EASY WAYS TO KNOW SOMEONE IS LYING TO YOU

CLEARING THE THROAT

When we lie, our bodies prepare for a fight-or-flight

(stay-and-fight or run) scenario. To do this, our bodies

wick moisture away from our throats and send it to our

skin; if you suspect someone is lying, they may clear

their throat to alleviate the dryness.

SWEATING

Similarly, all the extra moisture now present in the skin

starts coming out as sweat, giving rise to the cartoon

image of liars overheating and sweating profusely.

SLIDING THE JAW

To get moisture back in the throat, liars often make

subconscious movements which give them away.

To stimulate the salivary glands to produce saliva, they

can open their mouths and move the jaw left and

right. Take a look at someone you think is lying to

see if they show this behaviour.

TELLING BARE BONES STORIES

If someone recounts a story with just the basic outline,

they may be lying. Truth tellers often use small, salient

details from the story, such as the time or setting of

the event they’re describing. Liars leave out these little

details because they are harder to keep track of. On the

flip side, liars may go into great (fake) detail when you ask

them a simple question. This is a form of overcompensating

for the lie by flooding the listener with details. (It

should be noted that when we experience a traumatic

event, our memory does not function properly and

sometimes omits either sensory or verbal details. Thus,

when someone is interrogated, it cannot be immediately

assumed they are lying if they have trouble remembering

what happened.)

THINKING TOO HARD

When we are under a greater cognitive load (such as doing

calculus rather than simple addition), it takes us longer to

think and process information. This greater load can lead to

slower, choppy storytelling which seems to cause the person

to think too hard.

LACK OF EYE CONTACT

Most people who lie often feel at least a little bit of shame in

doing so and will avoid eye contact. While the amount of eye

contact a person is comfortable with differs from person-to-person

and culture-to-culture, try noticing if they can’t look you in the eye.

EYES POINTED TOWARDS THE DOOR

Body language is one of the biggest ways liars give

themselves away. When their eyes aren’t looking

at you, notice where they are looking at. If their eyes

constantly point towards an exit such as a door, they

are demonstrating the desire to remove themselves

from the lying situation and the anxiety it causes.

THE ADAM'S APPLE JUMP

SPEAKING SLOWLY

Since a liar has to be careful their fabricated story doesn’t

conflict itself, they’ll often speak slower than is

natural to self-edit the story on the fly.