Let’s face it, many people lie every day, many times a day. To protect themselves, to protect others from feeling hurt, to hurt others, or to achieve something undeservingly. There are many reasons for lying, but nobody likes being deceived and lied to. Luckily, there are clues and signals that can help you recognize a liar, and those signals are hiding in every person’s body language. Words and people may be deceitful, but the body rarely lies. The five signals that can help you spot a liar are:
Covering one’s mouth
This is a gesture that is characteristic for persons who are not so experienced in hiding their emotions and don’t know how to hide the signals that body language reveals. This instinct to cover their mouth while lying is interpreted as trying to stop the lies from being spoken. Scratching ones nose or lips instead of covering the mouth means the same, but it is a little less obvious.
Palms facing down or hiding hands
When a person puts their palms upwards, it usually means that they are not hiding anything and that they are truthful. However, if a person puts their palms downward, it means that the person we are talking to is trying to hide the fact that they are lying.
A little less obvious sign is hiding hands. When a person makes several signals of lying and realizes it, and then suddenly hides their hands out of site, we can notice that they realized that they are being transparent and try to hide the fact that they are lying.
Looking away or staring
Persons that don’t feel good about themselves when lying often tend to look away because they are subconsciously aware that their eyes will show that they are not being truthful. This is one of the most obvious and common signs that a person is lying. People who lie very often train themselves not to do this because they know that their lies will easily be discovered. In an attempt to hide their lying, they tend to stare which is equally revealing as looking away.
Staring in order to avoid looking away looks unnatural and the face is less expressive. A liar tries to convince you that they are honest by looking straight into your eyes, but unless they completely lack conscience, their nervousness will result in sweat on their forehead. The combination of this stare and sweat is a sure signal of lying (or intention to do so).
Suddenly crossing arms or legs
When lying, people are aware that their body language may reveal that. Some people feel ashamed or scared of being caught, and they suddenly cross their arms or legs feeling defensive. This sudden movement seems unnatural, and signals us that the person in question is lying.
One of the ways to see if the person you are talking to is telling the truth is looking at their posture. If they are unnaturally stiff, it means that their muscles are in tension. This happens when an experienced liar has found a way to suppress all the other signs of lying by standing still and not revealing their lies with gesticulation. However, this way they seem unnatural, so pick up this signal and don’t let a professional liar fool you.
When lying, people put themselves in a stressful situation that makes them reveal these signals, and if you know what to look for you can easily interpret them and uncover a liar. However, to be able to interpret these signals correctly, you need to know the person you suspect is lying to you to be able to determine whether they are a part of their normal and natural gesticulation or appear only in certain situations.
If you want to learn more about body language and lies, you can find more information on this link