How do you know when someone is lying? Carefully. All lie-detection methods, including polygraph machines, are often fooled or used in the wrong way, which leads to mistakes. There are a few good ideas here, but you should also try to find out the truth in other ways, such as by getting a confession or looking into the facts.
If you can, you should compare the person you're suspicious of to how they act when they're at their "base." In other words, if their eyes are always moving, this can't be taken as a sign that they are lying. On the other hand, if they are usually very calm under pressure but start shifting in their chair after certain questions, that could mean they are lying. Because every method can fail sometimes, you should look for more than one sign that the person is lying before you decide that they are.
How to Test Responses to Find Out If Someone Is Lying
One way to test for lying, is to measure a persons desire to avoid a subject, which will sometimes indicate dishonesty or guilt. Immediately change the subject if you think the person is lying. A person who is lying will often go with the flow and may even seem to relax. Most innocent people would be a little confused by the change and want to finish what they were thinking.
Another way to find out if someone is lying is to say something that would make them feel uncomfortable and see how they react. You think your wife Jane is lying when she says she was at her mother's house. You could be more subtle than saying, "I'm going to call your mother to make sure this is true." You could say, "That reminds me, I'm going to fix that door for your mother at her house today."
If your wife was lying, she would be nervous about you meeting her mother. She might try to convince you not to go there. Obviously, a simple lie may not be the worst of your problems if your relationship has gotten to the point where you need to use these methods. Still, sometimes you need to know, so here are a few more ways to find out if someone is lying.
Your words are being used. Using the same words you used to answer can be a sign that you are lying. "Did you leave this here?" is an example. "No, I didn't leave this here," they answer.
They use words that don't end in "ing." When people lie, they often don't use contractions. For example, a man might say "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" instead of "I did not sleep with her." Again, compare this to base behaviour, since some people might not use contractions very often.
Over-compensation. When people lie, they often try too hard to sound natural and give more information than they need to.
Made to smile. A real smile uses more muscles than a forced one, which only uses the ones around the mouth. The lie might only be about how they feel, though.
They should talk. If someone is lying, the more they talk, the more likely you are to catch them in a lie, especially if you know what signs to look for. These are just a few ways to figure out if someone is telling the truth.
