Lessons in deception

Lying was never considered to be a stellar idea, whether to get out of a sticky situation or to save your skin, yet it is readily used in our everyday lives. Many people pride themselves on knowing how to spot liars, whether in the form of a shopkeeper swindling them or a child lying about doing his homework. Here are five things you think you know about lying that are wrong:
Touching the Face
Not only is body language the least reliable way to predict if someone is lying, it’s something a lot of people know about. So it’s the first thing a liar will try not to do.
Making Eye Contact
Studies have shown people who lie actually make more eye contact. Turns out they want to see if you believe them or not.
Wriggling In Your Chair
You might just be a naturally “wriggly person” or it could indicate you’re experiencing emotional strain. Which doesn’t necessarily mean you’re lying.
Pausing, ‘umms’ and ‘aahs’
It’s all about baseline and context. Is this something they would normally have to think hard about? Are they under stress? Both things that can make someone sound as shifty as a 70-year-old’s kneecap.
Lack of Recall
If someone can’t remember something it doesn’t mean they’re lying. People forget things all the time. Traumatic events we “want” to forget can be especially hard to recall.
Five ways to spot a liar
Get a ‘baseline’
Know how the person behaves when not lying and look for deviations from that. It means something is going on.
Look for the ‘load’
Look for moments when the individual is working too hard or not hard enough for what they’re saying. Remembering shouldn’t be difficult if recent and should be harder if long ago.
Forget eyes, look at the face
Research shows the area most reliable for deception is the face. A lot of people will leak micro-expressions without realising it. The seven universal facial expressions are fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, anger, sadness and happiness.
Lack of context
Stories have lots of moving parts because they happen in real life. People remember strange things that are out of place and can usually remember things around the event. If the moment seems to exist by itself in space it can indicate a lie.
Look for ‘hotspots’
Pay attention to conflicting messages. Someone says they’re happy while they look sad? Something isn’t right. Likewise if someone moves a lot when you’re chatting with them, but stops when you ask about something particular.