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How to Detect Lies
Watching facial expressions in order to determine whether a person is lying might just save you from being a victim of fraud, or it could help you figure out when somebody's being genuine. Jury analysts do this when assisting in jury selection. The police do this during an interrogation. A lie detector of course does this, but is a little heavy to carry with you. Therefore, you have to learn the little facial and body expressions that can help you learn to recognize a lie from the truth.
Steps
Observe how the person smiles.
Forced Smile
Forced smiles are easy to spot since they only involve the muscles around the mouth. The person will appear as being overly relaxed and not really happy. Look at the mouth, and see if you can see the teeth. A real smile will reveal a bit of teeth but a forced smile will not.
True Smile
In a real smile, more facial muscles besides the mouth are involved. A dead giveaway is tightening of the eyes, which sometimes causes crows' feet. Very few people can fake a smile and still control their eyes in this manner.
Watch their hands, arms and legs, which tend to be limited, stiff, and self-directed when the person is lying. The hands may touch or scratch their face, nose or behind an ear, but are not likely to touch their chest or heart with an open hand.
Check for sweating. People tend to sweat more when they lie.
See if they are telling you too much, like "My mom is living in France, Isn't it nice there? Don't you like the Eiffel tower? It's so clean there." Too many details may tip you off to their desperation to get you to believe them.
Observe eye contact
Notice the person's eye movements. Someone who is lying will be more reluctant than usual to make direct eye contact. Liars also tend to blink more often. A typical right-handed person tends to look towards his right when remembering something that actually happened and towards their left when they're making something up.
Be sensitive to the person's emotional expression, specifically the timing and duration, which tends to be off when someone is lying. Emotions can be delayed, remain longer than usual, then stop suddenly. Likewise, they might not match appropriately with verbal statements. And, as with smiling, facial expressions of a liar will be limited to the mouth area.
Pay close attention to the person's reaction to your questions. A liar will often feel uncomfortable and turn their head or body away, or even unconsciously put an object between the two of you. Also, while an innocent person would go on the offensive, and guilty person will often go immediately on the defensive.
Be conscious of their wording. Verbal expression can give many clues as to whether a person is lying, such as:
Steps
Observe how the person smiles.
Forced Smile
Forced smiles are easy to spot since they only involve the muscles around the mouth. The person will appear as being overly relaxed and not really happy. Look at the mouth, and see if you can see the teeth. A real smile will reveal a bit of teeth but a forced smile will not.
True Smile
In a real smile, more facial muscles besides the mouth are involved. A dead giveaway is tightening of the eyes, which sometimes causes crows' feet. Very few people can fake a smile and still control their eyes in this manner.
Watch their hands, arms and legs, which tend to be limited, stiff, and self-directed when the person is lying. The hands may touch or scratch their face, nose or behind an ear, but are not likely to touch their chest or heart with an open hand.
Check for sweating. People tend to sweat more when they lie.
See if they are telling you too much, like "My mom is living in France, Isn't it nice there? Don't you like the Eiffel tower? It's so clean there." Too many details may tip you off to their desperation to get you to believe them.
Observe eye contact
Notice the person's eye movements. Someone who is lying will be more reluctant than usual to make direct eye contact. Liars also tend to blink more often. A typical right-handed person tends to look towards his right when remembering something that actually happened and towards their left when they're making something up.
Be sensitive to the person's emotional expression, specifically the timing and duration, which tends to be off when someone is lying. Emotions can be delayed, remain longer than usual, then stop suddenly. Likewise, they might not match appropriately with verbal statements. And, as with smiling, facial expressions of a liar will be limited to the mouth area.
Pay close attention to the person's reaction to your questions. A liar will often feel uncomfortable and turn their head or body away, or even unconsciously put an object between the two of you. Also, while an innocent person would go on the offensive, and guilty person will often go immediately on the defensive.
Be conscious of their wording. Verbal expression can give many clues as to whether a person is lying, such as:
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