Saturday, February 3, 2007

5 Ways to spot a liar!

Little white lies of all sorts are tossed our way daily. These may not matter a whole lot, but real whoppers do. Sometime back, I read an article on RD regarding how to spot a liar. I know I am not very good at spotting those. Here are the five tips from experts from that article :)

1. Hear the Voices
- Voice (pitch) changes may well indicate deceit.
- And so does change in speech rate, breathing pattern, etc.

2. Watch Those Words
- how do we spot lies in written material, letters, resumes, etc. ??
- Believe it or not, people have developed software to spot deception in written content. One example is LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) by some people at the University of Texas.
- Some tips.
-- liars tend to use fewer first person pronouns
-- liars tend to use fewer exclusionary words - but, nor, except, whereas (they have trouble with complex thinking)

3. Look Past Shifty Eyes
- If people look away while answering something that should be easy to answer, that may be an indication (this may not be always true)...watch out for eye gaze

4. Bet Better at Body Language
-Observe the total person and compare it with his/her usual body language
--ex: a quiet person who talks a lot or a person who talks a lot who is now quiet

5. Check for Emotional "Leaks"
-The micro-expressions that flit across people's faces often expose what they're truly feeling or thinking as opposed to what they'd like us to believe. It isn't the frequency of a smile that matters, but the type of smile!

Professionals trained in the art of lie detection use all these techniques.

Can you spot a liar? Take the quiz!

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