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We have all lied and been convinced that somebody is lying. Whether it’s your partner keeping a secret from you or even somebody close struggling to keep a surprise secret.
However, research has revealed that some of the things that we believed to be indicative of lying are, well, lies.
Associate Prof Timothy Luke and colleagues at the University of Gothenburg looked at the past five years of research by 50 international experts on lie detection to truly define how to tell when somebody is lying.
To clarify, when speaking to BBC Science Focus, Prof Luke explained that when they discuss ‘lies’ they don’t mean the white lies that we all tell. Instead, they mean intentional deception.
He said: “The construct of deception is more complicated than a lot of people think,
“There are many kinds of psychological processes that can underlie it. We’re not talking about the same thing. Even superficial things, such as the length and type of communication, matter.”
He said that the core of deception is the intention to mislead another person.
The common misconceptions about lying
While one of the most common beliefs is that avoiding eye contact is a sure sign of a liar, 82% of experts agreed that liars are no more likely to avoid contact than people telling the truth.
This is worth remembering when you consider that according to the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, some people who have autism actively avoid eye contact and appear confused and anxious when it occurs.
Pär-Anders Granhag, a professor of psychology at the University of Gothenburg and one of the study’s co-authors said: “the only single issue that a large majority of the experts agree upon is that gaze aversion is not a diagnostic cue for deception.”
Additionally, liars don’t tend to be more nervous than those telling the truth.
Another common belief is that people shifting and constantly touching themselves are likely lying.
This is something experts are still in debate over. While some believe that liars do these things more often, others say that liars actually do them less and others believe that fidgeting doesn’t indicate anything specific, either way.
Prof Aldert Vrij, an expert in the psychology of deception at the University of Portsmouth, spoke to BBC Science Focus about this study and he believes that people thinking that non-verbal lie detection works is the most prevalent misconception about lying and deception.
He added that people trying to use non-verbal lie detection should proceed with caution. This includes famous technology like lie detectors, video analysis, or even looking for changes in vocal pitch.
So, what is the biggest sign that somebody is lying?
72% of experts believe that a very effective method of identifying a liar is actually in their words.
That is to say, if there is a surprising lack of detail in what you’re being told, the person could be lying.
Prof Vrij agrees with this and added that if the number of details in a story, or complications that occur in the story seem concerning, this is something you should examine more than, say, body language.
He added: “Statement-evidence inconsistency is another cue. A liar’s statements are less consistent with the available evidence than statements from truth tellers.”
It seems that thinking critically about what we’re being told is far more important than the behaviour of the person telling it.
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