How to Be A
Human Lie
Detector
By Vanessa Van Edwards
Please visit the ScienceofPeople.org for free video and
article guides in addition to this book.
1 © 2013 Vanessa Van Edwards. All rights reserved.
2 Introduction:
Have you ever thought someone was telling you a lie? Your
intuition was probably right—on average people tell two to
three lies in a ten-minute conversation.
Even more frightening, 91% of people lie regularly at home
and work. But we can detect these lies only about half of the
time—no better than a coin toss.
Learning how to decode and interpret nonverbal behavior
such as facial expressions, gestures, physical movements and
vocal tone is an integral part of communication. As much as
93% of interpersonal communication is nonverbal, yet we
often base all of our interactions on verbal content alone.
By using the latest scientific techniques summarized in this
book, you will no longer doubt yourself or wonder helplessly
if the person you are with is trying to deceive you.
Research has shown you can significantly improve your
lie spotting and people reading ability by learning how to
read nonverbal behavior.
All of the tips, cues and clues in this book are based on
academic research. For a full list of my sources, you can see
my citation section.
Who Is This Book For?
Whether you are a teacher, businessman, police officer,
husband, gardener or mother, this book is for you. If you
3 have ever interacted with another person, this book can
change the way you communicate with others.
Interesting Fact: Extroverts lie more
than introverts.
Everyone should know more than 82% of lies go undetected.
Businesses should know corporate fraud cost us $997 billion
in the United States in 2011, which is 7% of total annual
revenue.
Parents should know college students lie to their moms one
in every five interactions.
Human resource professionals and entrepreneurs should
know a third of all resumes contain false information.
Managers should know one in five employees say they are
aware of fraud in their workplace.
Women should know men typically lie more often than
females.
The Good News:
Lying is learned, so we can unlearn it.
To test this fact, researchers left three year-olds in a room
and told them not to peek at a concealed toy across the room.
90% of the children looked and when asked, 38% admitted
that they broke the rules.
4 When researchers did the same experiment with five yearolds none of them admitted they broke the rules after peeking
at the forbidden toy. Older children had learned, even at the
young age of five, that they could get in trouble for telling
the truth and decided to lie instead.
Lie spotting is about getting back to truth. This book is not
about teaching you to pick people’s behavior apart or point
fingers at liars. It is about arming you with scientific
principles to help you have more honest interactions, better
communication and more trustworthy relationships.
Interesting Fact: Researchers found that
combining deception detecting
techniques with background checks can
reveal 32% more cases of past job
dismissals, 60% more criminal
convictions and 82% more cases of
alcohol abuse during work hours.
Our brain is much more adept at spotting lies than we realize.
When our brain picks up on a lie subconsciously we often
have what we call, an intuition, that something is wrong, but
we are not sure what. The tools in this book will help you
bring that subconscious realization forward so you know
exactly what you are seeing.
In one study, researchers had participants view 30 seconds of
a mute video where a new professor was talking to his
students. Just after that 30 second silent clip, the participants
were able to correctly predict how well the teachers would do
in their global evaluations at the end of the semester—just
from a 30 second clip!
5 Even when the researchers shortened the clip to two seconds,
participants were still able to predict how the teacher would
do in their evaluations at the end of the semester. Our brains
are incredibly accurate.
Some people, nicknamed truth wizards, are able to naturally
spot detection with incredible accuracy. Research from
University of California found that 20 to 30% of these truth
wizards had traumatic childhoods involving alcohol, an
unstable home life, sexual, or emotional or physical abuse.
Researchers in this study hypothesized that it was very
important for these children to be able to read the adults
around them in the unstable situations because their safety,
and sometimes their life, depended on it.
Our brains develop the ability to spot lies and hidden
emotions as a way of self-protection. So, we are working
with tools that our brain already knows, we just have to bring
them forward.
Do You Really Want to Know?
When I tell people I am a behavioral investigator and write
about human behavior—with an emphasis on human lie
detection, there is a question I always get:
Is human lie detection a blessing or a curse?
It is a blessing to know when people are lying to you, but can
feel like a curse when someone you thought you could trust
turns out to be dishonest. In the end, I would always rather
know the hard truth than be ignorantly blissful. This might
not be the case for everyone.
6 Before diving into this book, you have to ask yourself: Are
you prepared to see the hidden emotions in the people
around you?
You might not always like the emotions or lies you see.
Interesting Fact: Since 1991, lifetime
infidelity among men over aged 60 has
doubled. Among women it has tripled.
A Word of Caution
The purpose of this book is not to turn you into a suspicious
person. Quite the opposite, by arming yourself with the right
tools, you can feel more confident to relax around people and
trust that you know lies when you see them instead of being
suspicious of everyone and every action happening around
you.
In fact, being overly suspicious will not serve you well.
Research shows that people who score higher on measures of
trust also spot lies better. That means it is better to be trusting
and open-minded because suspicious people don’t catch liars
and falsely accuse more often.
Interesting Fact: 80% of lies go
undetected.
7 What to Expect
Learning to decode human behavior will completely change
the way you interact and listen to others. If you choose to use
the principles in this book you will start to notice nuances to
communication and aspects of people you did not see before.
True emotions that you had missed will now seem painfully
obvious. It will be like watching people around you in High
Definition. Facial expressions you never noticed will become
clear, body language red flags will jump to your attention and
voice tone discrepancies will sound like sirens in your head.
You have to be ready for these changes. And be ready to be
surprised. If you decide to dive deep into the world of body
language sleuthing, people hacking and lie spotting then this
book is your step-by-step guide.
The tips in this book are based on the latest scientifically
backed research on deception detection and nonverbal
behavior.
Interesting Fact: Adults lie in about one
in five social interactions. College
students lie in one in three social
interactions.
About Me:
I have always been fascinated by people and what drives
their behavior. As a behavioral investigator and author I am a
research junkie. I love curating the latest scientific findings
and translating them into bite-sized science that can be used
in every day life.
8 In my columns for Forbes, CNN and the Huffington Post I
often apply groundbreaking studies to modern day business
and social trends.
My website, ScienceOfPeople.org has an in depth selection
of free articles, videos and tutorials for my readers and fellow
body language detectives. I have a number of ebooks
specifically written for the needs of entrepreneurs, human
resource managers, actors, parents, sales teams, doctors and
other business professionals.
9 10 Chapter 1: Baselining
The first and most important step to human lie detection is
baselining.
A baseline is how someone acts when they are under
normal, non-threatening conditions. It is how someone
looks when they are telling the truth.
The truth needs to represent fact or reality. A lie is when
someone makes a false statement with the intent to deceive.
Before we can pinpoint lies, we must be able to recognize
truth.
Interesting Fact: About 20 % of men
and 15% of women under the age of 35
have cheated on their partner. It is even
higher for people aged 18 to 25, with
30% of partners having cheated.
When you want to better read a person’s emotions or spot
when they lie, you will need to find their baseline, or notice
how they look, sound, act and behave when they are telling
the truth. For this book we will call the person you are trying
to read “the subject.”
How to Baseline:
Step One: Neutral Topics, Neutral Context
11 In order to see how your subject behaves when being honest
you want to discuss neutral topics. This is typically very easy
when you just meet someone at a party, meeting or job
interview.
Start with a few non-threatening questions your subject
would have no reason to lie about, like the weather, their
name or their plans for the weekend. Anything that qualifies
as small talk is usually safe.
Step Two: Look for Physical Behavior
While talking to the subject about neutral topics, take note of
their physical behavior and characteristics. Here are the areas
to which you should pay attention:
-How do they hold their body?
-What is their posture like?
-Do they fidget?
-What are their hand gestures?
-Are their legs crossed? How are they sitting?
-Do they blink a lot or have a nervous tick?
-What are their facial expressions?
Step Three: Listen for Verbal Behavior
You also can listen for baseline behavior. Ask yourself the
following questions:
12 -Is their voice high or low?
-Do they laugh easily and what does it sound like?
-Do they clear their throat or cough?
-Do they naturally use a lot of ‘uhs’ or ‘ums’?
Step Four: How Do They Express?
If possible, it is very helpful to see how someone looks when
they are excited. After asking a few neutral questions, I will
often ask my subject about their passions or hobbies. In this
way, you can see how they express themselves when they are
telling the truth.
For example a job interviewer might notice someone’s Dallas
Cowboys key chain and ask if they are a fan. As the subject
talks about her favorite team, her face might light up and her
hands might become animated and expressive. Later the
interviewer could pay attention to how the subject describes a
favorite work project and see if the behavior is similar.
Interesting Fact: 66% to 80% percent of
college students admit to having cheated
at some point in their schooling.
Step Five: Dig Deeper
After some easy banter, you should have a feeling for how
the person acts, sounds and behaves when they tell the truth.
Now you are ready to ask some deeper questions—whether
13 those are the tough questions in an interview, the important
questions on a date or the curious question of a parent.
The following chapters will explain in more detail what else
to look for once you have found someone’s baseline.
Remember, the more open-ended the question, the more
material you will have to analyze.
For example it is better to ask, “What are you doing this
weekend?” which usually requires a more than one word
answer. Instead of “Are you going to the game this
weekend?”
Step Six: Clusters and Red Flags
There is no behavioral smoking gun that means a subject is
lying. Even an obvious difference in behavior from the
baseline is not enough to confirm someone is lying by itself.
There are clues however.
Every time a subject deviates from the baseline constitutes a
‘red flag’ --- or something of which you should be aware.
Red flags also appear when you spot a hidden emotion
(which you will learn in the following chapters).
My rule of thumb is to take notice when I spot three red flags
in one response. If you see a cluster of odd behaviors or
changes in baselines you know you have stumbled upon a
touchy topic or a lie—either one warrants further
investigation later in the conversation.
Optional: Get a Nervous Baseline
14 One of the biggest confusions lie spotters face is separating
lies from nerves. This is why the context of the situation is
very important.
If a subject is on a job interview you might assume they are
probably nervous, even when they are answering neutral
questions. If you ask someone a tough or sensitive question,
they might be nervous because the subject is difficult for
them to discuss -- even if they are telling the truth.
If you are trying to decode a subject when discussing difficult
topics or in a tense situation, you need to be sure to get their
‘nervous baseline.’ This is how the subject looks when they
are nervous, but still telling the truth.
This is not difficult and often happens naturally. In a job
interview for example, the person is likely already nervous
during the first few neutral questions. In a social situation
you can also find out how someone acts when they are
nervous while telling the truth by bringing up sad or sensitive
topics in the news.
You will often see changes in the face and body when these
topics come up that give you clues and a baseline to their
tense or nervous body displays.
Nervous baselining is important in high-pressure situations
because these are the times when people often lie. Studies
show that the larger the potential incentive, the more likely
people are to lie and the more they expect others to lie.
For example, many people who lie during negotiations for
what they believe is a big stake item report feeling little or no
guilt.
15 Here is an example of how nervous baselines work. Let’s say
you would like to be able to better read your colleague,
Wyatt, at the office:
Step One:
During a coffee break one day in the break room you
ask Wyatt a few neutral questions about his plans for
the weekend or what he is doing for lunch.
Step Two:
You notice Wyatt loosely holds his torso and leans
back against the break room wall. He also nods his
head a lot. These are his calm baseline behaviors.
You notice he uses a medium voice tone and clears
his throat every so often.
Step Three:
You ask Wyatt what he thinks about the new iPhone
release—knowing he loves Apple products. You
watch him step away from the wall and talk
animatedly about waiting in line for hours outside the
store. His voice gets louder and a few people turn to
chuckle at his excitement. This is how he looks when
he is excited or passionate.
Step Four: Nervous Baseline
You decide to also get a nervous baseline because the
issue you would like to bring up is a bit sensitive.
You ask Wyatt what he thinks about Ted getting fired
last week for stealing from the company. This causes
16 him to lean towards you and cross his arms over his
body in a stiff way.
He drops his voice tone, but continues to nod and
clear his throat as he had during the neutral questions.
It seems a stiff upper body is what he shows when
talking about tense topics, but everything else is the
same as his normal baseline behavior.
Step Five:
Now you get to dig a little deeper into the subject
about which you are most curious. You ask Wyatt
about the big project last month and his contribution
on the report.
You have been suspicious he did not do as much as
he claims. Sure enough, he stiffens his upper body—
mimicking his nervous baseline response. So clearly,
this is not a topic he is comfortable with.
Step Six:
This is red flag number one, because an honest person
would not be uncomfortable talking about the big
project if they had nothing to hide.
Wyatt also begins to vigorously clear his throat, far
more frequently than when he was nervous and when
he was calm. This is most likely his ‘tell’ as we say in
poker. This is red flag number two.
As you will learn in the chapter on clusters, I like to
look for at least three red flags before making a
17 prediction about someone’s deception. He then begins
to scratch the back of his neck.
In the body language chapter you will learn that this
is a self-soothing gesture and is often shown by liars
when they are trying to keep themselves calm. This is
red flag number three and almost certainly means he
is concealing something about his activity with the
big project.
This is just one example of how baselining can work in an
everyday interaction. In the following chapters you will
become more adept looking for tells in the face, in the body
and with vocal tone. Baselining will also help you find your
three red flags.
Baselining can be done very quickly with a single question,
or in depth with longer interviews, and will get easier with
practice. Eventually you will not even have to think about
baselining, it will become second nature to you in the
beginning of interactions.
The Importance of Rapport
Baselining not only helps you read your subject, but it also
lets your subject know you are paying attention to them. This
is a great rapport builder.
When you are paying close attention to someone, they feel
you are more invested and interested in them—which you
are! This breeds loyalty and strong relationships.
The importance of building rapport cannot be understated.
People tend to tell more lies in situations where they feel
uncomfortable or disconnected.
18 If they have a connection to you and think you are
trustworthy they will want to help you.
19 20 Chapter 2: Microexpressions and the Face
Most of us look at our conversation partner’s face far more
than any other part of the body. The face is a veritable map of
human emotions—if you know how to read it.
Human emotions are shown primarily in the face, whereas
the body merely shows how one is coping with the emotion.
Because of this, the face is the best place to look for lies and
hidden emotions.
Interesting Fact: Nine out of ten job
applicants overemphasize or completely
make up their positive traits.
Our brains also pay a lot of attention to the face and make
incredibly quick—and accurate snap judgments just by
looking at someone’s face. In one study, researchers had
participants look at pictures of Chief Executive Officers
(CEOs) while their brain activity was being monitored.
Certain faces caused people’s amygdala’s to light up—the
area of the brain where fear is processed. When asked about
these faces, participants said they were most likely better
leaders. Subconsciously we believe the people who cause us
to feel afraid, are likely more powerful and would therefore
make better leaders!
The most interesting part of the experiment—the ones who
caused the most fear and participants thought were the best
leaders also made the most profits. Their brain was right!
Participants were able to accurately predict leadership
abilities and profits just by looking at someone’s face.
21 So, now that we know the face is important, what do you
have to know?
Microexpressions:
Unlike our words, our facial expressions are very hard to
control because they are based on emotions. They can be
controlled if we consciously think about them, but are almost
impossible to control all the time, especially when we feel an
intense emotion come on quickly.
A microexpression is a very brief, involuntary facial
expression displayed on the face of humans according to
the emotions being experienced.
They often occur as fast as 1/15 to 1/25 of a second.
Prolonged facial expressions can be a bit easier to fake, but it
is exceedingly difficult to fake a microexpression.
Dr. Paul Ekman, whom you could say is the father of the
field of microexpressions, discovered over 10,000 facial
expressions. Critically he has confirmed seven universal
expressions with specific meanings no matter the subject’s
age, sex, or culture.
These universal expressions are: disgust, anger, fear, sadness,
happiness, surprise, and contempt. Dr. Ekman realized
everyone from remote tribes in Papa New Guinea to Japanese
businessmen to American teenagers make these seven same
facial expressions while experiencing corresponding
emotions.
22 He also found congenitally blind individuals—those blind
since birth--also make the same expressions even though they
have never seen other people’s faces.
Learning to read the seven microexpressions is incredibly
helpful in understanding the people in our lives and their
thoughts.
Below, I describe each of the seven emotions. I highly
encourage you to practice the expressions in the mirror so
you can experience for yourself how they look, and more
importantly, how they feel.
You will find that if you make one of the universal facial
expressions, you begin to feel that same emotion yourself!
Emotions not only cause facial expressions, facial
expressions also can cause emotions. This can be very
helpful when trying to figure out the meaning of someone’s
facial expression.
When I speak with someone and they make a non-universal
expression, I will try to mimic it and see what emotions
surface within me. This is a very simple way of literally
feeling as your subject feels.
Here is a detailed description of the seven universal facial
expressions and somewhat embarrassing pictures of me
making them. I hope they are helpful!
1) Surprise:
Surprise is the briefest of emotions. It occurs when the
subject is shocked about something said or done.
23 -The brows are raised and curved—they should look
like upside-down U’s
-Skin below the brow is stretched
-There can be horizontal wrinkles across the forehead
-Eyelids are opened, with the white of the eye
showing above and below
-Jaw drops open and teeth are parted. The lips, jaw
and mouth stays loose
2) Fear:
Fear is shown when someone feels terror or apprehension.
This is easy to see in action if you have the subject watch a
horror movie.
24 -Brows are raised and drawn together, usually in a flat
line
-Wrinkles in the forehead are in the center between
the brows, not across
-Upper eyelid is raised, but the lower lid is tense and
drawn up
-Upper eye has white showing, but not the lower
white
-Mouth is open and lips are slightly tensed or
stretched and drawn back
3) Disgust:
Disgust happens when someone feels repulsion or aversion.
25 -Upper lip is raised
-Nose is wrinkled
-Cheeks are raised
-Lines show below the lower lid
4) Anger:
Anger happens when someone feels rage or extreme
irritation.
I also have one of a man here so you can see that even though
the faces (and sexes) are different, the same characteristics
apply.
26 -The brows are lowered and drawn together
-Vertical lines appear between the brows
-Lower lid is tensed
-Eyes hard stare or bulging
-Lips can be pressed firmly together with corners
down or square shape as if shouting
-Nostrils may be dilated
-The lower jaw juts out
27 5) Happiness:
Happiness is the easiest emotion to fake because a smile
comes naturally to us. You can still discern true happiness or
joy when you see the muscles activated on the outside
corners of the eye (crows feet).
-Corners of the lips are drawn back and up in a smile
-Mouth may or may not be parted, teeth exposed
-A crease runs from outer nose to outer lip
-Cheeks are raised
28 -Lower lid may show wrinkles or be tense
-Crows feet near the outside of the eyes
6) Sadness:
Sadness, sorrow or unhappiness is the hardest emotion to
fake. It is difficult to engage the lips in a frown or pull the
corners of your eyebrows up without having a genuine
feeling of sadness.
-Inner corners of the eyebrows are drawn up
-Corner of the lips are drawn down
-Jaw is drawn back
-Lower lip pouts out
7) Contempt or Hatred:
Contempt, disdain, scorn or hatred look very similar to a
smirk, and is often used as a pretense for being happy for
29 someone to cover up jealousy. It is a simple one-sided mouth
raise.
Once you practice these emotions yourself, see if you can
detect them in the people in your life. You can also watch
reality TV as practice. I have a number of videos on my
ScienceOfPeople.org demonstrating microexpressions in the
real world.
Interesting Fact: Dr. John Gottman
found contempt can be the biggest
predictor of divorce. When he
interviewed couples, he realized he could
predict with 90% accuracy which
couples would divorce based on which
ones showed contempt in their
interviews.
Here are a few additional notes about the seven universal
microexpressions:
30 •
Surprise and fear are often confused, as they
are similar emotions. It is very important to
know the difference between these two
emotions. Think of the question, “Did you
know that Jim cheated on Laura?” A look of
surprise on your significant other’s face would
mean something much different than fear.
Surprise would be an appropriate reaction to
finding out about someone cheating. Fear
might cause you to ask some additional
questions about your significant other’s
knowledge or behavior. The easiest way to tell
the difference is by watching the eyebrows—
surprise has upside down U’s and fear usually
has eyebrows in a flat line.
•
Anger can be confused with determination or
concentration. This is why it is important to
baseline someone and take note of how they
look when they are concentrating, nervous or
excited. The seven universal microexpressions
are the same for everyone, but concentration
can look vaguely like anger if you do not pay
attention.
•
Sometimes knowing which emotion you are
seeing is just as important as an emotion you
are NOT seeing. For example, if you accuse
your subject of breaking an office rule and
they don’t show surprise they probably knew
they did something wrong and are afraid of
getting caught. If you tell a friend some good
news and they do not show genuine happiness
they might be covering up feelings of
jealousy.
31 Below I have two side pictures of a real smile
and a fake one. Can you tell which smile is
real?
Hint: It’s all in the crows feet!
A.
B.
32 Answer: B. This is the real smile because you
can see the muscles along the sides of the eye
are activated (crows feet).
A Lying Face
We discussed how to find hidden emotions in the face, but
there are also ways to tell if someone is lying with certain
special facial clues. The most important part of detecting lies
through the face is to understand how we try to control the
face when we lie.
When someone lies they typically first think about the words
they use and what they should say. Next, they usually try to
put their face in an appropriate facial expression—if they are
faking happiness they will try to smile, if they are feigning
surprise they will usually widen their eyes.
Most people are poor at trying to control their face and have
no idea what expression they should even be attempting to
portray. Nonverbal knowledge is not commonly known.
Knowing these two things that people cannot control their
facial expressions and that they don’t know what faces to
make when they lie helps us guess what a lying face might
look like.
There is one more thing that we need to know about lying
and the face: Which muscles are the easiest to control on
command. As a general rule it is easier to control the bottom
half of the face, especially the mouth, than it is to control the
top half of the face—eyes, forehead and cheeks.
So, if you suspect someone is lying to you and you notice
any of these facial muscle red flags, its time to dig a little
deeper:
33 •
They have very little facial movement on the upper
part of the face.
•
They have incongruous movement when they are
smiling—a one sided mouth raise or an uneven smile
•
They are smiling, but their eyes or eyebrows show a
completely different emotion. Perhaps their eyes are
wide in terror or their eyebrows are lowered in anger.
In other words, the person is smiling, hoping to
distract you from the emotion they actually fear
which is truthfully manifesting in the upper part of
their face.
Reality television is actually a great vehicle for practicing
spotting smiles that are hiding true emotions shown in the
upper part of the face. Especially during reality shows that
involve contestants getting eliminated, you often see rejected
contestants smile, hoping to cover their sadness, which is
shown in their sad eyes (inner corners of the eyebrows pulled
down).
Facial Lying Red Flags:
-Little movement in the top half of the face.
-Incompatible movement between the top and bottom
of the face (The subject smiles, but their eyes are
narrowed in anger and their crows feet are not
engaged.)
-An asymmetrical expression. This is usually
exhibited when someone is faking an emotion. For
example, people often half smile or smirk when they
34 are pretending to be happy—not only is this not a full
smile, but it also is the microexpression for contempt,
double red flag!
The contempt microexpression.
-The timing between words and facial expressions is
off—the subject says he is surprised and then makes
the corresponding surprised facial expression a
second later. This should happen concurrently.
35 Watch out for odd microexpressions at the wrong
time.
All of these facial reading tips can be practiced—rehearse
with yourself in the mirror, watch some reality television or
try to baseline your friends and family. Once you memorize
the universal facial microexpressions you will see them
everywhere. It is the easiest place to start building your liedetection ability.
36 37 Chapter 3: Body Language
When people lie, they have a lot to concentrate on and often
forget about controlling what their body is saying. A liar has
to:
-Know the truth
-Make up a false story
-Convince you of the false story and change the story
or details based on your reactions.
-Keep the false facts straight in their head
-Try to think how an honest person would say it and
then try to portray that emotion.
-Try to control their face during the lie
-Try to control their body during the lie
-Try to adjust their voice tone and pitch to be what an
honest person does
These are a lot of different things to keep straight and this is
why liars forget to control their body—they don’t have
enough brain power!
The easiest way to review body language is to start at the feet
and work our way up through each body part. As we move
through different body parts I will describe each part’s
corresponding kinesics (physical movements) and haptics
(touching behaviors). At the end of the chapter I also will
review proxemics (body distance between people and
objects).
38 Before I review each part of the body, I want to explain two
important body language behavior categories.
1) Blocking Behavior: You will see blocking
behavior occur in almost all body parts. Blocking
behavior happens when the subject feels
threatened or encounters a topic they do not like.
It means they are uncomfortable, in disagreement
or feel disbelief. In the last chapter we talked
about eye blocking. This is powerful because
people actually close or rub their eyes to block out
that what they do not like. You will see many
more examples of blocking in the body parts
below.
2) Pacifying Behavior: Unlike blocking—where
someone is trying to block out what is happening,
pacifying happens when someone is trying to
calm themselves down or self-soothe.
A pacifying behavior is usually what happens
after someone is in a blocking behavior situation.
They are ill at ease, reacting negatively to
something said or done. In the last chapter I
mentioned that rubbing the tongue along the teeth
is a self-soothing or pacifying behavior. Rubbing
or stroking is ingrained in us from childhood to be
a calming action because as children our parents
often rubbed our backs or heads while rocking us
to sleep.
We will self-stroke in various non-sexual ways to calm
ourselves down even as adults in public situations. Here are
some other pacifying behaviors you will read about in greater
depth in the rest of the chapter:
39 -Rubbing or stroking the neck,
forehead or cheeks (like a parent does
to a baby to calm down).
-Touching or stroking the arms or
rubbing palms together.
-Playing with jewelry or hair.
-Licking lips or running tongue along
the teeth.
-Running hands along the outside of
the thighs.
-Hands wrapped in shirt or scarf.
-Picking ‘dirt’ out from under nails.
-Squeezing or pinching skin on hands
or arms.
-Tapping fingers.
-Picking cuticles.
-Cracking knuckles or stretching and
pulling on fingers.
40 Cracking knuckles is a pacifying behavior.
Feet
Feet might be the most honest part of the body because liars
often forget to control them. Evolutionarily they also are the
part of the body that reacts first in fight or flight response, so
controlling them is very difficult.
People don’t think to control their feet, instead pouring their
energy into verbal content and making their upper body
presentable.
It is a great idea to take notice of your subject’s feet during
baselining—I highly encourage job interviewers to use glass
tables or no table at all. I tell poker players to use glass tables
whenever possible as people tend to jiggle their feet with
excitement when they have a good hand.
41 Look for these behaviors when baselining and then look for
changes later on:
-The rate at which your subject taps or jiggles their
feet.
This is an example of someone pointing their feet in the
opposite direction of the person they are speaking with. You
can be sure that they do not want to be a part of the
conversation.
-The direction of your subject’s feet and to which
direction they point. People often subconsciously
point their feet towards the exit when they want to
leave.
Interesting Fact: Studies have shown
that when jurors do not like a witness
they turn their feet towards the nearest
exit.
42 -People make an L-shape with their feet when they
are trying to be polite and stay engaged, but actually
really want to leave.
L-Shaped feet shows this person is not fully engaged
in the conversation. They literally have one foot out of
the interaction.
-The starters stance is when someone has one foot
back and one foot forward and their heels are off the
floor. This looks like someone is about to start a race
and usually signifies that someone is impatient or
motivated to get started.
43 Starters stance means someone is ready to bolt.
-When someone points their toes up it usually means
they feel optimistic and excited. In fact studies that
looked at people diagnosed with clinical depression
found that those patients rarely exhibited this
nonverbal behavior because they are depressed.
Interesting Fact: When we are attracted
to or interested in someone we often
point our feet towards them when
standing in a group.
It is important to pay attention to the above foot behaviors to
see if there is a difference from the baseline when tough
topics come up.
Dr. Paul Ekman discovered the number of unconscious foot
movements drastically increased when people lie. As a
44 general rule, people move their feet when they are nervous.
But again, in order to not confuse this with excited jiggling
you want to get someone’s baseline first.
Reversing this situation, if you have a choice in your own
office, you are better off getting a wooden desk with a panel
in front so no one can see your own foot movements.
Legs
The legs are the body part that grounds us and moves us
through the world. In general, when we feel upset or
threatened we widen our legs to claim territory and get ready
for an attack. The wider the legs the more confident or
dominant the person feels. On the other hand, if someone has
their legs tightly pressed together or compactly crossed, they
feel vulnerable, shy or unsure.
When you see someone splay their legs it means they are
trying to gain dominance, stability and control. If you watch
people experience disagreement they almost never have their
legs crossed. Instead they will often have their feet spread
wide as adrenaline pumps through their bloodstream.
Men do this to assert dominance or control in meetings or on
dates. In Western movies cowboys almost always stand with
their feet incredibly wide and thrust their crotch forward in
gun duels to demonstrate the ultimate manly display.
45 Men take up space when they want to claim territory. It can
be a positive mark of confidence as well as a negative sign of
dominance depending on context and accompanying
behaviors.
Interesting Fact: Female law
enforcement officers are often taught to
splay their legs and widen their stance to
look more in control.
Interesting Fact: During World War II
Germans could spot American spies
when they sat in this L Cross position. It
became popular in the states after
cowboys in Western movies used it, but
had not caught on in Germany.
46 Torso
Torso behavior is easier to isolate if you speak to someone
sitting behind a desk. Here are some torso body language
clues you can spot:
The Lean:
The torso or body trunk will actually lean towards people or
subjects they are interested in. Conversely they will lean
away if they feel threatened or hear something unfavorable.
For especially damaging lies, you will often see liars lean
back as they speak the lie, as if they subconsciously want to
move away from the lie. In Presidential debates you will also
see candidates lean back when their opponent accuses them
of wrongdoing or issues a false charge.
Suprasternal Notch:
Touching the suprasternal notch is comforting for both men
and women (men tend to touch their tie which lies directly
over the suprasternal notch).
47 This is the point right at the hollow of the neck where the
collarbones meet. People touch this area when they feel
distressed, threatened or insecure. Touching the suprasternal
notch is a soothing gesture. Women will touch the spot with
their fingers or rub a necklace that falls on that area. Men
will often adjust their tie (which lies right above the
suprasternal notch).
The Turtle:
Sometimes people will inch their shoulders up towards their
ears and clasp their hands to their sides. This happens when
people lose confidence or are embarrassed. They are literally
trying to retreat into their imaginary shell, just like a turtle, to
make themselves look smaller. Dogs do this when they are
punished. Kids sitting outside the principal’s office are
almost always in the turtle position.
Interesting Fact: If you watch security
camera videos of shoplifters right before
they steal, they often try to make their
body as compact as possible so as not to
be noticed.
Air Pull:
Have you ever seen someone pull their collar away from their
neck as if to get more air? Of course people do this when
they feel warm, but they also do this when they feel
uncomfortable or nervous with a topic. Women will also pull
their hair off their neck. This behavior is due to nerves
causing adrenaline release, which in turn makes blood pump
faster, causing us to feel warm.
48 Object Block:
Holding an object in front of our torso makes us feel more
secure and protected. Teens frequently walk school hallways
holding a notebook to their chest (even when they have a
backpack capable of carrying their books) because it makes
them feel more secure. In business situations people place
their coffee cup and put it in front of them when talking
about a difficult topic. Notice when people pick up items and
place them between themselves and the subject—it is usually
not accidental.
Heavy Breathing:
This one is fairly obvious. When we are nervous or anxious
our body tries to bring more oxygen to the muscles, blood
and brain to prepare to fight or flee. We breathe more heavily
and our chest rises and falls more acutely.
Body Hug and Crossed Arms:
49 Crossed arms protects our vital organs.
When subjects feel insecure, worried, scared or anxious, they
frequently cover their chest with their arms or wrap their
body in a kind of self-hug. They do this because it protects
vital organs. People will tell you “they just feel more
comfortable with crossed arms.” Well of course they do! If
their arms are crossed, their vital organs are protected which
lowers their heart rate and makes them feel more relaxed.
This is a position of self-defense and is exactly why it is
comfortable.
Neck:
Anytime someone touches his or her neck it is most likely a
self-soothing or pacifying behavior. A neck touch indicates
stress, high emotionality, high anxiety or worry. Again this
behavior does not mean a lie is being told, but it does signify
50 the person is anxious about the current topic. When people
massage their neck it lowers their heart rate and calms them
down.
*I have one friend who touches her neck constantly
because she is an anxious person in general. Her
baseline behavior includes frequent neck touching. In
her case I do not pay much attention because I know
it is normal behavior.
Arm Behavior
Our arms serve to protect our trunk and vital organs from
threat. When cross our arms on our chest we are usually
reacting to some external threat, and subconsciously protect
ourselves. We often cross our arms when we hear something
threatening, confrontational or when we feel vulnerable.
Interesting Fact: Hitler used to raise his
right arm in salute, but almost always
had his left arm in front of his crotch.
Subconsciously this could have
happened because he was missing his
left testicle and he wanted to protect the
area.
Unfortunately crossing our arms isn’t just a defensive
posture, but the position also makes us feel more closeminded. This is the same concept as the face--not only do our
emotions cause body language behaviors, but body language
can also activate certain emotions.
51 Arm crossing compounds our already close-minded and
fearful attitude. When you see someone cross their arms, you
can help move them to a more comfortable mindset by asking
them to sit down (if they are standing), or handing them a
glass of water (if they are sitting) to get them to physically
uncross their arms and out of the defensive mindset.
The opposing behavior to crossed arms occurs when we
swing and move our arms freely. For example, children are
more mentally free and tend to have freer range of motion
with their arms. Typically, the more arm use you see the
happier and more confident the person is.
Interesting Fact: When athletes win a
race they almost always raise their arms
and chin to the sky. Even blind athletes
do this after finishing a race, even
though they never saw others do this. It
seems to be an inherent response to
winning, and is the body language of
pride and confidence.
Territorial Claims:
When a subject puts their arm around another chair or
spreads their arms out on a table they are putting on a
territorial display of control and dominance. You will see
people do this in business scenarios when they want to show
they are in the power position. You also see men act this way
on dates to assert dominance. Another way to assess how
confident someone feels is by watching where they place
their elbows in a chair with arms. If they place their elbows
on the inside of a chair, taking up as little space as possible,
this usually denotes low self-esteem.
52 53 Chapter 4: Vocal Displays, Voice Tone and
Language Patterns
Interesting Fact: Many studies have
shown the more a child is punished, the
more likely they are to lie.
What we say might not be important as how we say it. Voice
tone, vocal patterns and word choice are great clues for
spotting lies and hidden emotions.
In a 2004 study researchers found that liars are much more
talkative and use a third more words than people telling the
truth. This is because liars tend to provide more and more
detail to convince you of their lie. The most effective lie
detection technique is to stay quiet and listen. You want to
see if and how the other person fills the silence. And then
continue to ask open-ended questions
Interesting Fact: 85% of college age
couples lied about prior relationships.
We intuitively know to ask open-ended questions and search
for deeper meaning when we think we are being lied to. To
test this point researchers had two groups of people
participate in online chats.
In one group people were told the truth. In another people
were told lies by the other person chatting with them. The
group being lied to asked far more questions than the group
hearing the truth. Somehow people knew there was
54 something fishy going on and kept digging deeper. This is
exactly how you should behave in a situation where you want
the truth—keep quiet until they stop talking and then
continue to ask open-ended questions.
Phone calls and person-to-person interaction is where the
most lies happen. A study conducted over a weeklong period
found there were lies in:
37% of phone calls
27% of face to face
21% of IM chats
14% of emails
Researchers think this is because people do not like lying ‘on
paper’ where it can be saved and re-shared. This is why it is
always good to follow up in-person meetings with a
summary email the subject can confirm.
There are a few things to look out for when speaking to
someone on the phone or in person before following up in
writing. Let’s review some of the verbal clues for deception
in conversation.
Verbal Clues to Deception
1. Delayed Responses
When people delay their response by repeating your
question, or say things like “let me think about that,” they are
often stalling for time to concoct their lie. They might also
delay with parrot statements or by repeating your own
previous words. Delayed responses might also avoid
answering all together, “Is everyone having to answer this?”
or “I’m so busy right now I don’t think I can get into this
55 with you.” These are all avoidance answers and should be
seen as red flags. They might also say, “Let me think” or “As
far as I can recall.” These both delay the response. An honest
person will want the truth out as soon as possible.
2. Answering with Generalizations
Another way people delay their response to buy time to think
about their lie is by answering with a sweeping
generalization. This is a way of avoiding having to flat out
lie. For example, a manager could ask their employee, “Did
you steal from the company?” and the employee could
answer, “I don’t believe in stealing.” Or “How could you ask
me that?” These are all red flags for deception.
3. Brainstorming with You
Honest people will often help you brainstorm suspects and
they are cooperative. They are more than willing to talk to
you about the topic because they do not feel guilt or fear they
have something to hide. Guilty people will try to get off the
topic as soon as possible and then show relief once the topic
is changed.
4. Punishment Recommendations
If you ask an honest person what they think the punishment
should be for the crime you are talking about, they will most
likely be strict. If you ask a guilty person, they will suggest
leniency because they are the one who did it. This is a
strategy used by some police with suspects they believe are
guilty.
Beware: Pathological liars can be extremely
manipulative and they might suggest even harsher
56 punishments for themselves because they think of
themselves as immune to punishment.
5. Emphasis Statements
Liars tend to use bolstering statements like “Swear to God”
or “Let me be honest.” Truth tellers do not use these because
they do not need to bolster what they are saying—it is
already true.
Interesting Fact: Studies found people
lie in one in ten interactions with their
spouses. However, this is far higher for
interactions with romantic partners who
are not spouses. Non-married romantic
partners lie in one in three interactions!
However, even though spouse lie less,
they do tell the grandest lies.
6. Distancing From the Lie
In both emails and speech, people distance themselves from
their lie by not using pronouns or people’s names. If asked,
“How did you like the dinner?” They might say “Real good,”
or “Liked it.”
Another form of distancing language used by liars is when
liars say ‘that house,’ instead of ‘my house’ or ‘that woman’
instead of ‘Monica Lewinsky.’
7. Non-Contracted Statements
Subconsciously, honest people want to tell the truth as soon
as possible. This typically means they use contractions when
57 they speak—don’t instead of do not. Liars don’t use
contractions because they want to emphasize the ‘not.’ When
thinking quickly liars will often add a simple “no” or “not” in
front of the real truth because it is easier than coming up with
a complex fib. For example, Bill Clinton said, “I did not have
sexual relations with that woman,” instead of “I didn’t.”
8. Story-Telling
Honest people typically tell a story with sensory details and
don’t sound rehearsed. Liars rehearse their story and usually
do not have as many sensory details because it did not
actually happen. They also usually have a long built up
prologue, whereas honest people get right through to the
meat of the story. Some researchers suggest having liars draw
out the story after telling it. Liars have a very hard time
drawing out sketches of places and people who aren’t real.
Honest people (even if they aren’t good drawers) can do very
quick crude drawings because they can draw from a real
picture in their mind.
Researchers had one group of subjects participate in a fake
espionage game and another group pretend they participated
in the game. Then the researchers asked both subjects to
draw certain details of the experience. The biggest
differences between the liars’ drawings and the honest
peoples’ drawings were:
-80% of truth tellers drew the other person in the
situation in their drawings while liars only drew the
other person 13% of the time.
-53% of the truth tellers drew from a shoulder-camera
view while liars drew from the overhead view (19%
only 19% drew from overhead?). This makes sense
because honest people drew from their own genuine
58 perspective. Liars made up their story so they could
only draw the entire scene from the overhead
perspective.
9. Voice Tone
A woman’s voice pitch tends to rise when she lies while a
man’s voice pitch tends to drop. This is why it is important to
notice someone’s baseline voice pitch. If you notice a
significant difference when a given topic comes up, this can
be a red flag.
10. Would, Should, Could
Liars will also use would, should, could instead of saying I
didn’t. For example, someone might say “I would never
cheat.” Instead of “I didn’t cheat.” This is a subconscious
way of avoiding having to lie.
11. Stop Start Sentences
Liars will often start a sentence and then stop in the middle,
as if they are confirming the thought in their head or making
sure it matches the story. They might also waver back and
forth on an idea. They can jump from one opinion or fact to
the next because they are unsure of what you believe and
what will be convincing.
You might also notice they have a varied speech rate in
between their sentences. Sometimes they speak fast and
sometimes they slow down. Liars do this as their brain tries
to process the lie on the way to their mouth.
12. Character Testimony
59 Sometimes liars will try to convince you that they are a good
person or reference their character instead of giving you
information on the lie. For example, when asking a guilty
person if they stole the money, they might say, “My friends
will tell you I’m really honest.”
They could also mention something that is truthful to distract
you from the lie. They could say. “Someone stole money?
But, I just got a raise.”
Interesting Fact: Extroverts lie more
than shy people and persist longer in
their lies.
This is another subtle difference between liars and truth
tellers. Liars are trying to convince you of something,
whereas honest people are trying to convey something. If
someone is telling you the truth they are simply conveying
what happened. The verbal clues above will help you
decipher if someone is convincing or conveying.
Voice Tone and Bonding
Being attuned to voice tone is also important for bonding.
In one study published in the Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin found that when employees mirrored the
voice patterns and verbal activity level during interviews this
built rapport and made them more conversationally engaging.
60 In fact, those that focused on verbal rapport building tactics,
received nearly 30% better terms during employment
negotiation!
61 Chapter 5: Clues to Behavior
Now that we have reviewed all the areas of the body and
typical verbal patterns of deceit, I want to remind you two of
the most important aspects of lie detection are:
•
•
There is no “smoking gun” that means someone is
lying. You have to look at clusters of clues called
“red flags”.
Even though it is good to know frequent lying habits,
you must establish someone’s baseline behavioral
patterns to know if the behavior is unique to them.
In this chapter I want to review the most common clues to
deceit and how they appear as clusters of red flags during
interactions.
Most Common Lying Gestures
Frozen Bodies:
When people freeze their upper bodies it is usually because
their limbic response is taking over. When someone knows
they have to lie, they typically feel fearful and their limbic
brain tells their body to freeze so as not to attract attention.
Odd Smiles:
It is easier to control the bottom half of our face, so liars
usually actively put their mouths in whatever feigned
expression they want you to believe. Remember the one
sided smile is actually the micro-expression for contempt.
Don’t confuse this for happiness! It means the person feels
disdain or hatred at what you are talking about.
62 Lip Pursing:
People purse their lips when they are holding back
information. They are literally trying to hold it in. If you see
this behavior it is a good idea to ask some open-ended
questions to find out what is being held back.
Lip-pursing is a big red flag because it usually means
someone is holding something back or is unhappy with the
way things are going.
Nodding:
If someone is saying something positive they usually nod
their head in a “yes” gesture. If they are saying something
negative they should be shaking their head “no”. If their head
63 movement does not match their verbal message, it is a red
flag and a signal to dig a little deeper.
Delayed or Mismatched Behavior:
Honest people have great synchronicity between words and
gestures. They say they are sad and instantly a frown appears,
they say they are excited and can’t stop smiling. Watch out
for people who have delayed or mismatched reactions. If they
say they are angry, but their eyebrows rise in surprise this is a
red flag. If they say they are worried but then make a worried
microexpression, this is a red flag.
Eye Blocking:
When people squint, rub or shield their eyes, they are hearing
or saying something they do not want to see or acknowledge.
One-Sided Lifts:
I mentioned that any kind of uneven behavior, whether a onesided mouth or eyebrow raise or a one-sided shoulder shrug,
is a red flag for deceit. These are fairly easy to spot when
they differ from someone’s baseline.
Nervous Gestures:
You should pay extra attention any time a subject exhibits
nervous behavior as it indicates they may lie about the topic.
Here are some common nervous behaviors mentioned in
previous chapters:
-Hand wringing
-Tapping feet
64 -Inward curled feet
-Biting the inner cheek, lips, nails or pens
-Sweating or heavy breathing
-Tightly crossed arms
-Fidgeting with jewelry or cufflinks
How We React to Our Own Lies
We subconsciously have reactions to our own lies. We have a
subconscious aversion to lying even though everyone does it
with great frequency. Here are a few things liars
subconsciously do in negative reaction to their own lies:
1. Cover the Mouth
People will typically cover or wipe their mouths after a lie
because they do not like what they are saying.
2. Moving Back
After telling a lie you will often see the liar lean their body
back as if they are trying to get away from the incriminating
statement. They might also scoot back their chair.
3. Tingling Nose
Scientists at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research
Foundation in Chicago found that when you lie, chemicals
are released in nasal tissue causing slight swelling. This
increased blood flow can cause slight itching. When people
65 lie they tend to rub their nose. Perhaps the Pinocchio fable
was not so far off.
Interesting Fact: Alan Hirsch and
Charles Wolf watched Bill Clinton’s
testimony during the Monica Lewinsky
trial and tracked that when Clinton
touched his nose far more times when he
lied than when he was telling the truth.
This example shows why baselining is
very important.
66 67 Conclusion and Other Resources:
It is important to remember there is no one expression that
means someone is lying. Every behavior must be taken in
context and related to other clues.
Reading people also takes focus and concentration. You
cannot effectively read people while looking at iPhones or
multi-tasking. Giving someone your full focus will not only
help you read them better, but will also show them you are
genuinely interested in them—which is the best foundation
for true relationships and connection.
Check out my website to get my free newsletter with tips and
tricks, videos and other resources, including ebooks on body
language and nonverbal behavior in:
Business
Public Speakers, Presenters and Keynotes
How to Nail An Awesome Job
Human Resource Professionals
Entrepreneurs
Sales
Female Body Language
Male Body Language
Doctors and Healthcare Professionals
68 Actors
To download these ebooks visit:
ScienceofPeople.org
69 70 Appendix 5: The Best Websites on Human
Lie Detection
I love writing and researching human lie detection, nonverbal
communication and human behavior, but I also have an
amazing community of fellow authors and writers with my
passion and I wanted to give them a shout out.
Here are my favorite authors and blogs on human lie
detection and nonverbal behavior:
1. Eyes for Lies
The writer of Eyes for Lies, Renee is a professional
deception and credibility expert. She teaches law
enforcement in her courses and has a fantastic blog of
resources. Her track record is particularly impressive–where
she logs liars she has caught before the truth was discovered.
2. Liespotting
Pamela Meyer writes Liespotting the blog and has just come
out with her book which is fantastic. She also has podcasts
and videos on her website, which are full of helpful insights.
3. Paul Ekman
Paul Ekman not only writes about nonverbal behavior but has
really led the research in this area. His studies and books are
groundbreaking and delve deep into both lie detection and
nonverbal behavior–no light reading found here!
You can also see his blog about the TV Show Lie to
Me where he talks about the real science in each episode.
71 4. Science of People.org
Our blog takes some of the best research on human lie
detection, nonverbal communication and human behavior
from around the world and puts it into easy to understand
articles and videos for our readers.
5. Joe Navarro
Joe’s book What Every BODY Is Saying is a great overview
of nonverbal communication and the body.
6. Spying for Lying
Spying for Lying always has very current and up to date
videos and commentary on news coverage. It’s a great way to
stay up on what’s happening in the nonverbal world.
7. Statement Analysis
Mark McClish has this informative website about lying and
nonverbal behavior. His news videos are also very
informative.
8. Kevin Hogan
Kevin Hogan is a body language expert and has many articles
(as well as workshops) on nonverbal behavior and
communication.
9. The Political Lie Detector
72 This is a really interesting angle on lie detection and focuses
more on the political sides of things. They take the public
pulse by distributing polls, quizzes, and surveys to users.
73 74 Citations
Navarro, Joe, and Marvin Karlins. What Every BODY Is
Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-reading People.
New York, NY: Collins Living, 2008.
Ekman, Paul. Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the
Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage. New York: Norton,
1985.
Pease, Allan, and Barbara Pease. The Definitive Book of Body
Language. New York: Bantam, 2006.
Meyer, Pamela. Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect
Deception. New York: St. Martin's, 2010.
Craig, David. Lie Catcher: Become a Human Lie Detector in
under 60 Minutes. Newport, N.S.W.: Big Sky, 2011.
Aldert Vrij. Detecting Lies and Deceit. (Chichester England:
John Wiley & Sons, 2000) 93-100.
Mark deTurck, “Training Observers to Detect Spontaneous
Deception: Effects of Gender,” Communication Reports 4
(Summer 1991): 81-89.
K. Fiedler and I. Walka, “Training Lie Detectors to Use
Nonverbal Cues Instead of Global Heuristics,” Human
Communication Research 20 (December 1993): 199-223.
T. A. Russell, E. Chu, and M. L. Phillips, “A Pilot Study to
Investigate the Effectiveness of Emotion Recognition
Remediation in Schizophrenia Using the Micro-Expression
Training Tool,” British Journal of Clinical Psychology 45
(2006): 579-583.
75 James Geary, “How to Spot a Liar,” Time Magazine Europe,
March 2000.
Robert S. Feldman, James A. Forrest, and Benjamin R. Happ,
“Self-Presentation and Verbal Deception: Do Self-Presenters
Lie More?,” Journal of Basic and Applied Social Psychology
24, no. 2 (June 2002): 163-170.
Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, “Go Figure: Fraud Data,”
http://www.insureancefraud.org/consumerattitudes.htm
Jeffrey Kluger, “Pumping Up Your Past,” Time, June 2,
2002.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101020
610-257116,00.htm
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-90099018.html. Ernst &
Young LLP,
Aldert Vrij. Detecting Lies and Deceit. (Chichester England:
John Wiley & Sons, 2000) 93-100.
Bella DePaulo, Deborah Kashy, Susan Kirendol, Melissa
Wyer, “Lying in Everyday Life,” Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology 70, no. 5 (May 1996): 979-995.
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, “2008 Report to
the Nation on Occupational Fraud Abuse,” 4.
Driver, Janine. You Can't Lie to Me. Harper One, 2012.
R. B. Lount Jr., C. B. Zhong, N. Sivanathan, and J.K.
Murnighan, “Getting Off on the Wrong Foot: The Timing of
Breach and Restoration of Trust,” Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin 34 (December 2008): 1601-12.
76 DePaulo et al. “Lying in Everyday Life.”
C. B. Zhong, V. K. Bohns, and F. Gino, “Good Lamps Are
the Best Police: Darkness Increases Dishonesty and SelfInterested Behavior,” Psychological Science 21 (March
2010): 311-14.
L. Shu et al., “When to Sign on the Dotted Line? Signing
First Makes Ethics Salient and Decreases Dishonest SelfReports,” Harvard Business School (working paper no. 11117, 2011).
P. Fraccaro et al., “Experimental Evidence That Women
Speak in a Higher Voice Pitch to Men They Find Attractive,”
Journal of Evolutionary Psychology (March 2011): 57-67
D. Larcher and A. Zakolyukina, “Detecting Deceptive
Discussions in Conference Calls” (working paper no. 83,
Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford, CA, July
29, 2010).
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79 80 81 Notes:
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