Detecting Deception
Author: Timothy Cole
Author: Timothy Cole
Detecting deception is more difficult than most people realize.
Contrary to popular belief, people give off few, if any,
nonverbal cues when lying. For instance, most people believe
that breaking eye contact is an indicator of deception.
Research, however, does not support this claim. There are no
differences in eye contact when individuals lie or when they
tell the truth.
In fact, decades of research indicate that there are few
reliable, nonverbal cues of deception. And when you think
about, this makes sense. Most lying occurs with little effort,
thought or planning. Lying comes very naturally and, for the
most part, people are good at it. In fact, people tell the same
lies so often that they even begin to believe their own lies.
So, while we think that lying is difficult and stressful, this
is not typically the case. It is very common for people to lie
with little anxiety or nervousness.
And ironically sometimes telling the truth can be very
stressful. In other words, not only is it possible for people
to look "calm" when lying, but people often look "deceptive"
when telling the truth.
Taking this into consideration, it should come as no surprise
that every study shows that people are very poor lie detectors.
Even trained professionals have a difficult time detecting
deception. Only a few people can detect deception better than
the odds of flipping a coin.
But, while few people can accurately detect deception, everyone
likes to think that they can. Almost everyone has an inflated
sense of confidence when it comes to detecting deception.
Why do people overestimate their ability to catch other people
lying?
When it comes to detecting deception, we only notice our
occasional successes, but we fail to notice our mistakes. In
other words, we pay attention to the few times we catch someone
lying, but we don't notice all the times that people get away
with it. This is a terrible way to evaluate any skill. It's
like only paying close attention to red lights when you are in
a hurry to get somewhere. If you only pay attention to a
limited set of events, it is very difficult to create an
objective sense of reality.
Unfortunately, when it comes to detecting deception we only get
to "see" our successes, not our mistakes. So it is very easy to
develop a false sense of confidence when it comes to detecting
deception. In reality, only a handful of people can detect
deception, but everyone thinks they can.
About The Author: Article by Timothy Cole, PhD. For more
information on lying, lies, deception, love and romance, visit
http://www.truthaboutdeception.com
Contrary to popular belief, people give off few, if any,
nonverbal cues when lying. For instance, most people believe
that breaking eye contact is an indicator of deception.
Research, however, does not support this claim. There are no
differences in eye contact when individuals lie or when they
tell the truth.
In fact, decades of research indicate that there are few
reliable, nonverbal cues of deception. And when you think
about, this makes sense. Most lying occurs with little effort,
thought or planning. Lying comes very naturally and, for the
most part, people are good at it. In fact, people tell the same
lies so often that they even begin to believe their own lies.
So, while we think that lying is difficult and stressful, this
is not typically the case. It is very common for people to lie
with little anxiety or nervousness.
And ironically sometimes telling the truth can be very
stressful. In other words, not only is it possible for people
to look "calm" when lying, but people often look "deceptive"
when telling the truth.
Taking this into consideration, it should come as no surprise
that every study shows that people are very poor lie detectors.
Even trained professionals have a difficult time detecting
deception. Only a few people can detect deception better than
the odds of flipping a coin.
But, while few people can accurately detect deception, everyone
likes to think that they can. Almost everyone has an inflated
sense of confidence when it comes to detecting deception.
Why do people overestimate their ability to catch other people
lying?
When it comes to detecting deception, we only notice our
occasional successes, but we fail to notice our mistakes. In
other words, we pay attention to the few times we catch someone
lying, but we don't notice all the times that people get away
with it. This is a terrible way to evaluate any skill. It's
like only paying close attention to red lights when you are in
a hurry to get somewhere. If you only pay attention to a
limited set of events, it is very difficult to create an
objective sense of reality.
Unfortunately, when it comes to detecting deception we only get
to "see" our successes, not our mistakes. So it is very easy to
develop a false sense of confidence when it comes to detecting
deception. In reality, only a handful of people can detect
deception, but everyone thinks they can.
About The Author: Article by Timothy Cole, PhD. For more
information on lying, lies, deception, love and romance, visit
http://www.truthaboutdeception.com
