Why Do People Lie?
People lie for various reasons such as, but not limited to: appear credible, appeal to someone, obtain something or get their way or even to diffuse dangerous situations. After all, the tendency to lie is part of the human personality and some people are going to lie more than others. It’s important to recognize when you’re being lied to especially when in a situation where law or rules aren’t followed and chaos wreaks havoc.
Learning about lying and deception is important because it will be a matter of life or death to determine who to trust when SHTF. Follow closely as we go through the different signs of liars usually show, as well as misconceptions about the subject.
It is common to think that someone that blinks often is a liar. However, since it is a common piece of knowledge for those familiar with lying, they may react differently in the moment of lying. For example, not blinking as often as anyone else. Another example that takes those keen on detail to discover is that the pupil becomes larger for those who engage in lying.
Another thing to pay attention to is that it’s been noted that individuals will usually look away when lying – which over time it has only become a myth. For example, before being properly documented, this ‘tip’ has caused poor performance among law enforcement officers and the FBI has gone as far as removing that tip from their training.
Looking away isn’t very uncommon and most people will look up when picturing something in their head. But what gives off a lie is that a person will specifically look up and then to the left. This is a method that has been researched to be worked with the training of those FBI trainees who eventually become agents for the Behavioral Analysis Unit and law enforcement officers. Additionally, the Global Deception Team sampled thousands of individuals in 75 countries and uncovered that most people are not able to detect lies because they believe myths that are often shared about lying.
The University of Edinburgh of Scotland completed a research on verbal cues and what is often believed to be perceived as the truth or a lie. Most people believe that there are a lot of “ums” and broken sentences when it comes to telling a lie. While that is sometimes the case, liars are more likely to carefully control what they are saying by speaking slower. In fact, one of the oldest tips about lying is that people are more likely to speak without contractions. And that’s true because they’ll say “I did not do it,” instead of “I didn’t do it.” By relying on speech only and no other observation of the individual, there’s a little less than 50% chance of knowing if someone’s lying or not.
It is also important to pay attention on how a person tells their story. Liars are more likely to tell their story in chronological order because they’ve rehearsed it in their minds. They are also less likely to admit that they’ve forgotten something when repeating their stories. In order to determine the validity of a story, accredited professionals (i.e.:law enforcement officers and the military) employ the Criteria-Based Content Analysis method by asking the culprit to recount their stories several times in order to examine story-line. This is the most accurate way of distinguishing between truthful and fabricated criminal allegations.
When caught with a lie, an individual may begin to refuse to talk or may even flee if it is serious enough. Since some people are more likely to lie, it is important to be wary of outgoing people who are more intelligent. Researchers have found that these individuals are a lot more likely to lie than anyone else.
Body language is the easiest part that can be “read”and, therefore, it must be taken with a grain of salt depending on what matter is being assessed. It has become common knowledge that a liar will have visible responses such as tapping and more sweating. That isn’t entirely incorrect, but keep in mind that the personality of a person can influence them even if they are telling the truth. A more timid person may show similar responses to the stress brought from questioning.
However, because stress is a part of the behavior someone is lying this section is still important. The stance of a person is a big cue that indicates if someone is lying or not. When someone is lying, that person may stand on what is called a “closed stance” that is with their arms crossed or if they are sitting they may cross their legs as well. A liar may even begin playing with their hair or touching their face more often than usual. They may also begin tapping their feet where they are standing or sitting, this is a very common occurrence.
Tips For The Future
Don’t feel discouraged at all when practicing lie detection. It is important to make your own checklist that you can keep mentally. Once a person meets more and more criteria they are more likely to be lying.
Also, researchers have found that the more practice a person does in lying recognition the more effective they become. While other researchers showed that law enforcement officers and ordinary people were very similar in finding out who is lying before acquiring some training. If you’ve read this article to this point you know more than the average person about lying and now you can detect possible myths with actual proven methods.
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