The Truth About Lying
The ability to sort fact from fiction is an important communication skill that can be learnt!
Let’s have a look at The Truth About Lying
Some people can’t tell a lie, others can’t tell the truth and unfortunately, most people can’t tell the difference.
The Truth About Lying
Can you tell when someone is pulling the wool over your eyes?
Accurately Discern the Truth
Whether you’re an attorney selecting a jury, a manager interviewing a new agent or a salesperson making a presentation, your ability to quickly and accurately discern the truth greatly enhances your effectiveness.
Fortunately, having the ability to sort fact from fiction is an important communication skill that can be learnt.
Con Men
Aside from con men, compulsive liars and some politicians, most people become uncomfortable when telling a lie and transmit their deceitful behaviour through their body language.
While they may sound convincing, their gestures speak louder than their words.
Consequently, they reveal their deceit nonverbally.
While it’s not always easy to spot deceptive behaviour, there are many subtle yet discernible clues to the trained eye.
Body Language
Body language is a mixture of movement, posture and tone of voice.
Studies of The Truth about Lying show that non-verbal communication has a much greater impact and reliability than the spoken word. Furthermore, observing body language helps you identify barriers to communication that prevent meaningful interaction.
Incongruency
If a person’s words are incongruent with his or her body language gestures, you would be wise to rely on the body language as a more accurate reflection of their true feelings.
During the selling process, it’s important to remember that body language is not a one-way street.
While you’re evaluating your prospect’s body language for signs of honesty and credibility, they are subconsciously observing and reacting to your gestures as well.
Some People Can’t Handle the Truth
The truth sometimes hurts and few business or personal relationships could survive the harsh reality of total honesty.
While honesty is certainly the best policy, The Truth about Lying is, that in our day-to-day encounters, it’s not always diplomatic or socially acceptable to be completely honest.
Sparing Feelings
To spare the feelings of others, we have learnt the usefulness of telling half-truths, fibs and white lies.
During the selling process, some people have difficulty saying “no” and will actually tell you that they are interested in order to avoid potential conflict.
Half-Truths
As the pressure of making a decision builds, prospects will frequently use half-truths or lies to either stall or disengage from the selling sequence.
While your prospect’s words say “yes,” their body language clearly says no.
By being able to recognise the inconsistency between your prospect’s words and his or her gestures, it is often possible to flush out concerns, overcome their objections and make the sale.
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
Eye, nose and mouth movement, along with hand gestures, are the four major nonverbal cues typically associated with lying.
The statue of the Three Wise Monkeys accurately depicts the primary hand-to-face gestures associated with deceit.
Hand to Mouth
When a person is doubtful or lying, they’ll often use their fingers to block their mouth as if they were filtering their words.
This hand-to-mouth gesture is commonly referred to as “speak no evil.”
Eye Touching
The second-hand gesture associated with deceit is called “see no evil,” and it occurs when a person rubs or touches their eye(s).
Ear Touching
The third-hand gesture “hear no evil” is displayed when a person covers or drills a finger into their ear(s).
Indicators of Deceit
If people use one of these gestures while they’re talking, it indicates that they are being deceitful.
On the other hand, if they are displaying one of these gestures while someone else is talking it indicates that they doubt the truthfulness of what is being said.
The Truth about Lying Red Flags
These three gestures should be considered red flags.
When you encounter one of these gestures during your presentation, it is a good idea to gently probe the subject matter with open-ended questions to encourage your prospect to voice his or her concern.
Eye Movement
In addition to the three hand-to-face gestures, eye movement is another reliable indicator of deceit.
It’s normal for a person to look up to his or her left when thinking about the past and up to the right when thinking about the future.
If you ask a person a question from his or her past and they look up to their right, they’re making up a response.
Law enforcement personnel and customs agents are trained to routinely monitor eye movement during interviews.
Micro Gestures
According to Paul Ekman, professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, two of the most common micro gestures that are associated with deceit are the nose wrinkle and the mouth curl.
The nose wrinkle is the same gesture that occurs naturally when you smell something offensive.
The other facial micro gesture is a slight downward curl of the corners of the mouth.
Even liars who make a conscious effort to suppress all of their major body gestures will still transmit micro-gestures.
People sometimes lie, but their body language always tells the truth!
This article was contributed by John Boe
The Truth about Lying
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