How Can You Tell If Someone Is Lying?

Emotion and facial expressions

When someone is lying, they will do one of three things. A) Show emotion when they have none, B) show no emotion (think of a poker face), or C) mask one emotion with another. Keep a close eye on the person you are speaking to, not just there eyes but also their entire face.


Expressions are universal; whether you are a politician or a model your emotions
show up on you face.

Eyes and upper half vs. Lower half

The upper half of a persons face is a much more reliable measure than the lower half. It generates more involuntary clues and is extremely difficult for someone to control. The muscles used in smiling for example is the most revealing clue to tell if a smile is genuine or manufactured is in the eyes.



Look at the muscles that surround the eye socket. The major muscle running from the cheekbone at an angle to the corner of the lips indicates a sincere smile.

Check for Emotional Leaks

Micro-expressions that flit across the face often expose a person's real thoughts. Imagine if you were to watch people on videotape, frame by frame, you would see them showing their true emotion just before they show the fake expression designed to cover up the lie.


This micro expression indicates contempt.

But these ultra-brief facial movements, or micro-expressions, only lasting a fraction of a second, aren't easy to spot. Even professionals trained in lie detection can't always isolate them. And deliberate liars tend to add other expressions, like smiling, to disguise a lie.

Timing

If their facial expressions are not in sync with what they are saying. They might be hiding something or lying. For example, if the moment calls for a smile and the smile is delayed or the timing is off.. A genuine smile will crest over their face like a wave.

Eye Contact

While most people may interpret darting, unfocused eyes as a classic sign of lying, it's vital to consider the context of the behavior. For example, experienced poker players are careful not to make too much of eye “tells.” People usually look to the left or right when thinking about an answer. Someone not making eye contact should arouse suspicion, but eye contact can be a tricky evaluation tool: Consider that a psychopath can look you in the eye and lie with ease. And in some cultures, it's considered inappropriate to maintain eye contact.

Body Language

Even though a high percentage of communication is thought to be non-verbal, no single part of the body—such as the eyes or hands—reveals the whole story when it comes to lying. People who are lying often become more still: Hand gestures that normally accompany talking may occur with less frequency or intensity, and there may be fewer arm and leg movements. The person becomes more focused on telling the lie, so they get quieter in their body. A few more examples can be found here.

Ask Follow Up Questions... Quickly

If you suspect you're being lied too, try this technique, which experts say can trip up a liar. Try asking questions quickly—one after the other. “The initial lie is easy,” explains Kang Lee, director of the Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto, and whose behavioral work with children can often be applied to adults. “The follow-up lie is more difficult. When you continue to ask questions and put people on the spot, it gets harder to maintain the lie.”

Rephrase the Lie Backwards

If you suspect that you are being lied to, ask the person to explain the events leading up to the problem backwards and see if they can get it right! Often, a lie is planned out as a series of events in a certain order leading up to something going wrong. They will have planned the events in a certain order to cover the bases but not the other way round. If it's the truth, then it will be easy to remember. If they are telling the truth then it will be easy!

Hunched shoulders

When a person lies, unless they are a professional liar, will subconsciously try and make themselves small and inconspicuous. As a result, they will often hunch their shoulders, which reinforce their desire to remain small. Watch out for this. Other body gestures include crossing their arms or overtly lean away from you while talking to you.

More info than you asked for

A liar might be so paranoid about being untruthful that they'll offer much more information than you asked for - liars know that a good liar tells more details in order to look innocent. So when your colleague goes off into a tangent about how he never got your message, but he did get a weird message on his answering machine that made him laugh, and that made him think of the other night when... You might have to ask him to revert to the topic at hand. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

They should teach a course on this in school it's so essential to navigating in the world of humans.

Ticks are a tell.

Watch for logical fallacies, wikipedia lists lots of these. This is essential to evaluating politicians. Refusing to open their rationale to inspection is more often than not a red flag.

Watch for thinking while covering mouth with left hand (for righties I guess). This is an indicator of covering up inner strain or internal conflict. It's like the hiding discussed above but even good liars may do this.

Pacing or turning away from the listener while talking is also a strong indicator.

Strong formal statements are much more suspicious "I did NOT have sexual relations with her" as opposed to "I didn't mess around with her" (informal with the conjunction - usually the truth) which is a key indicator. A tick with a strong formal statement is about 95% of the time a big fat whopper. Gesturing with an off hand with a strong formal statement is oftentimes fraught with deceit.

The best liars do it all the time and don't even know they are lying - pathological. They are convinced reality is how they've fabricated it. 5% of the population can lie without ticks. They gravitate towards sales and politics.

Throw in some alcohol and then ask innocuous questions designed to explore the details without a dullard catching on. After a couple drinks the web will be a wet soggy mess and you'll own the lie. Beware of hostility when you have them on the ropes. Irritability or outright hostility will bubble up when they are caught. They may try to end the conversation at that point, or ridicule the watcher. Go for the throat, which leads to my last point:
Most important, when you catch them the first time, let them know that even one more time might make you want to terminate your relations with them. Also give social feedback so others don't fall in the trap. If it's your spouse catch them quick or you're in for real trouble.

Honesty is truly the best policy for all. Too bad our society often values celebrity over honesty, that is why we're currently ruled by the dishonest.

You can tell a person is lying when his eyes shift to the left/looks towards the left. Although this is not necessarily true for ALL liars...

The eyes shift to the left because the right brain is sending signals that it needs a bit more time to map out the details of the lie. It is "creatively" thinking of a story/explanation, and assuming the liar was asked point blank-- this is the involuntary reaction to that.

Personaly if sum1 can't look you in the eye when speaking to you the I think the r not being 100% truthfull,maybe telling you some of the truth but theyre version hmm

Good answer.. But I guess eye contact is best

Everybody has a tell whether getting defensive looking away or slowing down their speech just look for something odd about the person that you don't see when they are just being normal

What I've heard is if a person lying they sometimes...  
  * twitch or have an kind of nervous or stern facial expression.  
  * or aviod eye contact with a person.  
  * they will kind of ich or touch their body in a strange and nervous way  
  * answer questions timidly or avoid the question by changing the subject.  
  * when spoken to might look away  
  * the most obvious way to tell if someone is lying is when they change their whole story   to something totally unbelivable or very different

"  WAYS TO FIND OUT IF SOMEONE IS LYING "
 
Usually, when someone is lying, they will twitch,or do something unusual that you don't usually notice.
Sometimes, the person could be a terrible lier, so they will say something unreasonable.
The person could be the best lier in the world, but they could use a different tone of voice while saying it.
Rarely, some people slip by lying to me, but I can usually tell.
 They also don't usually look you in the eye when lying, because they usually look either down, or look at something in the background.

Liars generally blink a lot, and they might look away to avoid eye contact

By checking their heart beat if its an armature or nervous person

There are lots of signs that can give someone who is lying away ie; dilated pupils, holding body rigid, sending conflicting signals, blinking more than often, changing details in their story when asked it again.

Study there expression /or if you listen good enough they might not say the same words they said before.

From body language and facial expression. They may stutter or do things such as sweat or clear their throat, although signs aren't always so obvious. You really have to look for clues.

One way you can tell if sum1 is lying is if they stutter or blink a lot. One other way is changing the subject of conversation to avoid the question you asked. An example of this could b:"Hey, did you send that really mean text to Allie?""Speaking of texting, I forwarded you this picture about..."

Body language

Their eye balls will not be in rest.

No, I don't think so because when I do plain talk even at that time I can't see in some one eyes . When I talk to some one whom I respect very much at that time because of nervousness my body language changes and I don't make eye contacts. Like some one said that in some societies eye contact is not considered as a good thing so the people of that society might not make any eye contact that doesn't mean they are lying.

You can tell if some one is lying by their eyes and how serious they look if they look very serious it usually means they are not lying but if they look like they are just messing with you it usually means they are lying and also if their eyes are big or not.

• Physical expression will be limited and stiff, with few arm and hand movements. Hand, arm and leg movement are toward their own body the liar takes up less space.


• A person who is lying to you will avoid making eye contact.

• Hands touching their face, throat & mouth. Touching or scratching the nose or behind their ear. Not likely to touch his chest/heart with an open hand.

Emotional Gestures & Contradiction

By looking his eyes and by at his hands

High voice and twitches maybe eye rolling or sweating!

Movement of the body and direction in which the eyes are going

The more elaborate the reasoning, the higher the chances are that they are lying!

We can tell by their eyes or any of their gestures, as when they are lying, it shows that they are not natural, including their gestures, and their eyes as well

When people are lying they usually avoid eye contact.

Twiddling of the fingers, sweating, licking of the lips, instant denying, not letting you search and see if the person is lying and if they move their eyes non-stop(;

Ask them if they are religious. All religious people are liars and hypocrites so this is the best place to start

Their eyes will tell the story, when someone is lying they can't directly see face to face and talk.

I no if some one is lieing because you can say and but they don't now what to say when you say and

Yes you can by the body language and the way they Beauvoir..
Usually the way someone is looking at you  not directly in the eyes or even excessive swatting.

You can usually tell if someone is lying if they smile or laugh when there looking at you or you can tell by there tone of voice. That's how I tell if someone is lying.

You know if someone is lying you he will always have words to say it is difficult not look directly into your eyes and most of all nervous. 

If when you ask a question the person looks down and to the left. The answer I gave is from a profiling class.

I think when they don't make eye contact and they hesitate a lot like they won't know what to say next. Very common.

Look at his eyes keenly.If he is lying, he will not be able to stare back at you for long.

Use of body language the way the speaker move his body will constitutes a very important way we communicate,and by asking to many of question,during asking you hold your temper,show him you want to listen,remove distraction which are one's of commandment of good listening.

Abruptly changing the topic, too much defensive, facial expressions such as lack of eye contact, delayed answering your questions, smiling, hands touching their face, hair and other body gestures that presents uncomfortable for them.

The liar will aviod eye contact they will sweat they will cover their mouth or nose and their pupils with decrease in size if they are telling a lie if they are telling the truth their pupils( the black dot in your eye) enlarge or stay the same size.

I have a friend. Every time he lies, he will start to studder. LoL... Similar to Jim Carrey in the movie where he could not say a lie for 24 hours...

Ask them if their lying

You should know how to read expressions.

You    can    tell   when    they   smile

Most people believe that eye contact, or lack there of, is an indication if someone is lying to you
How to Tell if Someone is Lying