Are They Lying to You?

Signs of Deception

How many times has your business or personal life suffered because you trusted the wrong person? If you're like most people, you've been lied to thousands of times.

But you don't have to be a victim. Here are seven subtle cues that often mean a person isn't being completely honest with you.

Signs of Deception

We have erectile tissues in our noses, which engorge with blood when we lie. This causes a tingling or itching sensation that requires a nose touch to satisfy. The absence of a nose touch doesn't guarantee truth, but the presence of a nose touch often means deception

Signs of Deception

When we lie, we force our brain to pretend that the lie is true, that the truth is a lie and simultaneously remember that the real truth is that each is the other. This process of deception taxes our cognitive ability to think efficiently. So when we lie, we pause longer and speak slower than normal and often experience speech disturbances that serve as gap fillers, such as "um," "er" and "ah."

Signs of Deception

When our words and our body language don't agree, our communication is incongruent. Imagine that you ask a salesman if he can assure your delivery will be on time. If he explains how certain he is about it being on time while also shaking his head--as if non-verbally saying "no"--he is incongruent. When this sort of incongruence occurs, you would do well to believe the person's body over his words.

Signs of Deception

We rub our necks because of the stress we experience when we feel that an obstacle may be insurmountable. Let's say you're interviewing a potential employee and when you explain the expected duties, he also begins to rub his neck . This probably means he doesn't feel he'll be able to accomplish the duties. And if someone believes that they can or can't do something, they're probably right.

Signs of Deception

An eye rub is an indicator of disbelief. Let's say you have an important computer keystroke sequence to teach a new employee. The employee begins to rub her eyes even while verbally affirming your statements. This probably means that she doesn't believe you or disagrees with your instruction. Many subordinates feel uneasy about disagreeing with the boss, but their bodies don't hesitate.

Signs of Deception

We upwardly inflect our words when asking a question. You may have noticed that some salespeople will upwardly inflect certain statements of fact. This is a red flag that should alert you to potential deception. If a salesman upwardly inflects his words, you should disregard this statistic and be suspicious of him altogether.

Signs of Deception

In the study of graphology, hollow letters represent honesty. Anything that disrupts a hollow letter could indicate deception. Pretend you find a note from your top salesman on your desk. His note indicates that he went to visit his sick mother. You notice that every "o" in his note has some sort of mark interjected into the hollow space of each letter. You would be right to be suspicious of the facts in the note.

Signs of Deception