There are two kinds of people in the world: liars and habitual liars. Most everyone has lied at some time in their lives and likely will again before their lives are over. The difference is, regular liars lie to spare someone’s feelings or to get out of a commitment, whereas habitual liars lie, seemingly, for the mere challenge. Another difference between the two? Regular liars usually worry that their lie will be discovered, or feel guilty for having lied, whereas habitual liars are convinced that you don’t know they’re lying.
It’s much easier to tell if someone is lying to you if you’ve known the person for some time. Their mannerisms seem different, they don’t act like themselves, or they suddenly do things out of character. But that doesn’t mean that you’ll always recognize a lie from someone you know. In fact, people who rarely lie are the most likely to get away with it. That’s because the people they know have grown to trust them and would never suspect a lie.
Whether you’ve known the person awhile or not, there are some signs you can look for, to help determine whether or not they’re telling a lie. The signs may vary, depending upon the severity of the lie, though. For example, if someone’s lying about whether or not they like your new outfit, they may just look away from you for a second, while telling the lie. But, if someone is lying about where they’ve been or the company they’ve been keeping, the lies might be louder and angrier.
Innocent people generally want to get to the bottom of things. Guilty people usually want the discussion to be over as soon as possible. Innocent people will normally ask questions to determine why the other people think they’ve lied. Guilty people will often repeat themselves trying to drive the lie home.
The guilty often make the story up as they go along, meaning they have to stall for time, here and there. They do so by repeating questions from you, or saying “What?”, so you’ll have to repeat it while they think about it for a few seconds, or even suddenly deciding they must use the bathroom – anything to stall while they invent the next chapter.
People that are telling the truth can tell the same story consistently, over and over. They rarely have to go back and add something they forgot to mention. Liars, on the other hand, often fill in details as you ask questions. Then, if you say, “why didn’t you tell me that before?”, they’ll often say they had simply forgotten that detail.
People telling the truth misstate themselves, stutter, or repeat themselves far less often than someone that is lying. The liar pauses longer than he should, corrects his story, adds or takes away from the tale – even accuses you of misunderstanding what he originally said.
The liar often shows a combination of indicators, like fidgeting, shifting eyes away from the accuser, rubbing his eyes or forehead, biting his nails, fiddling with hair, buttons or things in his surroundings, coughing or clearing his throat often, blinks too frequently, and may even start sweating while others are comfortable.
The eyes tell a lot about if a person is lying or telling the truth. The innocent person will look you directly in the eyes without hesitation. The guilty person will avert his eyes, refuse to look you directly in the eyes, or will be unable to look at you for a length of time.
If you’re unsure of whether or not the person is lying, wait a day or so – if possible – then ask some of the previous questions once again. The liar will often be unable to recite names, times and other important information, which he seemed to know only a couple of days ago, because he made it up.
When a liar is trapped, and thinks it might all come out, he’ll usually become angry and/or confrontational. Rage is not unusual for a liar that is watching his lies crumble. Many times the liar will storm out of the house, in apparent indignation, so that he no longer has to face his own lies.
It’s important to know that just because a person rubs his eyes during the discussion doesn’t mean he’s lying. Look for a combination of the above signs and indicators, before making a determination.
