Lying Body Language

How to tell if he or she is lying



How can you tell lying body language from normal body language?

The following is an interesting insight on how to detect if someone is lying or not.

Try this technique out to get an idea - stand in front of a mirror talking about the following two topics:

Now, what are the differences between the two? Try to keep an eye on your truth body language and your lying body language. Did you notice a difference. Why was the first one less convincing?

Here are some of the secret clues to lying body language.

Lying Body Language - body language at work

1. Firstly, talk about something you know little about, say, fly fishing and talk with conviction for one minute! If you run out of things to say, make it up, just keep talking and talking.

2. Secondly talk about a subject very close to you such as your favourite hobby, sport or pastime for one minute.

Lying Body Language Clues

  • More hesitant - Think about it - when you truly believe in something, are you hesitant? This can be a clear sign the person does not believe in what they are saying.

  • Less expression - Sometimes instead of hiding, we don't want to reveal any signals - this can be a giveaway in itself. This is especially a giveaway from someone who is normally expressive.

  • Hands behind back hiding - Its amazing how body language can reveal so much of what a person is thinking. Hands behind the back can reflect they have something to hide.

  • Hand over mouth - Simple to understand, the most obvious sign is trying to suppress words as they are coming out. When you become a good body language detective, you will be surprised how often these obvious clues reveal themselves!

  • Rubbing the ear lobe - Like the hand over mouth, we can be conscious of being too obvious and deflect our body language to seemingly less obvious actions. Of course this is a harder one to judge so look for a cluster of these signals to confirm your suspicions.

  • The neck scratch - It's amazing how the body will send uncomfortable signals to the liar. Think about - we have all lied at some stage (in case you forgot), and our body can send out micro gesture of being uncomfortable, that is, you don't feel at ease with what you are saying.

  • Pulling the shirt collar - The brain can send sensations to the neck and face which giveaway the liar straight away. Sometime a liar will feel the need to release the constraints of a collar to feel comfortable again.

  • Fidgeting - A sign of being uncomfortable is fidgeting. It outwardly shows the person is uncomfortable about what they are talking about.

  • Less Gestures - This can hide fidgeting and show the person is not going to giveaway too much through body language.

    Now of course we all have exhibited similiar body language and sometimes when we were not lying. So don't take things too literally.

    Having said that, its extremely handy to know these signs if you keep your detectives hat on and look for groups or clusters of these lying body language signs. Chances are if you see a number of different lying body language signs, you have built a pretty strong case.

    Last tip - if you feel the person is lying and you wish to make sure - ask them to repeat what they just said and observe the reaction. With one practice at it, they should get better so make sure you keep looking for subtle clues of lying body language.

    Hope this helps.

    Katia.




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