail to finish sentences. [4] X Research source Claiming honesty. Liars might say things like “to be honest,” “frankly,” “to be perfectly truthful,” “I was brought up to never lie,” etc. Honest people don’t usually spend much time calling themselves honest. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Throwing it back at you. If you ask “Did you ___,” they may immediately reply “No, I did not ____. " This is an attempt to avoid the impression of a delayed answer. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001
Repeating your own exact words when answering a question. Asking you to repeat the question. Praising you, like saying “Good question!” or “How did you get to be such a good investigator?” Acting confrontational, like saying “It depends on what you mean by that” or “Where did you get this information? Using humor or sarcasm to avoid the subject. [9] X Expert Source Maria AvgitidisMatchmaker & Dating Expert Expert Interview. 20 December 2019.
Be especially cautious of compliments from the subject in question. The liar knows that people respond well to compliments, giving him or her a chance to escape interrogation by complimenting someone. Be wary of someone who delivers a compliment out of the blue.
Remember that this isn’t a reliable sign. Sweating could mean that the person is nervous or shy. They also could have been exercising recently, or have a health condition that causes more sweating. Look for other signs too.
For example, if your husband says “I scrubbed those pots really hard,” but he’s shaking his head, then he probably did not scrub them well. [1] X Research source [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Notice any pauses. A truthful person tends to nod at the same time as they tell the truth; a liar may need to remind themselves to nod (and thus not do it right away). [1] X Research source
Fidgeting can also be a sign of awkwardness, restlessness, discomfort, or a need to use the toilet. People with disabilities like ADHD or autism may fidget a lot. This doesn’t mean anything about honesty; it’s just how they stay comfortable. Stillness doesn’t always mean honesty. Some liars stand or sit very still because they are so focused on their lie.
Look at leaning. Leaning away is a sign of discomfort, dislike, or disinterest. A liar may lean away from you, not wanting to give out any more information than they need to. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 An honest person is more likely to lean toward you (unless you’re making them uncomfortable). See if they are unusually still. Lying requires focus, so some liars will sit or stand very still, because all their mental energy is going towards telling a convincing lie.
Liars tend to avoid hand gestures that we consider a normal part of discussion or conversation. With some caveats, most liars will avoid finger pointing, open palm gestures, steepling (fingertips touching each other in a triangle shape often associated with thinking out loud), etc. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Check the knuckles. Liars who stay motionless may grip the sides of a chair or other object until the knuckles turn white, not even noticing what’s happening. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Grooming behaviors are common in liars, such as playing with hair, adjusting a tie, or fidgeting with a shirt cuff. [4] X Research source [11] X Research source Two caveats to remember: Liars can deliberately slouch to appear “at ease”. [3] X Research source Joe Navarro and John R Schafer, Detecting Deception, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, July 2001 Yawning and bored behavior may be a sign of trying to act just a little casual about the situation so as to cover up deception. Just because they’re at ease doesn’t mean they’re not lying. Keep in mind that these signals may be a sign of nervousness and not a sign of deceit. The subject in question might not necessarily be nervous because they’re lying.
Coming from a different culture, with different norms related to body language Feeling nervous for a reason not related to dishonesty (like being shy, or having social anxiety) Feeling cold (and thus crossing their arms and seeming “closed up”) Having a disability that impacts body language, like ADHD or autism (which may involve fidgeting, odd body language, and staring or avoidance of eye contact)
Embarrassment Shyness Awkwardness Feeling ashamed or inferior Stress
If asked “Did you ever hit your wife?”, a liar might say “I love my wife. Why would I do that?” That answer might technically be the truth, but they’ve avoided the question. (Someone with nothing to hide will likely answer the question directly, like by saying “No! Never!”)
Ask the person to tell the story backwards. [4] X Research source This is very hard to do, especially when requiring no loss of the details. Even a professional liar can find this reversal of approach a hard one to tackle effectively.
Liars try to read you to see if you’ve bought the tale. [4] X Research source If you don’t show any signs of something to monitor, many liars will feel uncomfortable. If you’re a good listener, you’ll already be avoiding interruptions, which in itself is a great technique to let the story unfold. Practice not interrupting others if you have this tendency — not only will it help you to detect lies, but it’ll make you a better listener generally.
Is the person unduly stressed in general, not just from the current situation? Is there a cultural factor involved? Perhaps the behavior is culturally appropriate in one culture, but is seen as dishonest behavior in another. Does the person have a disability that might impact their body language? Are you personally biased or prejudiced against this person? Do you want this person to be lying? Be careful of falling into this trap! Is there a history of this person lying? Namely, are they experienced at it? Is there a motive, and do you have a good reason for suspecting lying? Are you actually any good at reading lies? Have you taken into account the entire context and not simply zoomed in on one or two possible indicators?
Consider talking to a counselor if you struggle to trust or relax around other people.
Avoid jumping to conclusions based on reputation. If someone has lied before, they may be doing it again. But they may also be turning over a new leaf, or be being framed by someone who figures that they’ll be easy to blame.
Check if the lie makes sense. Is it logical, or are there parts that don’t seem realistic?
