I’m a body language expert… here’s how to spot a liar in seconds
While there’s no sure way to tell if someone is cheating, a body language expert has offered clues that can help you spot a liar in seconds.
Vanessa Van Edwards, a public speaker and author who teaches interpersonal skills and effective communication, recently spoke on The Diary Of a CEO podcast where she shared four signs to be aware of.
The red flags include question inflection, volume drop, off-body words, and a look of disgust.
Van Edwards told host Steven Bartlett that the average person can only recognize a lie at 54 percent.
“Better toss a coin,” she said.
Van Edwards said the biggest sign is a look of disgust because they experience that feeling while cheating on someone else.
“Liars usually feel dirty when they lie, and often express disgust at themselves for lying,” she explained.
They can even sniff, she added, which is a “disgust activator.”
When people are disgusted, they wrinkle their noses, close their nostrils, and show the upper whites of their teeth, giving others a visual sign of a liar.
Vanessa Van Edwards, a public speaker and author who teaches interpersonal skills and effective communication, said the look of disgust when someone speaks is a clear sign that he or she is lying.
“There is some statistical evidence of cheating,” she explained. ‘These are signals that research shows time and time again that liars usually do that, but not always.’
‘There is no Pinocchio’s nose. There is no single signal that means someone is lying. But there are a few signals that come up again and again,” Van Edwards said.
Van Edwards said another telltale sign is when someone says one thing, but their body shows something else.
She gave an example where she asked her daughter if she had cleaned her room, to which her daughter said yes while not shaking her head.
“You’ll also see this with mismatched facial expressions,” Van Edwards said.
But there is a cultural exception to this rule. In India, Bulgaria and Pakistan, people nod differently than people in Western cultures.
Outside of these specific countries, this type of mismatch is a common sign of lying.
Another signal is the question inflection, also called Uptalk, where a statement ends with a question.
Vanessa Van Edwards is a public speaker and author who teaches interpersonal skills and effective communication
Here’s an example: “I have no idea what you’re talking about, do I?”
“It’s very suspicious when someone says something and suddenly asks a question – when he’s not really asking a question,” says Van Edwards.
“When you suddenly hear the question inflection used in a statement, or a number, or a boundary, or a timeline,” she said, “it’s just a little warning sign that says dive deeper.”
A drop in volume is another sign of cheating.
“When we are anxious or nervous, we lose volume and lose breath,” she said
So if the person you’re talking to suddenly becomes quieter, what he or she is telling you at that moment may be unfair.
While these signs don’t always mean someone is lying, keeping an eye on these behaviors is a powerful way to detect dishonesty in your relationships.
Other experts have highlighted additional clues that can help you determine if someone is lying.
Author and former FBI agent Joe Navarro told it The Guardian that self-soothing behavior may indicate that someone is experiencing ‘psychological discomfort’.
This behavior may include fidgeting, adjusting or playing with their clothes and rubbing or touching their face.
Paying attention to other people’s word choices can also help you spot a lie, insurance fraud consultant Gabrielle Stewart III told The Guardian.
“We use completely different language when we tell lies,” she said.
‘A very famous example is President Nixon. He was asked point blank, “Did you know about Watergate?” and his response was, “The president wouldn’t do something like that.”
‘First, he has dissociation, which is very common. In a falsehood story there is a lack of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, because we want to drive the lie away from ourselves.
“Then he missed the times,” she added.
“For example, an honest person whose car has been stolen will say, ‘I left it here, came back an hour later and it was gone.’ A false story could fall into the current continuum: “I’m walking down the path looking for my car, thinking…”
While all these experts emphasize that these signs don’t mean someone is lying every time, keeping an eye out for them is a powerful way to detect dishonesty in your relationships.