friend says a gift is in the Little white lies (of all sorts) are
A mail when it isn’t. A neigh-
bor swears she loves your
new fence when she really can’t
tossed our way daily, and getting
to the truth of the matter can be
frustrating, time-consuming, even
stand the sight of it. A salesclerk upsetting.
claims his store is offering big “Lies occur between friends,
savings on everything in stock, between teacher and student,
when only a few select items, as doctor and patient, husband and
it turns out, are marked down. wife, witness and jury, lawyer and
WAYS
TO SPOT
5
A LIAR
BY MAUREEN MACKEY
141
RD I AUGUST 2006
client, and salesperson and customer,” Secret Service agents labeled her a liar,
says Paul Ekman, professor emeritus and he was right. She wasn’t looking
of psychology at the University of at flowers at all, but rather at a graphic
California, San Francisco. Ekman has film the evaluators were showing.
been studying deceptive behavior for (The Secret Service employees, by the
more than four decades and is the au- way, nailed the liars 86 percent of the
thor of several books on the subject. time, better than others in the group.)
“Lying is such a central characteristic Though other important behaviors
of life,” he says, “that understanding need to be considered as well, vocal
it better is relevant to almost all hu- changes that deviate from the norm
man affairs.” can indicate deception. “There may
How can we spot the lies we’re told, also be a change in speech rate, either
both the little white ones that don’t too fast or too slow, and a change
matter a whole lot and the real whop- in breathing pattern,” says O’Sullivan.
2
pers that do? Try these compelling
tips from the experts. Watch Those Words How about
1
written material? Can we spot mis-
Hear the Voices Ever notice the leading behavior in letters, docu-
pitch of someone’s voice change from ments, e-mails and even résumés?
its norm? Hear a voice crack when it At the University of Texas at Austin,
isn’t the cracking type? Pay attention psychology professor James Pen-
to voice changes like these; they may nebaker and colleagues have devel-
well indicate deceit. oped computer software known as
When Paul Ekman teamed with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count
Maureen O’Sullivan, professor of psy- (LIWC), which analyzes written and
chology at the University of San Fran- verbal content for lies. Deception can
cisco, to test 509 people for their reveal itself in two significant ways,
ability to spot liars, the results were explains Pennebaker.
telling. The group included Secret First, liars tend to use fewer first-
Service, CIA and FBI personnel, as well person pronouns—words like I, me,
as psychiatrists and college students. mine—than truth tellers. It’s as if
They were shown a videotape of ten they’re putting psychological distance
individuals who were either lying or between themselves and their stories;
telling the truth. they don’t “own” their message. “The
On the tape, one woman described paperwork was sent yesterday” is an
the lovely flowers she was supposedly example, as opposed to the direct and
looking at. Though she was smiling personal “I sent it yesterday.” Second,
as she spoke, a few keen observers de- liars use fewer exclusionary words—
tected an odd hesitation in her voice. but, nor, except, whereas. They have
Her words lacked joy, and her hands trouble with complex thinking, says
seemed tense, not relaxed. One of the Pennebaker, and it shows.
142
5 WAY S T O S P O T A L I A R
3
Look Past Shifty Eyes While most are changes in body posture at partic-
people tend to interpret darting, unfo- ular points in a conversation.
cused eyes as a classic sign of lying, Watch for “a change in the base-
what’s vital to consider is the context line,” says O’Sullivan. “For instance,
of the behavior. (Experienced poker a quiet person who talks a lot, or a
players, of course, are careful not to person who talks a lot who is now
make too much of eye “tells.”) quiet. It doesn’t necessarily mean
“If people look away while trying someone’s lying, but it’s a hot spot to
to think of something difficult, that is evaluate.”
5
not important,” says O’Sullivan. “But
if they look away while answering Check for Emotional “Leaks” The
something that should be easy to an- micro-expressions that flit across peo-
swer, you should wonder why.” ple’s faces often expose what they’re
And what is the conversation about, truly feeling or thinking, as opposed to
anyway? The subject matter is criti- what they’d like us to believe, explains
cal. “If people are lying about some- Ekman. But these ultra-brief facial
thing they’re ashamed of, they’ll have movements, some lasting a quarter of
difficulty maintaining eye gaze,” notes a second, aren’t a cinch to spot. Even
O’Sullivan. “For white lies, though, or professionals trained in the art of lie
lies that aren’t shameful, people may detection—police personnel, judges,
actually increase their eye gaze.” attorneys—can’t always isolate them.
4
And deliberate liars tend to layer on
Get Better at Body Language No other expressions, like smiling, to fur-
single part of the face or body, such ther disguise a lie.
as the eyes, nose, ears or hands, can Still, there are giveaways. “It isn’t
tell us the whole story when it comes the frequency of a smile that matters,
to lying. It’s not that simple. “There but the type of smile,” says Ekman.
is no Pinocchio’s nose,” says Ek- “There are smiles of true enjoyment,
man flatly. Instead, “you must con- which involve not just the lips but the
sider the fit among face, body, voice muscles that orbit the eyes. And there
and speech to reach high levels of are masking smiles, which are made to
accuracy.” cover fear, anger, sadness or disgust.
That means observing the “total If you’re a good observer, you can see
person” whenever possible. “Clues a trace of one of those emotions leak
must always be interpreted in light of through.”
the usual behavior,” explains O’Sulli- So here’s hoping the next time
van. “Changes in small hand move- someone lobs a lie our way, we’ll know
ments, changes in the amount of hand just how to catch it.
gestures, shrugs that are inconsistent Reporting by NANCY LONG TAFOYA
with what’s being said”—these are Can you spot a liar? Take the quiz
worth homing in on, she suggests. So at rd.com/liar.
143
