4 Signs Someone’s Lying To You

There’s no denying the fact that everyone lies. We’ve all been there and done that. If you say no to this then you just told a lie.

Regardless of what you’ve heard before, all lies are the same. There’s no white or black lie for that matter.

But while some lies are easily overlooked such as blaming the traffic when you’re running late for a date when the truth is, you actually overslept. Other lies are not so pleasant and can in fact, be detrimental or mentally derailing to the receiver. Say your husband or date is cheating on you, or your co-worker’s involved in malpractice that could get you both fired from work.

Fortunately, there're ways to call a liar out. So, how do you know when someone lies to you?

Read these 4 subtle signs of detecting lies.

1. Stress

Lying comes with a level of ‘uncomfortability’. When someone lies, it's often accompanied with subconscious touching of face or mouth. Also, they tend to look at the direction of the door. Perhaps, agitating to abscond or just a way to break eye contact with you.

A sudden change in the voice pitch mostly brought about from trying to be defensive is another sign of stress a liar would portray.

If this isn’t their normal body language, chances are they’re being dishonest with you.

2. An abnormal long pause

We call this abnormal because some questions don’t require such a long pause to be answered – questions such as, “where did you board the train, or where did you alight?”

When someone has to pause long enough to answer a seemingly easy question, then they’re either thinking of what to say that isn’t true or trying to remember what answer they once gave - supposing they’ve been asked the same question before - to avoid giving a different answer that will sell them out.

3. Too much eye contact

There were times when eye contact was the major way of detecting liars as they tend to have difficulties looking at you in the face. I guess they found their way around that. On the contrary, liars now tend to stare more and longer during a conversation than those telling the truth. Ironical, isn’t it?

If the eye-contact is long and intense then you might have a liar before your eyes.

4. Excessive gesticulation

According to a study conducted by University of Michigan in 2015 to observe people’s behavior when telling the truth versus when lying, it was discovered that people who lie tend to gesticulate more with both hands than those telling the truth.

You might need to be on the look-out for the degree of gesticulation next time you suspect someone’s lying to you.

Finally, when in doubt, try watching out for these four signs to confirm your friend’s, spouse’s, or even children’s sincerity during a conversation.