Identifying a Liar

While surfing the WebMD site, I happened upon a topic that I didn't expect to find there. Heather Hatfield wrote an article entitled "10 Ways to Catch a Liar". She assembled information from experts to come up with a list of ten telltale signs that a person is lying.

1. Inconsistencies


2. Ask the unexpected


3. Gauge against a baseline


4. Look for insincere emotions


5. Pay attention to gut reactions


6. Watch for microexpressions


7. Look for contradictions


8. A sense of unease


9. Too much detail


10. Don't ignore the truth
    

She adds an extra tip: Be trusting

In general we have a choice about which stance we take in life," says Ekman (Paul Ekman, an expert in lie detection). "It we take a suspicious stance life is not going to be too pleasant, but we won't get misled very often. If we take a trusting stance, life is going to be a lot more pleasant but sometimes we are going to be taken in. As a parent or a friend, you're much better off being trusting rather than looking for lies all the time.

Back on 8/31/05 I had a post entitled "How to Recognize a Liar". I also quoted Dr. Ekman.