A Lie or the Truth ?

Everybody knows the story of Pinocchio and that his nose grows longer everytime he tells a lie. Unfortunately, it is not that easy to tell when people around us lie in real life. We can have some guidance though. Here are some scientific ways to help to tell if someone is telling you the truth.

Long and Detailed Stories: According to ‘Psychology Today’, people who are telling the truth usually explain things in detail sand their stories are usually long.

The Right Amount Of Eye Contact: Eyes can be very powerful tools to tell if someone is telling a lie or not. People usually think that liars cannot hold eye contact for long. However, research results from Psychology Today reveals that liars tend to hold longer eye contact deliberately. Those telling the truth usually maintain a few moments of eye contact followed by glances away.

Steady Breathing and Voice: According to Dr. Lillian Glass, a behavioural analyst and body language expert and author of The Body Language of Liars, people telling lies have faster heartbeats and their breathing changes. They breathe heavily. Those who are telling the truth will most probably have more steady breathing. The same thing applies to their voice. If you hear a change in their voice while they are telling a certain part of the story, they might not be telling the truth.

Constant Excuses: Liars always have excuses and their excuses are the outside forces. You should listen closely to the people you are talking to. Do they blame things on others all the time? If so, then they might be lying.

Touching the Nose and the Throat: You should watch the person carefully, see if they are touching their nose as they speak. Touching the nose is a sign of fibbing says Dr. Alan Hirsch. He is an expert of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. He says that certain tissues in the nose usually close when a person is telling a lie, releasing histamine and making the nose itch. So it is a good sign that the person is telling the truth if they are not reaching up to their nose. It is also common to see liars touching their throat, head or chest when they are talking. The truth tellers won’t be doing that, so watch the body movements carefully and check the signs.

The Amount of Blinking: Blinking is also a very easy way to find out if someone is telling you the truth or not. Those who are being honest will have a consistent rhythm of blinking as they speak. The Daily Mail quoted research saying that a person will blink more slowly when telling a lie and the speed of blinking will then increase to eight times the normal rate after the lie has been told.