Human psychology: how to recognize a lie. Interesting facts about how we time

All people are different. The way of perceiving the world, thinking, reacting to a particular event is different for all people. Lying is one of these manifestations and is also expressed in different ways.

It is believed that there is no common set of gestures, but if there was one, we would be able to determine who is lying to us. The most relevant lie is reflected when he (the person) provokes emotions.

The body reflects these emotions in its own language. However, to be sure that you are being lied to, you need to perceive a combination of gestures, facial expressions, and speech. Lying at a high level requires increased self-control, which means tension.

The truth is somewhere on the left

A person may be overtly or covertly tense. To determine this, look carefully at the person’s left side. From a neurophysiological point of view, control over the left half is less strong than over the right. The brain, with its left and right hemispheres, controls the sides of the body differently.

Speech, intelligence, and the ability to do mathematics are the domain of the left hemisphere.
Imagination, emotions, abstract thinking are the work of the right hemisphere.
Management occurs generally in the form of crossing. The left hemisphere is the right side of the body, and the right hemisphere is the left side.

For example, we communicate with a right-handed person. During the conversation, he gesticulates vigorously, using his left hand. It is very likely that this is a liar. This is most pronounced if the right hand is almost not involved in the matter. If such a discrepancy is observed, the person is definitely not sincere. If the same disorder is observed in the face, i.e. the left or right half is more active, perhaps also a lie. Particular attention should be paid to the left side.

Lies are annoying

If you notice that your interlocutor has turned pale or, on the contrary, turned pink during communication, and there is also a slight twitching of the facial muscles, as well as eyelids or eyebrows, they may also be lying to you.

If you see that the interlocutor closes his eyes, squints or blinks often, then he is trying to unconsciously abstract himself from the topic of conversation. The comfort or lack thereof of the interlocutor can be judged by the pupils. Usually, as a result of various discontent, they narrow.

The pupil reacts to pleasure by dilating. If your eyes are averted to the side, you are not necessarily a liar. But if they look directly into your eyes, too persistently, this is already a sign of insincerity.

A lie on the tip of your nose

It's interesting that your own nose can give you away. If you see how, while communicating with you, a person twitches the tip of his nose or moves it to the side, you should think about the sincerity of the interlocutor’s words. If someone flares their nostrils when communicating with you, you should think about the fact that they don’t really believe you.

It's funny, but it is the nose that is especially sensitive to lies. It may itch and change in size (the so-called “Pinocchio effect”). All this is scientifically based, since lying causes blood pressure to rise, which in turn affects the nasal mucosa by producing the hormone catecholamine.

Did you wash your hands?

If, when communicating with you, the interlocutor tries to put his hands in his pocket or close his palms, we can with a certain degree of confidence assume that he is hiding something. This feature is most pronounced in children.

Hiding your palms or keeping them open can be used against you even in a regular market. An experienced salesperson can see how your palms are positioned when you refuse a purchase and can understand how much you really need it. If you cover your mouth with your hand, then here we see a desire not to blurt out too much. This may be indicated by tension in the mouth muscles, as well as lip biting.

Posture is very important in determining a person's honesty. Let's say you observe a person in a tense or uncomfortable position. He can constantly squirm, trying to make himself more comfortable. This means that the topic of conversation is bothering him and he may not agree with it. Liars can lean and cross their legs. Usually, if a person is truthful, then his posture is relaxed and comfortable.

Everybody lies

Have you come across a phrase like “honestly speaking” and what follows in conversation? It’s worth taking a closer look at the person at the moment of its utterance. When certain patterns are repeated, it is worth questioning the speaker’s honesty. For example, phrases such as:

You must believe me...
I'm telling the truth, believe me...
Can I cheat? Never!
I'm being one hundred percent honest with you!

Often it doesn’t even matter what a person says. What matters is how he does it. The timbre of the voice, its rhythm, if it suddenly changes, may indicate insincerity or lies. If the interlocutor hesitates or finds it difficult to pronounce the next phrase, be wary.

Typically, gesticulation allows us to convey to our interlocutor a more amplified version of what we said. As a rule, the tempo of such gestures and speech are in accordance. If you see a discrepancy between one and the other, you should think about it. This means that what a person thinks is not necessarily what he says.

Let's say you want to catch a person cheating. To do this, it is worth taking some steps. You need to get into the same rhythm with him, adjust, so it will be more difficult for him to lie to you. There is no need to directly accuse a person of lying. It’s best to pretend that you didn’t hear the words and let him repeat himself. This will give you a better chance of telling the truth.

Direct questions are best. Facial expressions and gestures directed at the interlocutor will force him to react accordingly. And a few more facts about lying. Typically, people lie on the phone about 37 percent of the time. Personal conversations account for 27 percent, the Internet 21 percent, and about 14 percent lies in emails.

If a person is more sociable, most likely he also lies more. Regardless of gender, people lie about equally often. However, the essence of lies varies. Women try to relax their interlocutor by lying, and men use lies to assert themselves. A person is not born a liar, but acquires this ability only by the age of three or four years from birth.

Lie to Me is one of the few TV series based on a proven scientific hypothesis. The prototype of its main character, Dr. Cal Lightman, was the largest expert in the field of emotional psychology, Paul Ekman. He discovered that in terms of facial expressions, people of all cultures express feelings in the same way, and he discovered micromovements - short episodes of facial activity that indicate emotions - even when a person is trying to hide them. T&P has compiled a guide to Paul Ekman's technologies that will help you learn to see lies.

For a long time, science did not pay any attention to facial expressions. It was first taken up by Charles Darwin, who, among his other works, published the book “On the Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” in 1872. The scientist said that facial expressions are universal not only for our species, but also for animals: for example, like dogs, people grin when they are angry. At the same time, Darwin argued that our gestures, unlike facial expressions, can be called conditional, and was sure that they depend on what culture a person belongs to.

For almost a century, Darwin's work remained virtually forgotten. If it was remembered in scientific circles, it was only to challenge it. Only in the 30s of the 20th century did the French neuroanatomist Duchenne de Boulon turn to her, who tried to refute the theory of the Nazi scientist who claimed that “representatives of lower races” could be recognized by gestures.

In the 60s, the hypotheses voiced in “On the Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals” and repeatedly mentioned by de Boulon were popularized by the American psychologist Paul Ekman. He conducted a series of studies to test this theory, and found out that Charles Darwin was right: gestures do vary across cultures, but facial expressions do not. Ekman's opponents argued that it was all to blame for Hollywood and television, which broadcast an average image of facial expressions, which is largely accepted as a standard in different countries. To challenge this assumption, in 1967 and 1968, the scientist studied the facial expressions of representatives of one of the tribes in Papua New Guinea. These people never had close contact with either Western or Eastern culture and were at a stage of development similar to the Stone Age. Ekman found that in this case, basic emotions were expressed in the same ways as elsewhere in the world. The Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a method for classifying human facial expressions originally developed by Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen in 1978 and based on a selection of photographs with corresponding emotions, has proven to be universal. This unique musical notation for the face even today makes it possible to determine what facial movements a particular emotional expression consists of.

From surprise to contempt: seven universal emotions

There are only seven emotions that have a universal form of expression:

Astonishment,
- fear,
- disgust,
- anger,
- joy,
- sadness,
- contempt.

All of them are encrypted in FACS and EmFACS (an updated and expanded version of the system), so that each emotion can be found and identified by characteristic features, assessing its intensity and degree of mixing with other feelings. For this, there are basic codes (for example, code 12: “Elevator of the corner of the lip”, zygomaticus major muscle), head movement codes, eye movement codes, visibility codes (for example, when the eyebrows are not visible, you need to put code 70) and general behavior codes. which allow you to record swallowing, shrugging, trembling, etc. “There are uncontrolled, unintentional facial expressions, as well as softened or feigned expressions in which the experienced emotion is weakened, or an emotion that is not currently being experienced is simulated,” writes Paul Ekman in his book “Know a Liar by Their Facial Expression.” Unintentional expressions always appear behind the “screen” created on the face. In this case, they can be identified by micromovements. Typically these expressions only appear for a split second, so it takes practice to spot them.

There are three areas of our face that can move independently:

Eyebrows and forehead;
- eyes, eyelids and bridge of the nose;
- lower part of the face: cheeks, mouth, most of the nose and chin.

For each of them there is its own movement pattern in each of the seven cases. For example, when surprised, the eyebrows rise, the eyes open wide, the jaw unclenches, and then the lips part. Fear looks different: the eyebrows are raised and slightly drawn towards the bridge of the nose; the upper eyelids are also raised, exposing the sclera, the lower eyelids are tense; the mouth is slightly open, and the lips are also slightly tense and pulled back.

Paul Ekman gives in his book a detailed map of micromovements for each universal emotion and offers photographs for independent practice. In order to learn from this book how to quickly determine what feeling is expressed on a human face, you need to find a partner who will show you these photographs - completely or covering part of the image with an L-shaped mask. The book also allows you to learn to determine the degree of expression of emotions and recognize the components of mixed facial expressions: bittersweet sadness, fearful surprise, and so on.

Deceptive Expressions: Controlling the Message

“It is easier to fake words than facial expressions,” writes Paul Ekman. - We were all taught to speak, we all have a fairly large vocabulary and knowledge of the rules of grammar. There are not only spelling dictionaries, but also encyclopedic dictionaries. You can write the text of your speech in advance. But try to do the same with your facial expression. There is no “dictionary of facial expressions” at your disposal. It's much easier to suppress what you say than what you show."

According to Paul Ekman, a person who lies in facial expressions of his feelings or in his words usually seeks to satisfy his current need: a pickpocket feigns surprise, an unfaithful husband hides a smile of joy at the sight of his mistress if his wife is nearby, and so on. "However, the word 'lie' doesn't always capture what's going on in these cases," Ekman explains. - It assumes that the only important message is the message of the true feeling that underlies the false message. But a false message can also be important if you know it is false. Instead of calling this process lying, you should better call it message control, because lying itself can also convey a useful message.”

In such cases, there are two messages on the person's face: one reflects the actual feeling, and the other reflects what he wants to convey. Paul Ekman first became closely interested in this problem when he encountered the behavior of patients suffering from severe depression. In conversations with doctors, they claimed (facially and verbally) that they were experiencing joy, but in reality they sought to end their hospitalization and commit suicide. In Lie to Me, the writers also raise this problem: according to the plot, the mother of Dr. Cal Lightman committed suicide after she managed to deceive psychiatrists in this way. Later, while watching videos of her conversations with doctors, the series' protagonist discovers a micro-expression of sadness on her face.

Control of facial messages can be different:

softening,
- modulation,
- falsification.

Softening usually occurs by adding facial or verbal comments to an already present expression. For example, if an adult is afraid of the dentist, he may wince slightly, adding an element of self-loathing to the expression of fear on his face. Through mitigation, people often communicate to others that they are able to manage their feelings and align their behavior with cultural norms or the current situation.

In the case of modulation, a person adjusts the intensity of the expression of emotion, rather than commenting on it. “There are three ways to modulate facial expression,” writes Paul Ekman. “You can change the number of areas of the face involved, how long the expression is maintained, or the amplitude of contraction of the facial muscles.” Typically, all three methods are used. But with falsification, the facial process becomes false: the face does not show the emotion that a person actually experiences (simulation), nothing is shown when in fact there is a feeling (neutralization), or one expression is hidden behind another (camouflage) .

Physiology of lies: place, time and microexpressions

To learn to recognize lies on faces, you need to pay attention to five aspects

Facial morphology (specific configuration of features);
- temporary characteristics of emotion (how quickly it arises and how long it lasts);
- place of expression of emotion on the face;
- microexpressions (they interrupt the main expression);
- social context (if fear is visible on an angry face, you need to think about whether there are objective reasons for this).

People who control their facial expressions pay most attention to the lower parts of their faces: the mouth, nose, chin and cheeks. After all, it is through the mouth that we carry out sound communication, including wordless communication: screaming, crying, laughter. But the eyelids and eyebrows more often “show” the true feeling - however, eyebrows are also used for facial falsification, which can affect the appearance of the upper eyelids. What and how exactly is “out of place” in the process of deception depends on what exactly is being broadcast and what is being hidden. For example, the expression of joy does not require us to use the forehead at all - so if it covers another emotion, the latter must be sought in this area.

Using Ekman's books, you can learn to recognize different fake facial expressions in different situations: see fearful eyebrows on a neutral face (which indicates genuine fear), detect a lack of tension in the lower eyelids on an angry face (which indicates that anger is fake), find information leakage about real anger under the guise of disgust, notice pauses between the verbal message about the emotion and the appearance of its false version on the face (1.5 seconds) and pay attention to other important details.

But the main skill that Ekman’s books and trainings allow you to develop is recognizing microexpressions. These displays of emotion usually last only a short time: half to a quarter of a second. You can learn to find them using the same photographs and an L-shaped mask - if the images quickly replace each other. The presence of microexpressions, however, does not mean that the person is not simultaneously masking, weakening, or neutralizing the emotions being experienced. These short episodes of facial activity are a symptom of deception or, in extreme cases, a sign that the person himself does not know what he is feeling, but their absence does not mean anything.

Today, Paul Ekman and his research team provide emotion recognition training to customs officers, police and border patrol officers, HR professionals and others who often have to look for deception or confirm facts. However, his developments are useful not only at the border: they can help journalists during interviews, teachers in the classroom, businessmen in negotiations and many other people. However, neither Dr. Lightman’s techniques from the series, nor Dr. Ekman’s techniques, which formed the basis of “Lie to Me,” should be used at home. After all, not every deception actually entails negative consequences, and close people should be given the right to privacy, since not everything they hide has to do with us.

Pictures © Matthieu Bourel

With rare exceptions, each of us feels the need for communication, this is how humans are designed.

People share information with each other, jointly develop new ideas, get acquainted and start relationships, are charged with positive and negative emotions - all this happens through communication.

Due to the exceptional importance of this process in all areas of life, we are often very upset when they lie to us, and we do not notice it. Probably, learning to recognize a lie, so that it is certain and always, is the blue dream of humanity. Unfortunately, this is hardly possible, if only because people often cannot distinguish even their own inventions from reality.

However, in order to suspect something is wrong and keep your ears open, you don’t even need special equipment - during a conversation, it’s enough to pay attention to some indirect signs that your interlocutor involuntarily manifests, which can confirm or refute his words.

A lie, as a rule, is inconvenient for the one who comes up with it. He feels discomfort, nervousness, fear that he might be exposed, even when it concerns something completely harmless. And when we are talking about something serious that can affect a person’s future life, if the truth is revealed, then only a person with good self-control can behave correctly at such moments. But even in this case, if you know what to look for, you can find clear signs indicating a person’s nervousness, as well as in which places in his stories and answers it manifests itself most acutely. Let's look at these signs.

Speech

In our communication, words directly account for 20-40% of the information transmitted, that is, less than half. Everything else is non-verbal (that is, non-verbal) information. Methods of its transmission are studied by such a branch of linguistics as paralinguistics.

Pauses- the most common sign of deception. They can either be too long or too frequent. The presence of interjections - “um”, “well”, “uh” - also indicates that they may be telling you a lie or not telling you something.

Raising the tone- a probable sign. Speech becomes louder and faster, and the person experiences excitement. The reasons may be different - anger, delight, fear. But it could also be a lie.

Useless facts. To make a story convincing, people try to saturate their fictional story with real events that are far from the subject of conversation. For example, if you want to find out in detail about the people your interlocutor met, what he, for example, needs to hide, then you will hear detailed micro-stories about how wonderful the food was, how great the weather was, what emotions were caused by certain everyday events, and about people can only be said in passing. In a word, they will clearly draw a vast background for you, but in the center of the picture they will only sketch a blurry sketch.

“Guess for yourself” answer. You need to make sure that the person answers directly, without necessarily correcting him and thereby putting pressure on him. Remember that a question asked to a question is only an indirect answer.
If you asked, “Did you watch TV today?” and were told, “Well, you know I couldn’t do that?” - then you need to understand that this is avoiding a direct answer. Although it should be noted that people can answer this way only because they are offended by a lack of confidence in themselves and do not consider it necessary to answer directly.
Another option for an indirect answer is when you are also asked to think out what was said yourself, but are not told directly, for example, to the question “Are you sure you can fix this?” may be followed by the phrase “My friends consider me an excellent master!” From it we can conclude that the person is not confident in his abilities, but he does not want to admit it.

As you asked, so they answered you. Frequent and precise use of phrases from your question, as well as complete repetition of the question before the person begins to answer, may indicate insincerity. In such situations, your interlocutor does not have time to think of what to answer, so he uses your own words or stalls for time before answering in order to have time to construct a plausible version.

An anecdote instead of an answer. Pay attention to the “funny” answers. You asked, they answered you wittily, you appreciated it, laughed and moved on to another question, or you didn’t bother bothering this funny interlocutor anymore - a common situation. But you need to think about it, if a person often laughs it off instead of answering directly, perhaps he is doing it on purpose.

Speech at different speeds. Frequent coughing, attempts to clear the throat, a sharp change in speech from normal to faster or slower may mean that the person is nervous, perhaps lying. This is also indicated by any objectively unconditional change in the speaker’s voice or tone.

If, during the process of telling a story, a person goes back in the course of the story and adds something to it: he clarifies it, says that he forgot to mention something, adds details, then this indicates a sincere story. It’s difficult to remember a story made up on the fly, add to it in the middle, and then continue to think from the end - there is a high probability of getting lost and confused

Body

First of all, you should pay attention to the posture of the interlocutor

“Closed poses” are well known - crossed arms and legs. They say, at a minimum, that the interlocutor is not very inclined to communicate with you. A person may look relaxed, but attempts to hide his hands, fold them on his chest or lock them on his knees give him away. It’s not a fact that he’s lying to you, but he clearly wants to hide something from you, not to let it slip.

It happens that a liar shrinks, as if he is trying to take up as little space as possible.

Another pose: if a person takes a step back during a conversation, most likely he himself does not believe what he is telling you.

There are “slips in gestures”, a kind of non-verbal leaks of information. Not every liar makes them, but if they happen, it is a reliable sign of his intentions.

If a person touches his face with his hands: scratches his nose, covers his mouth, then these are signs that he is subconsciously closing himself off from you, putting a barrier between you.

The most common gestures of deception:

	Involuntary shrug of the shoulders speaks of indifference, that a person doesn’t care. And if he twitches one shoulder, it means that he is lying with a very high degree of probability.
	Rubbing the eyes. When a child does not want to look at something, he covers his eyes with his palms. In an adult this gesture is transforms into rubbing the eye. In this way, the brain tries to block something unpleasant for us (deception, doubt or an unpleasant sight). For men, this is a more pronounced gesture - they rub their eyes, as if a speck has gotten into their eye. For women, this gesture is less noticeable and may well pass for correcting makeup, since ladies usually gently rub their lower eyelid with a finger. But even here you should be careful - suddenly a speck or an eyelash actually got in!
	P touch to the nose (often with a quick, elusive movement) is also a sign of lying. This gesture is called the "Pinocchio symptom" Remember the story about Pinocchio, where his nose began to grow rapidly when he lied? In fact, physically this process actually occurs - special substances catelochamines are released in the body, which lead to irritation of the nasal mucosa, pressure also increases, blood flow increases and the nose actually enlarges a little. But this is not noticeable, but it is noticeable how your interlocutor begins to reach for his nose and scratch it.
	Covering mouth with hand or coughing into a fist, according to psychologists, shows a desire to suppress the utterance of one’s own false words, to prevent them from breaking out.
	Brushing imaginary lint off clothes. The interlocutor does not approve of what he heard. He doesn't want (or can't) say it out loud, but the gesture betrays his thoughts.
	Pulling the collar. It's a familiar gesture, isn't it? It’s as if it’s getting stuffy and it’s hard for a person to breathe. Deception leads to increased blood pressure and increased sweating, especially if the deceiver is afraid of being caught in a lie.

Other deceptive gestures include:

Rubbing your earlobe.
Let's get back to our monkeys! This is a “I don’t hear anything” gesture. It is usually accompanied by a glance to the side. Variants of this gesture: rubbing the earlobe, scratching the neck behind the ear, picking (sorry) in the ear or twisting it into a tube.

Scratching the neck.
Typically, people do this with the index finger of the hand they are writing with. The average person scratches their neck 5 times a day. This gesture means doubt. That is, if a person tells you something like “Yes, yes! I completely agree with you” and at the same time reaches out to scratch his neck, this means that in fact he does not agree and doubts.

Fingers in mouth.
The most striking character with a finger in his mouth is Dr. Evil from the film about Austin Powers. He almost always keeps his little finger near his mouth. This is an unconscious attempt by a person to return to a state of security that is usually associated with infancy and sucking on the same pacifier. An adult sucks a cigar, a pipe, glasses, a pen, or chews gum. Most touching of the mouth is associated with deception, but it also indicates that the person needs approval. Perhaps he is lying because he is afraid that you will not like the truth.

Pay attention to such a gesture as extended middle finger. It can simply lie on the knee, or the person accidentally touches his face with it. This is a gesture of hostility and hidden aggression: the interlocutor seems to send you to hell.

You should also notice if the interlocutor shifts from foot to foot or even takes a small step back. This indicates a desire to leave, to distance themselves from you, so as not to give something away.
It is especially important to pay attention to backward movements when asking questions. If the respondent's head moves sharply back or down- this is perhaps also an attempt to close.

Emotions

A person's behavior differs dramatically depending on whether he is telling the truth or lying.

If a lie occurs, then the person’s emotions will be much deeper and more sensual. Any lie implies the presence of a certain mask that a person puts on himself and builds an appropriate line of behavior. Often, the “mask” and other emotions are mixed together. For example, a slight smile is a mask of pleasure, if this feeling is not actually experienced, it is mixed with signs of fear, sadness, disgust or anger. In the case of sincere joy, our gaze will see not only a smile, but also the movement of the muscles located around the eyes.

Bad reaction. Monitor the other person's emotions as the conversation progresses. If a person is hiding something from you, then emotions may be expressed late, remain on the person’s face for an unusually long time, and then suddenly disappear, appearing before you finish the phrase.
This happens because a person thinks intensely about something of his own, poorly maintains the thread of the conversation and demonstrates emotions that he does not actually feel.

Facial expressions that last 5-10 seconds are usually fake. Most genuine emotions only appear on the face for a few seconds. Otherwise they will look like a mockery. For example, surprise that lasts for more than 5 seconds in a person is a false emotion.
A sincere person's words, gestures and facial expressions are synchronized. If someone shouts: “I’m so tired of you!”, and an angry facial expression appears only after the remark, the anger is most likely fake.

American psychologist Paul Ekman studied people's facial expressions and counted a total of 46 independent facial movements. However, he found that in combination with each other they can convey about 7,000 unique emotions! Interestingly, many of the muscles that move the face are not controlled by consciousness. This means that a fake smile will always, albeit slightly, differ from the real one.

Behavior during provocations

Increased breathing, heaving of the chest, frequent swallowing, protruding perspiration - these are signs of strong feelings. It is possible that they are lying to you. Blushing is a sign of embarrassment, but you can also become embarrassed from shame for lying.

Do you like field hockey? If you try to abruptly change the subject, the person telling the lie will take it with relief and support your initiative, because he understands that the less you talk to him, the less chance he has of “messing up” and giving himself away. If the interlocutor is sincere, then his natural reaction will be a misunderstanding of the reason for the change of topic, dissatisfaction that his story was not heard to the end. He will try to return to the topic of conversation.

I don't like you guys... If you have doubts about the veracity of the interlocutor’s words, MirSovetov advises to implicitly show that you do not believe the interlocutor’s story: after his answer to the next question, pause, look closely, with distrust. If they are not honest with you, it will cause embarrassment and uncertainty. If a person tells the truth, then he often begins to get irritated and stare at you. The following changes can be noted in it: embarrassment disappears, lips compress, eyebrows frown.

Eye movements

It is true that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. A person is designed in such a way that the eyes actively participate in the process of thinking.

They take position depending on which area of the brain is involved at the moment. Knowing this, we can assume what the brain is doing at one time or another in the dialogue: coming up with something new or processing real information.

If a person confidently wants to defend his lie and lies deliberately, he tries to maintain eye contact. He looks soulfully into your eyes. This is to know if you believe his lies.

And when a person is taken by surprise and wants to lie so that everyone will forget about it, he immediately switches your attention: he goes into another room, supposedly on business, or starts tying his shoes, sorting out papers and muttering something under his breath...

However, sometimes a person looks into the eyes in the hope of seeing support. He may not lie, but he can be very unsure of his rightness.

Watch for blinking. When they lie, they often blink involuntarily, because for many, lying is still a . But, in addition, increased blinking may mean that the subject of conversation is unpleasant to him and causes pain. And the less often a person blinks, the happier he is at that moment.

When asking a question, pay attention to the eye movement at the moment when the person answers. When a person is really trying to remember all the details and tell you, they look to the right. When a person comes up with ideas, his gaze goes to the left.

Usually when a person remembers (invents) he looks not just to the side, but down (down right, down left)

See a diagram by neurolinguistic psychologists that tells you what eye movements indicate.

Let's imagine that the picture shows the face of your interlocutor. Further, in order to avoid confusion, we will agree to write in relation to you when you look at the “interlocutor’s face”, and in brackets there will be instructions regarding the face depicted in the diagram

You see that the other person's eyes

They're watching to your left and up(the person looks at the upper right corner), this indicates the construction of the picture.
To your right and up(for him this is the upper left corner) - access to visual memory.
They're watching left(right side for the interlocutor) - comes up with a sound,
right(left side for him) - tries to remember what he heard.
Eyes below and left(lower right corner) - checking sensations and feelings.
Below and to the right(lower left corner) - reflects on the situation, talks to himself.
If the look straight, then the person perceives the information.

For example, if you asked your boss about the salary date, and while answering, he looked down and to the right relative to you, then he thought about it for the first time and is forming an answer “on the fly”, thinking. And if he just turns to the right, it means he’s saying what he heard before from his superiors.

Pay attention to this nuance: if you are talking to a left-handed person, then the left and right sides are mirror opposites. This is also true for right-handers, in whom the left hemisphere still predominates over the right, for example, the so-called. retrained lefties.

There is an opinion that a direct look eye to eye symbolizes the sincerity of a person, but if the eyes are averted, then they say that someone is “hiding” his eyes and hiding something. In reality, this is not the case. During a conversation, it is often necessary to break eye contact in order to focus on a thought, think, or remember.
Based on materials from bskltd.ru, mirsovetov.ru

Interesting fact:

Scientists from the State University of New York at Buffalo have developed a high-tech polygraph. Based on eye movements, it recognizes when a person is telling the truth and when he is lying. According to the researchers, their system is able to detect false statements with an accuracy of more than 80%.

The new system was tested on volunteers. Before the experiment began, they were asked to guess whether they had stolen a check that was made out to a political party they did not support. An interrogator sat next to the subjects, who first asked questions not related to the topic, and then directly asked about “theft.”

At this time, the program, using web cameras, monitored the violation of the trajectory of eye movement, the speed of blinking and the frequency with which the participants in the experiment shifted their gaze. As a result, the system was able to successfully detect lies in 82.2% of cases, while for experienced investigators this rate was about 60%.

How to recognize a lie by facial expressions and gestures:

It should be noted that just as in nature there are no two identical personalities, each person is individual in his own way, so there is no universal set of signals that detect lies. Therefore, all signs must be carefully analyzed in the context of the current situation, and pay attention to both the voice and emotions, and do not forget about body movements. The tongue can lie, but the body cannot lie.

However, be careful and do not make hasty conclusions, no matter how insightful people you are, because even Sherlock Holmes once suspected a girl of a terrible crime, mistaking her awkward gesture for an attempt to hide the truth. Later it turned out that the girl was simply embarrassed by her unpowdered nose: o).

And what do you think,

Lies have long become an integral part of every person’s life. When telling lies, people can be guided by different motives: deception can be purposeful, aimed at humiliating a person, or it can be unintentional, to save relationships between people.

In this article we will consider not so much the reasons for lying, but its signs. You will learn how to activate your internal “lie detector,” which will help you recognize by a person’s facial expressions and gestures whether he is lying or telling the truth.

The face is the mirror of the soul.
Marcus Tullius Cicero

How to recognize a lie by facial expressions?

Of course, you can use a device such as a lie detector, but this is a very expensive device, which, moreover, is quite bulky. Researchers have identified other ways to determine lies.

According to psychologists, a person who wants to deceive tries his best to pass off a lie as the truth. At the same time, lying is accompanied by certain gestures, body movements, and specific intonation.

No two people are absolutely alike. Everyone has a different worldview, everyone feels differently. People also lie in different ways. However, there is a whole set of signs according to which we can conclude that this is a liar.

Symmetry and lies

A person gets tense when he lies. And, despite the fact that he tries hard to hide it, it doesn’t always work out. In addition, the deceiver loses self-control. The tension is noticeable; you only need to observe the left side of the person's body.

You may ask - why on the left?

The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for human emotions and imagination.
The left hemisphere is responsible for the mind and speech.

From this we conclude that the left side is controlled somewhat weaker. However, both hemispheres maintain close contact with each other. What we want to demonstrate to others will appear on the right side, our feelings will be clearly visible on the left side.

What do the emotions and facial expressions on a liar’s face say?

When a person cheats, the sides of his body are not the same. For example, your opponent actively gestures with his left hand, but his right does not move. This shows one thing: the person is telling a lie. The brain thinks up lies while the body goes out of synchronicity.
Our face displays, perhaps, even more information that a person is lying. Asymmetry indicates a lie. Deceivers rub either their lower or upper lip and may cough while covering their mouth with their hand.
Lies tend to stress a person out. When a person cheats, his complexion changes, his eyelids begin to twitch, and his blinking frequency increases. The fact is that a person has a desire to close his eyes to everything that happens. By rubbing parts of the body, the brain wants to block the untruth. A slight squint indicates dissatisfaction.
Most people believe that shifting eyes indicate that a person is deceitful. But much more often the deceiver turns out to be the one who keeps looking into the eyes.
Typically, rubbing gestures indicate dishonesty. Psychologists say that a deceiver who is worried pulls the collar of his clothes or simply rubs his neck.
A person is given away by the position in which he sits or stands during a conversation. A self-controlled person can control himself, but he can give himself away by leaning back. The deceiver cannot find a comfortable position, this indicates that this situation is unpleasant for him.
The liar is nervous and does not feel comfortable, which affects the speed of speech. Some deceivers speak more slowly than they would normally, others speed up their pace.

Video: How to find out if a person is telling the truth?

How to recognize a lie by gestures?

Every average person in ordinary life tends to pretend, put on different masks, changing his role each time. Some of us are more sincere and change only in a formal setting. And some are already accustomed to lying (and do it more regularly than they eat). However, do not think that no one will detect a lie. This fact is instantly visible in the nonverbal language of the human body.

There are people who intuitively feel that they are being deceived. But not every one of us can easily perceive the dissonance between words and gestures. How can you guess what a person really thinks? And is it possible to spot a liar?

Of course you can. And even necessary! It was to reading the language of gestures and facial expressions that he dedicated his famous book “Body Language. How to read others' thoughts by their gestures" by famous Australian writer. Being very young, he had already managed to earn his first million. Including thanks to his ability to read non-verbal language.

What basic gestures and body movements indicate that the interlocutor is telling a lie?

Step back

If your colleague, during a conversation with you, leaned back with his whole body or only his head, or perhaps began to mark time at the moment when you asked him a question, then this indicates that he does not want to answer at all. And if so, then he is quite capable of lying to you.

Touching the face

Gestures associated with touching one's face usually inform us that a person is not telling the truth. This gesture is very typical for children who, having uttered a lie, very quickly cover their mouths, sometimes crossing their fingers. Less noticeable gestures are also characteristic of adults who already have self-control; hands strongly reveal a person.

However, not all gestures associated with touching the face indicate a person’s deceit. After all, when we sneeze, yawn and cough, we also touch our face. And this fact does not mean at all that the person is lying at this time.

If the gate presses

Observant people have long noticed that liars, who are afraid that their lies will be discovered, and who tremble at possible exposure, begin to fiddle with the collar clasp, protrude the collar of their suit, or simply touch their neck in some way.

Similar actions related to the neck, as well as periodic patting on it, can also indicate that the person has forgotten to fulfill what he promised you, and is now trying to find an excuse for himself.

Exaggeration of emotions

During a conversation, the face of a mentally healthy person always expresses some emotions or feelings. A face that expresses absolutely nothing is extremely rare. A person who tells a lie, on the contrary, has a face that is too lively in showing his feelings.

The artificiality of emotions, among other things, is complemented by overly expressive gestures. The whole face plays, but it doesn’t really play. And everyone can notice such unnaturalness of the interlocutor.

At the pace

Feeling “out of place” can affect the speed of speech of the person telling the truth. Only the pace of speech slows down for some, while for others it increases sharply. In addition, the intonation of the voice may change: for example, the deceiver may speak in a higher voice or, on the contrary, in a slightly lower, coughing voice.

It is also worth paying attention to the volume of the voice at the end of the spoken phrase. The liar begins to speak too loudly, or, on the contrary, too quietly.

How can you expose a liar and avoid mistakes in your conclusions?

In order not to make a mistake, you need to study “body language” not only regarding gestures that clearly indicate that a person is lying. In addition, you need to know what body movements are typical for a person experiencing fear, boredom, self-doubt, delight, etc.

You should not draw rash conclusions based on any of the above gestures until you evaluate the person’s behavior as a whole.

It is important to note that being overly partial towards a person for whom we feel antipathy is often overly subjective. Therefore, all his gestures can be interpreted in a negative direction towards him.

Important Notes:

It is much easier to analyze a person’s behavior if you have communicated with him more than once. If something has changed in his behavior, it will be immediately noticeable, although not always. It happens that at the first glance at a person, discrepancies between body movements and words are already noticeable.
In nature, sometimes there are such skillful liars with the highest self-control that it is almost impossible to figure them out.

The spoken word was, yes and no, but the written word lives forever

During various studies of non-verbal language of communication, scientists concluded that most often people lie to each other on the phone, followed by statistically private conversations. And least of all, people lie to each other in writing. After all, what is written with a pen cannot be cut down with an axe.

SUMMARY: 30 main signs of lying

We all want to be able to distinguish lies from truth. After all, so often we become victims of deception when we did not expect it at all. This is so offensive! Don't fall for this hook again - liars can be recognized, they give themselves away! Your weapon is knowledge.

We have collected for you in one list the 30 main signs of lying. Be sure to read them and remember, everyone needs to know them.

Important clarification:
One of these signs is not enough to accuse a person of lying. Therefore, to be sure, you must detect at least several signs at once.
And, if you see 5 or more signs listed below in a person, then this is already a serious signal that he is deceiving you.

The easiest way to test the truth of a person is to ask him a question, for example: “Did you do this?” and if he clearly answers “no,” then most likely he is telling the truth. And if he answers vaguely, “How could you think that I did this”, “Do you think that I am capable of this?” - such answer options are more likely to indicate the interlocutor is lying.
The next favorite technique of liars is to laugh the question off. You ask him an awkward question that he doesn't want to answer, so he gets off with a joke.
Liars love to emphasize their exceptional honesty: they will constantly tell you the phrases “I swear to you,” “I give my hand to be cut off,” “But it’s true, because I never deceived you!”, etc.
Eye contact. During normal communication, people maintain eye contact on average 2/3 of the entire time of communication. But when a person lies, then most likely he will look at you much less often.
The desire to instill sympathy and empathy. For example, he will say: “I have a wife and children”, “I have”, or “I am the same as you, I understand you too”...
Answering a question with a question. You ask him, but he doesn’t want to answer specifically and asks counter questions. " You did it? - Why are you asking?".
The next sign of a liar is that he may refuse to answer for no apparent reason. It would seem that the question is harmless, but he simply “stops” and refuses to talk to you.
"Inhibited" emotions. It is normal when a person is told some shocking news and reacts to it with his emotions instantly. But if the liar knew about this in advance, then, of course, he will not be able to feign emotions believably. Therefore, pay attention if his emotional reaction does not follow immediately, but with a delay of several seconds.
For example, he stole money from you and you suspect that it could be him. You say: “Can you imagine, my money was stolen!” And only after 2-3 seconds he will make an amazing grimace, because it just took time to figure out what to do. A normal person would react instantly.
The next way to distinguish fake emotions is to pay attention to their protractedness. If the emotions are artificial and feigned, then they will very often last more than five seconds. The fact is that in real life, human emotions change very quickly, but if a person pretends to be surprised, then this will drag on for quite a long time.
"Dry sip". Liars have very dry throats and take very noticeable gulps. You can even watch their Adam's apple move. Therefore, if a person often swallows and coughs during a conversation, this means that he is very worried that he will be found out.
Asymmetry of facial expressions. A normal person in a calm state always has symmetrical facial expressions. That is, if we smile, we smile equally on both sides. But when you observe that one side of a person is stronger than the other, then most likely this emotion is feigned.
Frequent repetition of the question you asked. When a person is honest, he constantly uses different word forms. But when a person is lying, he will most likely repeat your question and your phrases and words.
Changing the pace of speech. For example, he spoke normally, and then suddenly slowed down. So-called hesitations during a conversation are also considered a sign of lying.
Hostile tone. The interlocutor answers very rudely and inadequately: “I don’t have to answer you!”, “I don’t want to talk to you!”, “I won’t answer in that tone!” - this is all an attempt to avoid an uncomfortable question.
A liar restrains himself when answering questions: he is forced to control himself so as not to blurt out too much.
If your opponent always waits a few seconds to think before answering, then most likely he was just wondering how to get out of this situation and lie plausibly.
"Running" eyes- a classic sign of lying. The person seems to be exploring the entire room around him.
You are often asked to “clarify” a question. This is nothing more than the same attempt to gain time to think about further actions.
Masking the essence of the answer with a mass of information not related to the question. Roughly speaking, when you ask about “Foma,” you get a detailed answer about “Erema.”
Typically, a liar cannot give a detailed explanation and avoids giving details. And if you delve into the details, he will generally begin to get confused in them.
If at first the interlocutor answered the questions, but suddenly he lost all desire to talk, this means that he was simply tired of lying.
One of the most favorite attempts of liars is to move on to another topic.
Another sign of lying is that a liar will resist your attempt to get to the root of the problem. You will simply feel that he does not want you to get to the bottom of the truth.
How the person moves towards you. If a person is honest and does not hide anything, then on a subconscious level he will move closer and closer to you. And if your opponent is lying, understands this and is afraid of being discovered, then on the contrary, he moves away from you somewhat, thereby trying to get away from the problematic situation as quickly as possible.
Attempts to cause direct insult. This indicates a VERY nervous state.
Shifting from foot to foot will also indicate that the person is lying.
Covers your face, forehead or neck with your palm.
Scratching your nose or earlobe.
The appearance of trembling in the voice. Perhaps even the appearance of stuttering, if it was not there before.
If your interlocutor is lying, then often a slight smile appears on his face, and this smile has 2 reasons:
A way to relieve stress.
Masking true emotions.

It just so happens that man is a social being. And for normal existence, he, almost like air, needs communication. And not only superficial, non-binding, but also normal, friendly, with full-fledged emotions. Of course, in such conditions, falsehood and lies are unacceptable. Lies are sometimes very difficult to recognize, and for this purpose psychologists highlight a special area - signs of lies based on gestures and facial expressions. What it is and what benefits it has will be discussed further.

How does the facial expression of a lie appear?

It should be remembered that lying is unnatural for a person in a normal state. In order to utter words containing untrue statements, you need to make a certain effort on yourself. Professionals can easily identify these signs; amateurs will need to try a little.

Psychologists advise to look carefully at the interlocutor, and also listen to how he speaks. And track:

change in the tempo of speech, the appearance of pauses, a sudden change in timbre (lower or higher);
quickly moving gaze (“running”), a person looks to the side, and not directly into the eyes;
an inappropriate smile;
microspasm of facial muscles (it’s almost impossible to notice if you’re not used to it).

Some experts, in addition to the main signs indicated, also identify additional ones. These are: a sudden change in the color of the skin of the face (pallor or redness), nervous tics (not manifested before), trembling of the lips and others. To draw up a complete psychological portrait, you should take into account some “tips” on how to recognize a lie by facial expressions. This is the liar’s subconscious desire to cover his mouth with his hand, touching his lips, eyes, rubbing the tip of his nose, pulling at the collar of his shirt or sweater.

Important. Sometimes the examples given by themselves don’t mean much, perhaps the person is simply stressed or unhealthy, but in combination, when there are enough of them, they allow one to accurately recognize a lie.

How to recognize facial expressions of lies

What is important is not only the manifestations of human reactions, interpreted as an attempt to hide something, but also the circumstances under which they manifest themselves. The behavior of a liar is best seen on video: it is difficult to deceive the technique, and from the recorded material, any trained specialist can reconstruct the true picture of events. It happens that individual movements indicate the opponent’s uncertainty (for example, during an interview, when the employer decides whether the candidate will cope with the vacancy offered to him or not).

You can recognize the true motives using direct or repeated questions: in the end, the interlocutor will be forced to make a decision and choose one of two options: admit to a lie or continue to tell a lie.

Try to stir up your interlocutor, force him to open up, drop his mask. An honest and sincere person, when unbalanced, will repeat the same thing that he said before, and a liar, for sure, at least for a minute, will lose self-control and give himself away.
A simple technique called “advice for a friend” works quite effectively: the subject is told a legend about a friend who finds himself in a delicate situation, and then he is asked for advice on what exactly the friend should do. People who have nothing to hide will give a clear and precise answer (in fact, at such moments the interlocutor “tryes on” the problem for himself and tells how he would act). Liars will react exactly the opposite: from evasions and refusals (they say, I don’t even know what to advise you) to fantastic stories and whole carloads of false information. And, of course, they will completely reveal themselves with fine motor skills of their hands, body movements, and facial expressions.
A slightly fraudulent, but effective method is based on bluff and knowledge of human psychology: the interviewee is told that a lie detector test will be conducted (or an interview in the presence of a professional facial recognition specialist). And this is where the fun begins. Honest people react unambiguously and predictably; with a high probability, their nonverbal reactions will not tell anything special. Another thing is those who have something to hide. They will definitely begin to get nervous, rub their hands, loosen their tie, sudden changes in the tempo and intonation of speech, and similar manifestations of deceit are possible.

Examples

There are a great many ways to recognize a lie. Most often, experts recommend developing observation skills in order to catch the moment when exactly a person begins to tell a lie. Characteristic features of this are uncontrolled “glitches” between speech and speed: for example, the interlocutor talks about some personal experiences, while his gaze is directed to the side. The answers sound out of place (as if the person is somewhere far away and does not understand the meaning of what is being asked).

At a minimum, the fact that the interlocutor is not interested in the conversation will be indicated by shifting eyes, a slight wandering smile on the lips and a tense posture. If you ask a direct question regarding the purpose of the meeting, then by the nature of the answer you can judge the interest of the interlocutor.

An unintelligible remark that does not correspond to the situation clearly indicates: the conversation was not a success, most of it was ignored, thinking about their own things or preparing some suitable lie. Another indication of the unpleasant course of negotiations for the counterpart and his reluctance to participate in them is indicated by turning his head (or the entire body) to the side, as if in an attempt to isolate himself, to distance himself.

Considerable importance is attached to visual contact: when a person avoids looking into the eyes during a meeting, he is clearly hiding something. Or he is by nature an insincere, reserved person who does not make contact well. A special place is occupied by the tactic of building “protective barriers” - this is when, during a conversation, a barrier is built from improvised objects: chairs, stacks of books, vases or glasses of water are placed.

Attention. In a global sense, the reluctance to “make contact” is expressed in the creation of any barriers to visual contact - it doesn’t matter whether the conversation is taking place in the office or in a relaxed atmosphere (in a cafe).

Try to unobtrusively rearrange the napkin holder that is in your line of sight. If the interviewer puts the clutter back in its place, know that he is trying to hide something from you. A control indicator of hidden intentions and the desire to lie will also be any sudden changes in the manifestation of emotions, inhibition.

Sudden stops of speech, illogical pauses, and abrupt ending of a sentence in mid-phrase are always alarming. The fact is that in a normal situation the time gap between verbal communication and the emotionally confirming reaction is minimal. If a person is trying to deceive you, everything will be exactly the opposite: a complete inconsistency between nonverbal manifestations and voice, intonation, timbre.

Facial expressions, lies and new technologies

Lawyers, investigators, bank employees, customs officers and other representatives of specific professions who need it due to the nature of their activities learn how to identify lies by facial expressions and gestures. In rare cases, a person is naturally endowed with this ability, but there are very few such people - approximately 50 out of 20 thousand.

Experts call instantaneous reactions of the facial muscles microexpressions - they last only a few seconds, and are very difficult for an untrained person to track. An expert on such reactions, Paul Ekman, came up with a universal “formula” for lying: an upturned (wrinkled) nose, a compressed and raised upper lip. In the experiment he conducted, most of the test subjects performed this way.

Ekman, together with David Matsumoto, was involved in the development of computer recognition of liars by facial expressions (METT). Subsequently, both specialists continued their research separately.

Important. Facial reactions are subconscious and uncontrollable. They have no direct connection with a person’s thoughts and actions. Sometimes this manifestation is associated with some experienced event or shock.

Therefore, as an explanation, psychologists give a small example. Show your interlocutor a photo of your dog, which you love very much, and pay attention to his reaction. Expressed admiration out loud and the subsequent grimace of disgust do not necessarily mean that you are communicating with a hypocrite. It is likely that some not very pleasant memories for him are associated with dogs. Therefore, a complete conclusion about a person’s intentions can only be made by assessing all of his reactions to your words, and not on the basis of individual ones.