hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about 10 ways to know
if someone is lying to you now let's begin number one excessive gestures
according to a 2015 study presented at the international conference on multimodal interaction
liars move their hands more than truth tellers this study is one of the most compelling pieces of
research on deception it uses data from real-life court cases to assemble a list of common deceptive
tells and cues it turns out excessive gesturing is near the top of the list when people lied in
these court cases they move their hands much more than people who were telling the truth but what do
gestures have to do with deception hand gestures help people to release nervous energy deception
places significant mental stress on the brain so liars need a physical outlet for their stress
some shake their legs others tap their fingers but in this study liars were releasing nervous
energy by waving their hands but that's not the only reason people gesture when they lie hand
gestures are commonly used by public speakers to enhance their arguments calculated gestures make
them more convincing a well-timed hand gesture can strengthen a point spark a question or inspire
an audience in the same way a liar may use hand gestures to convince someone their story is true
as both an outlet and a tool excess hand gestures are one of the most significant signs of deception
if you see someone who can't stop waving their hands around be careful they may be lying to you
number two deceptive scowls a liar may cover their tracks with a bulletproof story but sometimes you
can read a lie on someone's face in the same 2015 study researchers found differences in the facial
expressions of liars and truth tellers it turns out liars are more likely to express negative
emotions on their face just imagine asking someone a question like have you ever cheated on a test
their answer is important but their physical reaction is even more telling truth tellers
will usually express surprise or confusion when asked a difficult question liars on the other hand
unconsciously scowl or frown they know they have to lie and that lie creates stress on their face
their facial expression gives them away no matter how good their story is
number three keeping eyes open many people think liars avoid eye contact so they're fooled by
people who maintain steady eye contact throughout the conversation the truth is good liars have no
trouble looking into people's eyes our study of real-life court cases found that liars keep their
eyes wide open while they talk good liars also look directly at the person asking them questions
in other words minimal eye contact is not a reliable sign of deception
but excessive eye contact is when a good liar wants to deceive someone they maintain steady
and confident eye contact but researchers found that eye contact during a lie is often unnatural
and excessive if for example liars will stare too long and avoid closing their eyes truth tellers on
the other hand are much more flexible with their gaze they'll make eye contact break eye contact
close their eyes and open their eyes liars have to think about how people perceive their gaze
but truth tellers don't need to and as strange as it sounds good eye contact can be deceiving
number four autonomic distress lying places emotional stress on your body and brain
this stress triggers physical reactions which show themselves in small but telling ways
lying primarily affects the autonomic nervous system your autonomic nervous system controls
a number of unconscious processes like heart rate breathing rate and digestion because lying
stimulates a reaction deception is associated with escalated heart and breathing rates
the stress of lying unconsciously impacts the function of your body now of course you can't
see someone's heart rate with your own eyes so how do you know if someone is lying directly to you
the autonomic nervous system also affects surface level functions like blinking coughing sweating
and swallowing which are all common signals of distress in the autonomic nervous system
so if someone has nothing to hide their nervous system should behave normally but if they're
lying their nervous system will go haywire you may notice them blinking far more than they need to or
swallowing every few seconds either way their nervous system is trying to tell you something
they're not telling the truth number five distant pronouns liars tell stories differently than
truth-tellers the next time you're listening to a suspicious story pay attention to the pronouns
first and second person pronouns like i me and you show a personal attachment to a story
truth-tellers have no problem using these pronouns because they're telling the truth
they have nothing to hide but liars subconsciously change the pronouns they use why because
third-person pronouns like he she and they create distance between the story and the storyteller
deep down liars avoid taking credit for their lies they know they're not telling the truth so
they use pronouns to create mental space it can be difficult to spot but this tiny act of deception
can reveal when someone's lying to you number six jumps in volume when someone
is lying their emotions influence the way they communicate all right let's say you're
having a normal conversation with your friend you're talking comfortably back
and forth when suddenly their voice changes it gets loud and harsh and out of nowhere it feels
like they're scolding or yelling at you vocal changes are commonly associated with deception
when you lie you get defensive and flustered you lose control of your voice which increases your
volume and changes your tone and when you think someone's lying just pay attention to any changes
in their voice if they suddenly get louder and angrier this person may be deceiving you
number seven telling the truth now this may be the most obvious signal on this list
yet so many people overlook what's right in front of them let me ask you a question what's the best
way to get someone to think you're telling the truth how about literally telling them that you're
being honest many liars especially those who don't lie often use phrases like to be honest or to tell
the truth when they're about to lie if someone was telling the truth they wouldn't need to remind you
if someone is an honest person they wouldn't tell you that they're being honest
so keep an eye out for these tell-tale phrases if you hear someone emphasizing their honesty
well they may be trying to trick you number eight recycled phrases
liars have a hard time expanding on their stories if you think someone is lying try asking the same
question in three different ways you may notice them using the same scripted phrases over and over
these phrases are designed to protect them but any good interrogator knows recycled phrases
are a dead giveaway if someone was telling the truth they could explain one story from several
different angles they could mix up their phrasing without jumbling the facts but liars rarely can
they stick to the same phrases because they're worried about their story so watch out for these
recycled phrases if someone repeats the same language well they may be trying to deceive you
number nine major mistakes sometimes people just make mistakes you misremember names you forget
how things happened but there's a huge difference between a small slip and a big lie all right let's
say you ask your friend what they did last night they tell you that they stayed home and watched
a movie you asked them what movie they watched and they get the name wrong are they lying or did they
just make a mistake these slip-ups are not only common they're almost always harmless but what if
this happened instead you ask your friend what they did last night and again they say they
stayed home and watched a movie you asked what the name of the movie was and they say actually
i went out to dinner last night this is a major mistake if someone changes a big part of their
story you should be suspicious it's easy to get a name wrong but few people misremember an entire
afternoon number 10 the slippery slope people who lie once often lie again because lying is a
slippery slope the more you do it the easier it gets and the more likely you are to do it again
this discovery comes from a 2016 study in the journal nature neuroscience
researchers explain that the human brain becomes accustomed to lying once your brain profits from
a lie it becomes more comfortable bending the truth your stress response decreases
your nervous system becomes less sensitive and your behavior becomes more controlled
that's why experienced liars are so difficult to unravel honest people usually panic when they lie
their lies are written all over their faces but experienced liars are physically and mentally
prepared to deceive so it may be almost impossible to tell fact from fiction if you're suspicious of
someone take their past into consideration do you trust this person have they lied to you before if
they're honest give them the benefit of the doubts you'd probably know immediately if they were lying
now on the other hand if this person lies often stay on your guard no matter how
convincing their story sounds there's still a chance they're bending the truth hey thank you
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