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SITE: “How to Lie“

While most people only focus on considering realism when trying to decide if a statement is T or F, this research strongly indicated that both a. & b. are needed to accurately evaluate communications.

Liars seem to have a problem with this complexity, which shows up in talking & writing.  These can be signs of emotions that don’t fit what’s being talked about (smiling when describing a tragedy) or of thinking too much when an answer shouldn’t need much time.
EXP: to give themself time to come up with a lie, they may making qualifying statements that leave them an out : “As far as I recall… If you really think about it…What I remember is…” Since the task of lying causes mental strain, small pieces of the story will be overlooked & left out, such as :

🫦 Missing Subjective mental states: People who are telling a true story will often add their own emotions & feelings about what they were experiencing. They might talk remark about how cold it was, how tired they were, the fear they felt or anger …. Liars tend to leave these things out unless specifically asked for them, but offer less than those telling the truth.

🫦NO Contextual embedding: Details of time & place are left out, which normally would indicate the context for a word appearing in a sentence or document. Liars, generally motivated to use an ‘unverifiable-information’ strategy, tend to avoid providing context. The proportion of such details can be used to separate T from F accounts

🫦 NO Story specifics  : Notice – Does the person include quotes to validate their version? Do they report specifically what they said to others & what was said to them? Do they say what they thought to themself at   the time (inner dialogue) ?
These are natural parts of a true story. Liars often skip them.

🫦 NO Irrelevant or Unusual details: True stories often include odd details that don’t belong or don’t seem relevant but that represent part of the person’s experience —”I heard the Johnson’s dog barking,” “A jet went overhead.”
Instead, liars tend to leave out such extraneous details, whether because they’re concentrating on getting the story right or because they haven’t considered mentioning them

Cues to the liar’s motivation & attempts to sound accurate or trustworthy :
🧠 NOT admitting poor memory skills: Liars assume that the truth should be seamless, read or spoken like a scripted tale. Someone remembering a real event will occasionally have memory lapses & easily admit it.
A liar may not. While they may claim a lack of memory, it’s usually from a different motive – as an excuse for missing some detail rather that being self-corrective

🧠 NOT expressing doubts about accuracy:  Honest witnesses are very aware their stories are incomplete or faulty, & acknowledge it.  As mentioned, liars tend to think their stories have to be perfect, They will swear on their mother’s life that every word is true & almost infallible (or so it would seem).

🧠 NO spontaneous correction: People telling the truth seldom go straight through their story & then will revise some detail. Liars stick to the script they’ve prepared, like politicians with talking points. Since they believe that self-correction or a revision will make them look unreliable, &/or because it will mess up their ‘flow’, they usually don’t risk it.

From: Prof. Richard Gray. Fairleigh Dickinson U.

NEXT : Lying & Body Language, #1