hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about how to spot a liar
immediately now let's begin number one one question three ways if you want to know if
someone is lying just try asking the same question in three different ways this technique is designed
to uncover patterns in the way people lie most of the time when someone makes something up they've
got their life planned out they know what words they're gonna say they know what details are
gonna mention so when you ask the question once they'll have a well-planned answer ready and
waiting ah but what happens when you ask it again in a different way if they were telling the truth
they might include some new details or tell the story differently but if they're lying they only
planned one answer so they're gonna stick to the script they'll rehash the same details or
even used the same phrases as before and when you ask a third time it gets even more obvious
they'll keep repeating the same words details and content because they already spilled everything
the first time around so if you want to catch a liar in the act rephrase the same question
and see how many different answers they can give number two stories in Reverse true statements are
almost always easier to explain even if you have to explain them in Reverse most of the time when
you tell a story backwards you actually uncover new information you stumble upon details that you
missed but what if you're not telling the truth according to the journal law and human behavior
you can discover if someone is lying by asking them to tell their story backwards now unlike
true statements lies are a lot more difficult in Reverse it's hard enough to imagine a detailed
lie but telling it backwards increases your cognitive load exponentially why is that because
you practiced telling your story a certain way you spent all this time memorizing how things played
out in order but when you flip it around you suddenly feel lost you start talking slower and
you make more errors and you leave out important details even if the content is the same flipping
their story around can help you spot any liar right away number three the answer delay normally
when someone asks you a question you pause you take a second to think about your answer because
you weren't expecting to hear that question it was spontaneous so you need that slight delay to
think about what you're gonna say next but Liars often jump the gun they already have something
prepared so they're feeling antsy to get that lie out of their brains and into the world whenever
you think someone is lying look for that little pause if they miss it if they answer right away
there's a good chance they plan their answer from the start number four hold your evidence if you're
suspicious of someone direct confrontation is one of the worst ways to find out the truth because
it gives your whole plan away if you show them all your cards all they have to do is say yes or
no instead try holding on to your evidence as long as you can according to the American Psychological
Association this technique is used by both law enforcement and professional investigators because
some criminals are really experienced liars they don't show the usual signs of bending the truth
they don't look stressed or make obvious mistakes so how do professionals figure them out the simple
answer is they sit back and wait they let liars sabotage themselves but this strategy only works
if you keep your evidence to yourself imagine someone's telling you about how they sprained
their wrists but you saw them using their wrists just fine this morning how can you catch them in
a lie according to the Journal of investigative psychology and defender profiling you can start
by asking continuous questions no matter what they say just assume they're telling the truth
for now eventually if you keep asking for more and more they're going to run out of story and
they're gonna start contradicting themselves maybe they mention how they can't pick anything up with
their hand but you saw them do exactly that so now's the perfect time to break out your
evidence as soon as you flip the switch most liars are gonna panic they'll start messing up
they'll show signs of stress and their cool facade will come crumbling down number five a partner in
crime if you're worried someone is lying to you get someone else involved try bringing one extra
person with you because you can learn a lot about someone's integrity by watching how they react to
other people if they're telling the truth one extra person shouldn't change anything say your
roommate is making food in the kitchen under normal circumstances your roommate would just
fade into the background but if someone is lying they'll get nervous they'll feel more pressure
like they're being watched by another pair of eyes you might notice them glancing over at your
roommate or suddenly switching personalities when your roommate walks in if you notice any of these
changes there's a good chance you're being lied to number six expect the unexpected sometimes
the only way to spot a liar is to throw them a curve ball in the middle of their story ask
them a random question something they weren't expecting and see how they react according to
a 2011 essay in the Journal of applied cognitive psychology unexpected questions can throw them off
their game it forces them to improvise to make up something they didn't have planned and as
soon as that plan falls apart you'll notice more and more mistakes number 7 synchronized behavior
you can tell if someone's lying by watching how they interact with her own friends a 2012 study
published in the Journal of the human factors and ergonomics Society found that social behaviors
change when you're lying a truth-teller for example tends to fall in sync with the people
around them they're more willing to make eye contact to laugh and mirror the body language
of their friends or partner but someone who's lying is much more independent even if everyone
else is relaxed their body language stays rigid and unnatural their hands sit right out in front
of them their backs stay straight and they avoid eye contact at all costs if you think someone's
lying pay attention to the way they socialize with people they know if it looks like they're out of
sync hmm they might be lying number 8 analyze the details Liars usually avoid specific details when
they're telling stories but occasionally they'll let one slide through and when that happens
there's an easy way to tell if they're lying to you okay let's say you're meeting someone
for dinner they tell you this whole story about their fancy job but you think they're lying they
keep dancing around the point they're giving you a bunch of vague answers so you decide to hone in on
something specific you ask them where their office building is and they say something general like
oh it's downtown but when you ask for specific details like cross streets I don't know what to
say if they were telling the truth this would be a weird but easy question but since they're lying
they start floundering for an answer or suddenly change the subject either way it's safe to say
you caught them red-handed number 9 vocal changes according to a 2012 study published in the journal
group decision and negotiation lying has a huge impact on the way you speak in fact this study
discovered around 150 potential indicators of deception from those 150 indicate researchers
narrowed them down to seven powerful constructs that people use when they're lying we won't break
down all seven of them here the first construct is called vocal diversity when someone's telling you
a story ask yourself a simple question how diverse is their language are they using a lot of similar
words and phrases they fall back on these patterns to lower the cognitive load because lying takes
a lot more brainpower than most people think the second construct which is even easier to spot is
called vocal uncertainty why because uncertainty is a subtle way for you to distance yourself from
your own lies for the same reason liars also avoid using first person first person feels like you're
taking ownership of your lies so most people try to create as much wiggle room as they can but how
do these vocal cues translate into the real world another study published in 2015 in the Journal of
language and Social Psychology showed how these vocal indicators can catch a liar in action in
this study researchers investigated fraudulent statements made by a series of executives from
these real recordings researchers applied vocal constructs to figure out who was lying and who
wasn't it turns out these executives made a lot of the same vocal mistakes they used vague words
simplified their language and consistently avoided first-person statements so if you notice someone
making these same changes to their speech you might have found yourself a liar hey thank you
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