How to tell if someone is lying in seconds: Body language pro who trained with the FBI spills his secrets – and the ‘red flag’ words to listen for

A body language and behavior expert has revealed how to tell if someone is lying to you by looking for specific and often subtle signs.

Scott Taylor said there are a number of facial cues that can indicate someone is not being honest, including blink spiking, touching the face, flushed cheeks and unusual eye movements.

The 51-year-old added that there are also a number of giveaways in the language people use that can indicate they are lying, such as using extended contractions and assuming language.

Scott trained with the FBI Chief and Chief Interrogator at Guantanamo Bay, where he learned about “body language, facial microexpressions, deception detection, influential behavior, and analysis of statements and words” and has nearly 30 years worked in the field of safety, security and risk. year.

He told FEMAIL that while each ‘subconscious’ sign may not individually be an indication that someone is lying, a combination of several is something to look out for.

Body language and behavior expert Scott Taylor (left) has shared the subtle and obvious signs people ‘unconsciously’ show when they lie

“There is no single indicator of deception, but the combination of body language and some words gives us some very big indicators,” he said.

Two “very obvious signs” of cheating, according to Scott, are “blinking,” “lip licking” and “swallowing hard.”

“We blink 12 to 14 times a minute, and in people under stress and duress, their blink rate increases,” he said.

‘What we also see is lip licking and hard swallowing. When people lie, cortisol, the stress hormone, is released, which dries out our mouths and slows down our saliva.”

Scott said people also “unconsciously” touch each other “along the lines of their faces,” such as on their cheekbones when they lie.

They also protect their ‘power zones’ such as their chin, navel and groin.

“They drop their chin or tilt their body away slightly to deprive you of access to that abdominal area, so that becomes very apparent if you look for that,” Scott said.

Scott explained that everyone lies in everyday life, with partners telling each other lies in one in 10 interactions, and that not all lies are malicious.

“It’s different things, how much something costs, what time I’ll be home, ‘I’ve cleaned that up’ if you haven’t already, ‘I’m leaving now’ if you haven’t,” he said.

“The majority of lies come from omission, not from creation.”

Lip compression and blushing are another potential signal that someone is being insincere.

‘Under stress you get a bit of an adrenaline rush and that causes your blood-carrying elements to expand, bringing more blood closer to the surface. That’s why you see some blushing,” Scott said.

“You also get things like lip compression and twitching, which you often see with politicians when they stretch certain words they’re going to use.”

If someone is spinning a web of lies, Scott says it’s easier to pick it up if their eye movements change.

“Creating elements moves people to a different eye reference point when creating content. It’s also harder for them to keep things in order,” he said.

Scott explained that we have two types of memory; episodic what you have experienced and semantic what you know.

“If I ask you a question like, ‘Where did you park your car?’ Or what is the fifth word of the national anthem?’ or “What’s on the back of a $2 coin?” Your eye naturally goes to a certain point,” he said.

“When we have interactions with people, once you know what that point is, if you ask them something and they go to a completely different point and also see one of those other indicators and a slightly changed speech pattern, then that’s a higher indicator of deception and these things become very apparent.”

The 51-year-old added that there are also a number of giveaways in the language people use that can indicate they are lying, such as using extended contractions and adopting language

Certain language cues can reveal whether someone is also deceptive.

“Truth tellers convey and liars persuade, so you don’t have to say, ‘I’m 100 percent certain’ or ‘certain’ when you’re certain or confident,” Scott said.

“These people are selling without telling you, so they give you extra filler or extra eye contact because they think, ‘I want to be more persuasive.’

Scott added that people use extended contractions when they lie, something Bill Clinton did in the 1990s when he lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

“We knew Bill Clinton had lied because he said, ‘I did not have a sexual relationship with that woman.’ He used the word ‘didn’t’ regularly, but when someone expands a contraction to ‘I didn’t do it,’ that’s a very strong misleading indicator,” he said.

‘Then they throw in a word like ‘that’ – I have not had a sexual relationship with ‘that’ woman. He distances himself. ‘This’ is close, ‘that’ is distant.’

Another verbal tell-tale is when someone uses “assume language” and adds lots of things like “you know” and “obviously” to make themselves sound more convincing.

“We look for common ground in their words and actions,” Scott said.

“Whether it’s in an interview, in a personal relationship or watching Married at First Sight, when people say words and their body language and gestures don’t match them, those are the most overt and strongest indicators of cheating.”