How Can I Tell If Someone Is Lying To Me?

Judi James, body language expert and author of 'Bodytalk At Work', shows you how to tell if someone is lying by knowing what gestures to look out for.


VideoJug: How Can I Tell If Someone Is Lying To Me?

Step 1: No body movement
Little or no body movement occurs when the pressure of the lie makes the liar worry about their body language, so some will stop moving all together. This also is reflected in eye contact, when they probably won't be able to look at you.

Step 2: Exaggerated body movement
Some liars do the opposite. They become actors and their actions and facial expressions get bigger to convince you they are telling the truth. They'll try to make more eye contact than usual.

Step 3: Stress gestures
Lying makes people stressed and this comes across in their body language with strange gestures such as scratching, itching and twitching. More frequent swallowing and faster blinking are also signs that they are being economical with the truth.

Step 4: Eye contact
Eyes are a great giveaway. Therefore some people will look away at the point of the lie. Or people will replicate the innocence of childhood and widen their eyes whilst looking straight at you.

Step 5: Eye movement
We move our eyeballs to stimulate different parts of the brain. When the eyes roll upwards to the left, they are recording memories and probably being honest. But when their eyes roll up to the right, they are stimulating imagination, and are probably going to lie to you.

Step 6: Nose touching
This is a typical sign of lying. When we lie, our noses do get a little bigger and this is known as the Pinocchio Effect. It only has a tiny effect, but enough to make the nose itchy. Therefore when people keep scratching their nose, it could be a sign that they are lying.

Step 7: Mouth or face covering
This is a childish bit of body language, but some still desire to cover their face, particularly when telling the part of the lie they are most worried about.