Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Human Lie
Detector
1
© 2013 Vanessa Van Edwards. All rights reserved.
2
Introduction:
Have you ever thought someone was telling you a lie? Your
intuition was probably right—on average people tell two to
three lies in a ten-minute conversation.
All of the tips, cues and clues in this book are based on
academic research. For a full list of my sources, you can see
my citation section.
3
have ever interacted with another person, this book can
change the way you communicate with others.
4
When researchers did the same experiment with five year-
olds none of them admitted they broke the rules after peeking
at the forbidden toy. Older children had learned, even at the
young age of five, that they could get in trouble for telling
the truth and decided to lie instead.
5
Even when the researchers shortened the clip to two seconds,
participants were still able to predict how the teacher would
do in their evaluations at the end of the semester. Our brains
are incredibly accurate.
6
Before diving into this book, you have to ask yourself: Are
you prepared to see the hidden emotions in the people
around you?
You might not always like the emotions or lies you see.
A Word of Caution
7
What to Expect
True emotions that you had missed will now seem painfully
obvious. It will be like watching people around you in High
Definition. Facial expressions you never noticed will become
clear, body language red flags will jump to your attention and
voice tone discrepancies will sound like sirens in your head.
About Me:
8
In my columns for Forbes, CNN and the Huffington Post I
often apply groundbreaking studies to modern day business
and social trends.
9
10
Chapter 1: Baselining
The first and most important step to human lie detection is
baselining.
How to Baseline:
11
In order to see how your subject behaves when being honest
you want to discuss neutral topics. This is typically very easy
when you just meet someone at a party, meeting or job
interview.
You also can listen for baseline behavior. Ask yourself the
following questions:
12
-Is their voice high or low?
After some easy banter, you should have a feeling for how
the person acts, sounds and behaves when they tell the truth.
Now you are ready to ask some deeper questions—whether
13
those are the tough questions in an interview, the important
questions on a date or the curious question of a parent.
14
One of the biggest confusions lie spotters face is separating
lies from nerves. This is why the context of the situation is
very important.
You will often see changes in the face and body when these
topics come up that give you clues and a baseline to their
tense or nervous body displays.
15
Here is an example of how nervous baselines work. Let’s say
you would like to be able to better read your colleague,
Wyatt, at the office:
Step One:
Step Two:
Step Three:
16
him to lean towards you and cross his arms over his
body in a stiff way.
Step Five:
Step Six:
17
prediction about someone’s deception. He then begins
to scratch the back of his neck.
Baselining not only helps you read your subject, but it also
lets your subject know you are paying attention to them. This
is a great rapport builder.
18
If they have a connection to you and think you are
trustworthy they will want to help you.
19
20
Chapter 2: Microexpressions and the Face
Most of us look at our conversation partner’s face far more
than any other part of the body. The face is a veritable map of
human emotions—if you know how to read it.
Our brains also pay a lot of attention to the face and make
incredibly quick—and accurate snap judgments just by
looking at someone’s face. In one study, researchers had
participants look at pictures of Chief Executive Officers
(CEOs) while their brain activity was being monitored.
21
So, now that we know the face is important, what do you
have to know?
Microexpressions:
Dr. Paul Ekman, whom you could say is the father of the
field of microexpressions, discovered over 10,000 facial
expressions. Critically he has confirmed seven universal
expressions with specific meanings no matter the subject’s
age, sex, or culture.
22
He also found congenitally blind individuals—those blind
since birth--also make the same expressions even though they
have never seen other people’s faces.
You will find that if you make one of the universal facial
expressions, you begin to feel that same emotion yourself!
Emotions not only cause facial expressions, facial
expressions also can cause emotions. This can be very
helpful when trying to figure out the meaning of someone’s
facial expression.
1) Surprise:
23
-The brows are raised and curved—they should look
like upside-down U’s
-Jaw drops open and teeth are parted. The lips, jaw
and mouth stays loose
2) Fear:
24
-Brows are raised and drawn together, usually in a flat
line
3) Disgust:
25
-Upper lip is raised
-Nose is wrinkled
4) Anger:
I also have one of a man here so you can see that even though
the faces (and sexes) are different, the same characteristics
apply.
26
-The brows are lowered and drawn together
27
5) Happiness:
28
-Lower lid may show wrinkles or be tense
6) Sadness:
7) Contempt or Hatred:
29
someone to cover up jealousy. It is a simple one-sided mouth
raise.
30
• Surprise and fear are often confused, as they
are similar emotions. It is very important to
know the difference between these two
emotions. Think of the question, “Did you
know that Jim cheated on Laura?” A look of
surprise on your significant other’s face would
mean something much different than fear.
Surprise would be an appropriate reaction to
finding out about someone cheating. Fear
might cause you to ask some additional
questions about your significant other’s
knowledge or behavior. The easiest way to tell
the difference is by watching the eyebrows—
surprise has upside down U’s and fear usually
has eyebrows in a flat line.
31
Below I have two side pictures of a real smile
and a fake one. Can you tell which smile is
real?
A.
B.
32
Answer: B. This is the real smile because you
can see the muscles along the sides of the eye
are activated (crows feet).
A Lying Face
When someone lies they typically first think about the words
they use and what they should say. Next, they usually try to
put their face in an appropriate facial expression—if they are
faking happiness they will try to smile, if they are feigning
surprise they will usually widen their eyes.
Most people are poor at trying to control their face and have
no idea what expression they should even be attempting to
portray. Nonverbal knowledge is not commonly known.
Knowing these two things that people cannot control their
facial expressions and that they don’t know what faces to
make when they lie helps us guess what a lying face might
look like.
33
• They have very little facial movement on the upper
part of the face.
34
are pretending to be happy—not only is this not a full
smile, but it also is the microexpression for contempt,
double red flag!
35
Watch out for odd microexpressions at the wrong
time.
36
37
Chapter 3: Body Language
When people lie, they have a lot to concentrate on and often
forget about controlling what their body is saying. A liar has
to:
38
Before I review each part of the body, I want to explain two
important body language behavior categories.
39
-Rubbing or stroking the neck,
forehead or cheeks (like a parent does
to a baby to calm down).
-Tapping fingers.
-Picking cuticles.
40
Cracking knuckles is a pacifying behavior.
Feet
Feet might be the most honest part of the body because liars
often forget to control them. Evolutionarily they also are the
part of the body that reacts first in fight or flight response, so
controlling them is very difficult.
41
Look for these behaviors when baselining and then look for
changes later on:
42
-People make an L-shape with their feet when they
are trying to be polite and stay engaged, but actually
really want to leave.
43
Starters stance means someone is ready to bolt.
44
general rule, people move their feet when they are nervous.
But again, in order to not confuse this with excited jiggling
you want to get someone’s baseline first.
Legs
The legs are the body part that grounds us and moves us
through the world. In general, when we feel upset or
threatened we widen our legs to claim territory and get ready
for an attack. The wider the legs the more confident or
dominant the person feels. On the other hand, if someone has
their legs tightly pressed together or compactly crossed, they
feel vulnerable, shy or unsure.
When you see someone splay their legs it means they are
trying to gain dominance, stability and control. If you watch
people experience disagreement they almost never have their
legs crossed. Instead they will often have their feet spread
wide as adrenaline pumps through their bloodstream.
45
Men take up space when they want to claim territory. It can
be a positive mark of confidence as well as a negative sign of
dominance depending on context and accompanying
behaviors.
46
Torso
The Lean:
Suprasternal Notch:
47
This is the point right at the hollow of the neck where the
collarbones meet. People touch this area when they feel
distressed, threatened or insecure. Touching the suprasternal
notch is a soothing gesture. Women will touch the spot with
their fingers or rub a necklace that falls on that area. Men
will often adjust their tie (which lies right above the
suprasternal notch).
The Turtle:
Air Pull:
Have you ever seen someone pull their collar away from their
neck as if to get more air? Of course people do this when
they feel warm, but they also do this when they feel
uncomfortable or nervous with a topic. Women will also pull
their hair off their neck. This behavior is due to nerves
causing adrenaline release, which in turn makes blood pump
faster, causing us to feel warm.
48
Object Block:
Heavy Breathing:
49
Crossed arms protects our vital organs.
Neck:
50
the person is anxious about the current topic. When people
massage their neck it lowers their heart rate and calms them
down.
Arm Behavior
Our arms serve to protect our trunk and vital organs from
threat. When cross our arms on our chest we are usually
reacting to some external threat, and subconsciously protect
ourselves. We often cross our arms when we hear something
threatening, confrontational or when we feel vulnerable.
51
Arm crossing compounds our already close-minded and
fearful attitude. When you see someone cross their arms, you
can help move them to a more comfortable mindset by asking
them to sit down (if they are standing), or handing them a
glass of water (if they are sitting) to get them to physically
uncross their arms and out of the defensive mindset.
Territorial Claims:
52
53
Chapter 4: Vocal Displays, Voice Tone and
Language Patterns
54
something fishy going on and kept digging deeper. This is
exactly how you should behave in a situation where you want
the truth—keep quiet until they stop talking and then
continue to ask open-ended questions.
1. Delayed Responses
55
with you.” These are all avoidance answers and should be
seen as red flags. They might also say, “Let me think” or “As
far as I can recall.” These both delay the response. An honest
person will want the truth out as soon as possible.
4. Punishment Recommendations
56
punishments for themselves because they think of
themselves as immune to punishment.
5. Emphasis Statements
7. Non-Contracted Statements
57
they speak—don’t instead of do not. Liars don’t use
contractions because they want to emphasize the ‘not.’ When
thinking quickly liars will often add a simple “no” or “not” in
front of the real truth because it is easier than coming up with
a complex fib. For example, Bill Clinton said, “I did not have
sexual relations with that woman,” instead of “I didn’t.”
8. Story-Telling
58
perspective. Liars made up their story so they could
only draw the entire scene from the overhead
perspective.
9. Voice Tone
Liars will often start a sentence and then stop in the middle,
as if they are confirming the thought in their head or making
sure it matches the story. They might also waver back and
forth on an idea. They can jump from one opinion or fact to
the next because they are unsure of what you believe and
what will be convincing.
59
Sometimes liars will try to convince you that they are a good
person or reference their character instead of giving you
information on the lie. For example, when asking a guilty
person if they stole the money, they might say, “My friends
will tell you I’m really honest.”
60
In fact, those that focused on verbal rapport building tactics,
received nearly 30% better terms during employment
negotiation!
61
Chapter 5: Clues to Behavior
Now that we have reviewed all the areas of the body and
typical verbal patterns of deceit, I want to remind you two of
the most important aspects of lie detection are:
Frozen Bodies:
Odd Smiles:
62
Lip Pursing:
Nodding:
63
movement does not match their verbal message, it is a red
flag and a signal to dig a little deeper.
Eye Blocking:
When people squint, rub or shield their eyes, they are hearing
or saying something they do not want to see or acknowledge.
One-Sided Lifts:
Nervous Gestures:
-Hand wringing
-Tapping feet
64
-Inward curled feet
2. Moving Back
After telling a lie you will often see the liar lean their body
back as if they are trying to get away from the incriminating
statement. They might also scoot back their chair.
3. Tingling Nose
65
lie they tend to rub their nose. Perhaps the Pinocchio fable
was not so far off.
66
67
Conclusion and Other Resources:
It is important to remember there is no one expression that
means someone is lying. Every behavior must be taken in
context and related to other clues.
Business
Entrepreneurs
Sales
68
Actors
ScienceofPeople.org
69
70
Appendix 5: The Best Websites on Human
Lie Detection
I love writing and researching human lie detection, nonverbal
communication and human behavior, but I also have an
amazing community of fellow authors and writers with my
passion and I wanted to give them a shout out.
2. Liespotting
Pamela Meyer writes Liespotting the blog and has just come
out with her book which is fantastic. She also has podcasts
and videos on her website, which are full of helpful insights.
3. Paul Ekman
Paul Ekman not only writes about nonverbal behavior but has
really led the research in this area. His studies and books are
groundbreaking and delve deep into both lie detection and
nonverbal behavior–no light reading found here!
You can also see his blog about the TV Show Lie to
Me where he talks about the real science in each episode.
71
4. Science of People.org
5. Joe Navarro
7. Statement Analysis
8. Kevin Hogan
72
This is a really interesting angle on lie detection and focuses
more on the political sides of things. They take the public
pulse by distributing polls, quizzes, and surveys to users.
73
74
Citations
Navarro, Joe, and Marvin Karlins. What Every BODY Is
Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-reading People.
New York, NY: Collins Living, 2008.
75
James Geary, “How to Spot a Liar,” Time Magazine Europe,
March 2000.
76
DePaulo et al. “Lying in Everyday Life.”
77
M. Bennett, “Who’s Lying?” University of California First
Annual Compliance and Audit Symposium, San Francisco,
February 2009.
78
D. Carney et al., “Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays
Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance,”
Psychological Science.
Birren, F. (1978). Color & Human Response. New York: John Wiley &
Sons. Inc.
Mahnke, R. & Mahnke, F. (1993). Color and Light 1993. New York:
John Wiley & Sons.
Webster, G., Urland, G., & Correll, J. (2011). Can Uniform Color Color
Aggression? Quasi-Experimental Evidence From Professional Ice
Hockey Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3 (3), 274-281
DOI: 10.1177/1948550611418535
79
80
81
Notes:
82
83
84