What Clues Reveal A Liar?

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websiteMany people assume when they see my nickname of “Eyes For Lies” that I teach people about how the eyes reveal lies. I do not teach nor do I believe that our eyes reveal lies. As an expert in spotting deception and understanding human behavior identified in a world renowned scientific study, I rely on different clues than most people are familiar with. I believe that in order to be good at spotting deception you have to understand people first and foremost.

When I teach my class, the first morning, I ask participants to articulate what markers on the human face reveal that a person is truly feeling happiness rather than faking it? Or what are the markers that reveal someone is truly sad versus putting on an act?

Would you be surprised to hear that less than 5% of people—including deception detection professionals—can accurately define the markers on the face that identify genuine emotion? It surprises me because this is fundamental requirement to understanding people.

It is highly important to understand emotions, and be able to identify genuine and fake emotions in seconds, if you want to get to the truth and quickly. This essential information.

One myth many participants believe is that people can use emotions to manipulate other people, but this is only true if you don’t understand the science behind emotional expression. Once you understand the science, no one can manipulate you using emotions again.  You will see right through them.  Emotional understanding on the scientific level is that powerful.

People also display hidden emotions that most people don’t see, but you don’t know what you don’t see, right?  Getting keyed into this information is also important.

A person can try to conceal how they feel, but their face will leak it out in as short as 1/25th of a second at times. I see these and so does a small percentage of our population. But 85% of the population do not see these hidden emotions without training. These are a fascinating topic in and of themselves.

I introduce participants in my class to all in these elements before lunch on the first day of my three day course.

So, you see, the truth is written all over our face, it’s just few people know what to look for.

Once you understand the science of emotions, and can confidentially and quickly (within seconds) articulate what emotion a person is feeling as well as identify if its genuine or fake, you are ready to move into understanding human behavior on a deeper level.

Human behavior is very complex. Each move we make, every word we chose, each behavior we display reveals information.

When a liar is trying to balance the truth from the lie, they become cognitively overloaded, and that weakness causes liars to leak many subconscious clues that reveal the truth. These clues are the most reliable clues simply because they cannot be controlled or manipulated. A liar literally betrays himself, and that’s what I expose and teach in my three day class.

If you are interested in my training, my next course date is March 14-16, 2016, in Milwaukee at the Hilton Garden Inn by the airport. Click here for more information.

Lance Armstrong: Is he being honest?

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I absolutely love this video of Lance Armstrong.

Do you think he is being honest?

I mean he has crossed arm, which people say means he is closed off or defensive, and he gives us a contempt micro-expression, too!

He is actually being honest.

Dead honest.

He would dope again if it were 1995 (under the same circumstances), and he doesn’t believe that today he would need to.

I don’t think there is any reason to doubt his statement because by saying it, he isn’t gaining anything. He actually has a lot to lose–he is showing defiance, a lack of remorse, and more. He is doing the exact opposite of what he needs to if he wants people to give him a second chance. His arrogance is blinding him.

While Lance crosses his arms, he does not show any defensive behavior or signs that he is closed off to this conversation at all. The exact opposite is true. He is showing by his words that he is very open to say “his truth”.

I suspect the reason why Lance is sitting this way with his arms crossed is simple.  It is a comfortable way for him to sit. Sitting with your arms crossed actually does provide comfort for people. It can make you feel more confident, warmer, and safe. Try it and see! And there are times when people cross their arms when they are defensive and closed off, too, but it’s not black or white by any means, and never indicates by itself someone is lying.

I watched a slightly longer version of Lance’s interview and what I get out of it is how he is still very self-centered. That’s shocking considering his situation, but it says a lot about who he is as a person.

Bill Belichick’s Pursed Lips

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Bill Belichick, The New England Patriot’s coach, makes pursed lips in his press interviews this week, and I can hear the people out there saying, “Oh, that indicates he is lying.”

That’s flat out not true. Pursed lips happen for a variety of reasons, and none of them indicate a person is lying.

While a lot of people lying will make this expression, a lot of honest people will make it too!  I can assure you.

To read my thoughts on the Patriots, read my thoughts on Tom Brady here.

Myth Busted: “To be honest with you…”

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Many people tell me that when they hear “to be honest with you”, or similarly, “to tell you the truth” and “honestly”, they believe the person is lying.  As they say, why else say it unless you are going to lie?

Listen to Shahid Khan, owner of the American NFL team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, say it above at time marker 10:26.

“Well, I gotta be honest with you, its kind of the only thing that made me a little bit angry,” says Khan about being held at the border after 911 due to being of foreign descent.

Do you think he is lying?

He is not lying.  So why do honest people say this?

I polled people on my Facebook page, and here are some of the responses people gave why they use it:

  • “… I use that, normally… right before I state something reluctantly. If I am aware that the truth is going to illicit a negative reaction from someone, I will us that phrase as a preface, especially after being pestered for information that I would not like to share.”
  • “I think I’ve used the phrase more when I am asked for my opinion on something and I feel that the person asking may not like my opinion after I express it.”
  • “I do say “honestly” and “to be honest” when I’m admitting some kind of harsh truth that I have not wanted to say for fear of a fight. I also say it when I want to emphasize something truthful.”

That makes sense, doesn’t it?  So honest people use these terms, too.

Can a liar use these phrases?

Absolutely. 

But is this a reliable clue to deception?

I don’t believe it is.

Unless we can delineate why we know its a lie versus when it is the truth, then I would caution people from making assumptions because its not much better than a coin toss otherwise.

Below Katy Perry say, “I’ll be honest. Sometimes I just watch the Super Bowl for the half time show and the commercials.”

See time marker :25.

Is she telling the truth?

Absolutely!

She is absolutely telling the truth and doing exactly what others said above–prefacing her statement because she doesn’t think it is going to be liked! Katy Perry gives us a micro-expression of fear before she begins, and then covers her face because she is slightly embarrassed she admitted it!

If you recall, Katy first replied with “I love the Super Bowl, of course”–that’s what caused her pause. With her next statement, she basically admits she doesn’t love the game for necessarily “the game”, and she honestly tells you why!

Myth BUSTED: Eye Movement (NLP) and Lying

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Many people are taught today and continue to believe that if someone as they are talking gazes upwards and to the left (your left)–then they are lying.  The theory is called Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP believes when we gaze up and to the left, we are imaging. We only recall memories looking up to the right.

I don’t believe this for a minute.

I asked my readers to help me look for examples of people who shifted their eye gaze up and to the left, and are honest to help put an end to this myth.

The FBI has even put out a publication in their bulletin denouncing it as credible in June 2011. See here.

“Twenty-three out of 24 peer-reviewed studies published in scientific journals reporting experiments on eye behavior as an indicator of lying have rejected this hypothesis.”

Watch Mike Bloomberg talk in this video below.  In the first 15 seconds, watch his eyes gaze up and to the left.

He says, “I don’t have anything in common with people who sit there and say oh my god, it was terrible. It’s water under the bridge or the dam, so get on with it.”

You can tell he is not lying. He has no reason to.

People move their eyes all over in conversations –up, down, right, left and sideways–and the only thing you can glean from it is that a person is simply thinking.  That’s it. We think when we tell the truth and we think when we lie.  So it tells us nothing else.

Here is another one for you. Watch Fred Armisen answer a question about liking Molly Shannon. He looks up to the right and then to the left as he answers the question!

This is in French, but this Paris hostage has nothing to gain by lying and reading the sub-titles you can see she isn’t saying anything worthy of lying, but she clearly looks up and to the left.

In this video below, there are a lot of eye gazes when you watch in both directions. But there is also an up an to the left at time marker 11:01 by the woman in pink, Kara Swisher, and clearly she is not lying. She says, “There has been a big war on talents and payments.”

Please feel free post more examples in the comment section below that you find to stop this myth once and for all.  Once people see it with their own eyes, they will likely believe it is untrue.

Many thanks to the people who are helping me squelch the myths! A big shout out to M.A.!