Lying and Detecting Lies- Paranoid Ape ::

Sep 6th 09 Posted by admin in In-Depth Articles

Lying and Detecting Lies

There is no certain of way of detecting lies despite general misconceptions amongst people. Lie detectors do not detect lies. Lie Detectors more professionally known as Polygraph machines form a baseline of what a person is like when they are at peace or calm. This includes heart rate, skin temperature, pupil dilation and sweating amongst other factors. This baseline is compared with the conditions the subject experiences when he is answering questions.

But changes in heartbeat during questions/answers does not mean he is lying. You have to consider the external factors that may effect the subjects conditional. Factors such as sexual arousal and general nervousness (who likes to be questioned in a dark room?. This can lead to increased heart rates and sweating which can be mistaken for signs of lying.

There is no universal sign of lying. Everybody has their own, an ever-changing system, of body language which can be used to tell if a person is uncomfortable or is hiding something. But not lying. This is why lie detector results are not sufficient evidence to be counted within the courtroom or in a case.

As popularized in the American TV show, Lie To Me, facial expressions (body language specific to the face) and micro expressions (emotions that flicker on the face for less than a second are not signs of lying either.

Emotions are subjective meaning they can be taken anyway and in any context. Because someone is nervous, it does not mean they are lying neither does being calm mean that they are telling the truth.

For example, you tell a father his son is dead and the father has an angry outburst: what does that tell you?

He is shocked and goes into denial
He already knows and is angry at you for reminding him
He is angry because your brought it up, acting as though he is a suspect
He thinks it’s your fault
He’s being angry to conceal hurt
He’s being angry to conceal pleasure

As you can see above there is numerous explanations. Therefore to use signs (cliched) to evaluate people and accuse them of various matters is slander. Everybody is different, one person may blink excessively when lying and another may blink a few times a minute. One person may lick their lips when lying while another moves his tongue within his tightly closed mouth.

Don not presume you are an expert at lying after reading material in books or on the Internet. Out of 100,000 people only 50 people will be natural lie detectors. See: Diogenes project.

However if they are several signs to changed behavior within a person: Avoiding the question, long pauses between answering, changing of body position, increased stuttering (which could also be caused by the motion of being accused in front of people), pupil dilation, unable to recall his own lie backwards (reverse events), changes in story when retold, aggressive positions, awkwardness during silences and adding of unnecessary details – only then can you include the person is hiding something or is not telling the whole truth. This depends on how “badly” these motions are potrayed. A person loses more and more control over his body as his brain works to make up stories (lies) therefore these signs are more obvious compared with a person who exaggerates and lies occasionally.

None of the above apply to Pathological Liars. A pathlogical liar is the best liar you will ever come across. They can fool lie detector/polygraph tests. But that topic is for another time.