Detecting lies using facial expressions. How to identify lies and understand that they are lying to you

How to recognize a person’s lies and not become a victim of a liar? Yes, it's not easy, but it's possible. The facial expressions and gestures of the interlocutor can easily reveal him as a deceiver.

Lies have long become an integral part of human life. Everyone resorts to this method, but each for their own personal reasons: to save relationships, to humiliate the interlocutor, to achieve some goal. The article will not talk about the causes of deception, but about its signs. It will help you figure out how to recognize the lie of your interlocutor by facial expressions and gestures.

We identify the deceiver

All people lie - this is a fact, a harsh truth of life that should be accepted. In pursuit of their goals, those around them either hide the truth (at best) or deceive each other (at worst). How to recognize a lie and spot a liar?

In this harsh world, it is very difficult to figure out who is telling you the truth and who is lying. But there are psychological clues that will help expose it.

A person usually does not notice how he behaves during a dialogue. However, according to psychologists, gestures and facial expressions are a subconscious demonstration of true feelings. You just need to learn to recognize them. And then it will not be difficult to expose the liar.

How to recognize a lie by a person's facial expressions

Psychologists say that people who lie try their best to pass off the deception as the truth. Their efforts are accompanied by certain gestures, intonation of speech, and involuntary body movements.

But all people are different, and they also deceive in different ways, in which case how to recognize a lie? Psychology has identified several types of deception and a whole range of signs of a liar.

Here are some of them:

• If the sides of a person's face act differently. For example, the interlocutor squints his left eye a little, one eyebrow is raised, and the corner of his mouth is lowered. It is asymmetry that indicates a lie.
• A person rubs his lower or upper lip, coughs, and covers his mouth with his hand.
• The color of his face has changed, his eyelids twitch, and his blinking frequency increases. This happens because lying tires a person, he subconsciously suffers from it.
• The interlocutor continuously looks into the eyes, as if he is checking whether they believe him or not.

Asymmetry as a sign of deception

When a person tells a lie, he becomes tense. And despite the fact that he tries his best to hide it, he does not always succeed. The deceiver temporarily loses self-control. His tension becomes noticeable; you just need to observe the left side of his body. It is this side that is an indicator of deception, because our right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for emotions and imagination, and the left for speech and intelligence, therefore, the left side is controlled a little less. And what we want to show to other people is reflected on the right side, and true feelings and emotions will be visible on the left.

How to recognize a lie by gestures

Almost every person in everyday life pretends and tries on various masks. Some people are more sincere, while others are used to lying regularly. But you shouldn’t think that no one will ever discover a lie. It is her nonverbal body language that gives her away.

In addition, there are people who intuitively feel when they are being deceived. But, of course, not everyone is given such a gift. How can you guess what a person really thinks? And how to recognize a lie and spot a liar?

The book “Body Language” was dedicated to this topic. How to read others' thoughts by their gestures" Pease Allan.

Here are the typical types of body movements that indicate that a person is lying:

• Rubbing gestures. Psychologists say that rubbing the neck and pulling the collar completely gives away the deceiver.
• During a conversation, a person cannot find a comfortable position; he constantly strives to lean away, step back, tilt his head, or mark time.
• The speed of speech of the interlocutor changes, some begin to speak more slowly, while others, on the contrary, speak faster than under normal circumstances. In addition, the intonation and volume of the voice changes. This suggests that the person feels “out of place.”
• The interlocutor touches his face. This gesture is typical for children who have cheated and immediately cover their mouth with their hand. But not all touches to the face indicate deceit. For example, when coughing, yawning, sneezing, we also touch it.
• Too vivid emotions on the face, which indicates artificiality, pretense and unnaturalness.

How to avoid making mistakes in your conclusions?

In order to avoid making mistakes in human behavior and making incorrect conclusions, you should study body language. It is necessary to know what body movements a person makes when he experiences fear, self-doubt, boredom, and so on.

You should not draw conclusions based only on the above gestures until the behavior of the person as a whole has been studied.

Excessive pickiness towards an interlocutor towards whom one feels antipathy is often very subjective. And therefore, all his gestures will be interpreted negatively.

In addition, it is easier to analyze the behavior of a person you know, because if something has changed in his demeanor, it will immediately catch your eye. But sometimes there are such skillful deceivers, with high self-control, that it is very, very difficult to figure them out.

What is written with a pen...

Scientists have conducted a number of studies of non-verbal language of communication and concluded that most often people lie on the phone, then, according to statistics, face-to-face conversations follow, but least of all they lie in writing. And this is also connected with the psychological characteristics of a person, because what is written is very difficult to later refute with the words: “I didn’t say that,” “I didn’t mean that,” and so on. It’s not for nothing that there is a popular saying: “What is written with a pen cannot be cut down with an ax.”

Main signs of deception

Psychology has identified 30 main signs by which one can accurately say that a person is lying:

1. If you ask him the question “Did you do this?” and he answers - “no”, most likely it’s true. But, if the answer is vague or of the following type: “How could you think this?”, “Do you think that I can do this?” - such options indicate a lie.
2. If you laugh it off from a direct question.
3. If he always emphasizes his “honesty”, saying the phrases: “I give my hand to be cut off”, “Have I ever lied to you?”, “I swear to you” and so on.
4. If he looks into the eyes very rarely and only to make sure that they believe him.
5. If he clearly strives to evoke sympathy and sympathy, that is, he often utters phrases like: “I have a family,” “I understand you,” “I have so many worries,” and so on.
6. If he answers a question with a question. For example, they ask him: “Did you do this?”, and he asks a counter question: “Why are you asking?”
7. If he refuses to answer at all, he pretends to be offended and doesn’t talk to you.
8. If he has “inhibited” emotions. When a person is told some news, he reacts instantly. But the liar knew in advance about what happened, and he does not have time to play up plausible emotions.
9. If emotions are artificial, they often last more than 5 seconds. In real life, natural human reactions change very quickly, and if someone is pretending, then his emotion will be somewhat prolonged.
10. If a person often coughs or swallows during a conversation. All liars have a very dry throat and take a noticeable sip.
11. If the interlocutor has one side of his face different from the other, most likely his emotion is unnatural. In a normal person, facial expressions are always symmetrical.
12. If the interlocutor repeats out loud a question or phrase asked to him.
13. If the speed of speech, its volume or intonation has changed. For example, at first he spoke normally, and then suddenly slowed down.
14. If the interlocutor answers rudely.
15. If a person is very laconic in his answers, he clearly restrains himself so as not to say anything unnecessary.
16. If the interlocutor waits a few seconds before answering, most likely he is going to lie, but wants to do it as believably as possible.
17. If a person has “shifty eyes”.
18. If he often asks for clarification on a question, this is an attempt to buy time and think about the answer.
19. If you ask a person about one thing, and he answers about something else.
20. If the interlocutor does not give detailed explanations and avoids details in every possible way.
21. If a person answered questions and then lost the desire to talk, this means that he was tired of lying.
22. The favorite way of liars in any uncomfortable situation is to change the topic of conversation.
23. Liars will do their best to obstruct any attempt by their interlocutor to get to the bottom of the truth.
24. If a person tells the truth, he subconsciously moves closer to his interlocutor; if he is lying, then, on the contrary, he moves away, moves away.
25. If the interlocutor tries to inflict a direct insult, it means that he is in a very nervous state due to lies.
26. If a person moves from foot to foot.
27. If you cover your forehead, neck, face with your palm.
28. Constantly scratches his earlobe or nose during a conversation.
29. A characteristic trembling or stuttering appears in the voice.
30. If a slight smile appears on your face, which has 2 reasons:

• Masking real emotions;
• A way to relieve nervous tension.

Of course, one of these signs is not enough to accuse a person of lying; it is necessary to find at least more than 5 pieces of evidence.

When they lie to you...

If a person is being deceived, at this time his face also changes, and this feature may be noticeable and should be taken into account when communicating with a liar.

Additional information on how to learn to recognize a lie can be obtained by watching a documentary that will tell you how to spot a liar and get to the bottom of the truth:

Each of us wants to be able to distinguish truth from lies. After all, very often we become victims of deception and this is very offensive, especially unpleasant when close and dear people do it. How to recognize the lies of a man who is a husband, fiancé, boyfriend or close friend? But their betrayal or deception is very difficult to identify and even more difficult to survive.

Be that as it may, as the popular proverb says. It is better to know the truth than to live in deception all your life. Each of us has a choice. A lie can be recognized, and, most importantly, you need to do it.

With rare exceptions, each of us feels the need for communication, this is how humans are designed.

People share information with each other, jointly develop new ideas, get acquainted and start relationships, are charged with positive and negative emotions - all this happens through communication.

Due to the exceptional importance of this process in all areas of life, we are often very upset when they lie to us, and we do not notice it. Probably, learning to recognize a lie, so that it is certain and always, is the blue dream of humanity. Unfortunately, this is hardly possible, if only because people often cannot distinguish even their own inventions from reality.

However, in order to suspect something is wrong and keep your ears open, you don’t even need special equipment - during a conversation, it’s enough to pay attention to some indirect signs that your interlocutor involuntarily manifests, which can confirm or refute his words.

A lie, as a rule, is inconvenient for the one who comes up with it. He feels discomfort, nervousness, fear that he may be exposed, even when it concerns something completely harmless. And when we are talking about something serious that can affect a person’s future life, if the truth is revealed, then only a person with good self-control can behave correctly at such moments. But even in this case, if you know what to look for, you can find clear signs indicating a person’s nervousness, as well as in which places in his stories and answers it manifests itself most acutely. Let's look at these signs.

Speech

In our communication, words directly account for 20-40% of the information transmitted, that is, less than half. Everything else is non-verbal (that is, non-verbal) information. Methods of its transmission are studied by such a branch of linguistics as paralinguistics.

Pauses- the most common sign of deception. They can either be too long or too frequent. The presence of interjections - “um”, “well”, “uh” - also indicates that they may be telling you a lie or not telling you something.

Raising the tone- a likely sign. Speech becomes louder and faster, and the person experiences excitement. The reasons may be different - anger, delight, fear. But it could also be a lie.

Useless facts. To make a story convincing, people try to saturate their fictional story with real events that are far from the subject of conversation. For example, if you want to find out in detail about the people your interlocutor met, what he, for example, needs to hide, then you will hear detailed micro-stories about how wonderful the food was, how great the weather was, what emotions were caused by certain everyday events, and about people can only be said in passing. In a word, they will clearly draw a vast background for you, but in the center of the picture they will only sketch a blurry sketch.

“Guess for yourself” answer. You need to make sure that the person answers directly, without necessarily correcting him and thereby putting pressure on him. Remember that a question asked to a question is only an indirect answer.
If you asked, “Did you watch TV today?” and were told, “Well, you know I couldn’t do that?” - then you need to understand that this is avoiding a direct answer. Although it should be noted that people can answer this way only because they are offended by a lack of confidence in themselves and do not consider it necessary to answer directly.
Another option for an indirect answer is when you are also asked to think out what was said yourself, but are not told directly, for example, to the question “Are you sure you can fix this?” may be followed by the phrase “My friends consider me an excellent master!” From it we can conclude that the person is not confident in his abilities, but he does not want to admit it.

As you asked, so they answered you. Frequent and precise use of phrases from your question, as well as complete repetition of the question before the person begins to answer, may indicate insincerity. In such situations, your interlocutor does not have time to think of what to answer, so he uses your own words or stalls for time before answering in order to have time to construct a plausible version.

An anecdote instead of an answer. Pay attention to the “funny” answers. You asked, they answered you wittily, you appreciated it, laughed and moved on to another question, or you didn’t bother bothering this funny interlocutor anymore - a common situation. But you need to think about it, if a person often laughs it off instead of answering directly, perhaps he is doing it on purpose.

Speech at different speeds. Frequent coughing, attempts to clear the throat, a sharp change in speech from normal to faster or slower may mean that the person is nervous, perhaps lying. This is also indicated by any objectively unconditional change in the speaker’s voice or tone.

If, during the process of telling a story, a person goes back in the course of the story and adds something to it: he clarifies it, says that he forgot to mention something, adds details, then this indicates a sincere story. It’s difficult to remember a story made up on the fly, add to it in the middle, and then continue to think from the end - there is a high probability of getting lost and confused

Body

First of all, you should pay attention to the posture of the interlocutor

“Closed poses” are well known - crossed arms and legs. They say, at a minimum, that the interlocutor is not very inclined to communicate with you. A person may look relaxed, but attempts to hide his hands, fold them on his chest or lock them on his knees give him away. It’s not a fact that he’s lying to you, but he clearly wants to hide something from you, not to let it slip.

It happens that a liar shrinks, as if he is trying to take up as little space as possible.

Another pose: if a person takes a step back during a conversation, most likely he himself does not believe what he is telling you.

There are “slips in gestures”, a kind of non-verbal leaks of information. Not every liar makes them, but if they happen, it is a reliable sign of his intentions.

If a person touches his face with his hands: scratches his nose, covers his mouth, then these are signs that he is subconsciously closing himself off from you, putting a barrier between you.

The most common gestures of deception:

Other deceptive gestures include:

Rubbing your earlobe.
Let's get back to our monkeys! This is a “I don’t hear anything” gesture. It is usually accompanied by a glance to the side. Variants of this gesture: rubbing the earlobe, scratching the neck behind the ear, picking (sorry) in the ear or twisting it into a tube.

Scratching the neck.
Typically, people do this with the index finger of the hand they are writing with. The average person scratches their neck 5 times a day. This gesture means doubt. That is, if a person tells you something like “Yes, yes! I completely agree with you” and at the same time reaches out to scratch his neck, this means that in fact he does not agree and doubts.

Fingers in mouth.
The most striking character with a finger in his mouth is Dr. Evil from the film about Austin Powers. He almost always keeps his little finger near his mouth. This is an unconscious attempt by a person to return to a state of security that is usually associated with infancy and sucking on the same pacifier. An adult sucks a cigar, a pipe, glasses, a pen, or chews gum. Most touching of the mouth is associated with deception, but it also indicates that the person needs approval. Perhaps he is lying because he is afraid that you will not like the truth.

Pay attention to such a gesture as extended middle finger. It can simply lie on the knee, or the person accidentally touches his face with it. This is a gesture of hostility and hidden aggression: the interlocutor seems to send you to hell.

You should also notice if the interlocutor shifts from foot to foot or even takes a small step back. This indicates a desire to leave, to distance themselves from you, so as not to give something away.
It is especially important to pay attention to backward movements when asking questions. If the respondent's head moves sharply back or down- this is perhaps also an attempt to close.

Emotions

A person's behavior differs dramatically depending on whether he is telling the truth or lying.

If a lie occurs, then the person’s emotions will be much deeper and more sensual. Any lie implies the presence of a certain mask that a person puts on himself and builds an appropriate line of behavior. Often, the “mask” and other emotions are mixed together. For example, a slight smile is a mask of pleasure, if this feeling is not actually experienced, it is mixed with signs of fear, sadness, disgust or anger. In the case of sincere joy, our gaze will see not only a smile, but also the movement of the muscles located around the eyes.

Bad reaction. Monitor the other person's emotions as the conversation progresses. If a person is hiding something from you, then emotions may be expressed late, remain on the person’s face for an unusually long time, and then suddenly disappear, appearing before you finish the phrase.
This happens because a person thinks intensely about something of his own, poorly maintains the thread of the conversation and demonstrates emotions that he does not actually feel.

Facial expressions that last 5-10 seconds are usually fake. Most genuine emotions only appear on the face for a few seconds. Otherwise they will look like a mockery. For example, surprise that lasts for more than 5 seconds in a person is a false emotion.
A sincere person's words, gestures and facial expressions are synchronized. If someone shouts: “I’m so tired of you!”, and an angry facial expression appears only after the remark, the anger is most likely fake.

American psychologist Paul Ekman studied people's facial expressions and counted a total of 46 independent facial movements. However, he found that in combination with each other they can convey about 7,000 unique emotions! Interestingly, many of the muscles that move the face are not controlled by consciousness. This means that a fake smile will always, albeit slightly, differ from the real one.

Behavior during provocations

Increased breathing, heaving of the chest, frequent swallowing, protruding perspiration - these are signs of strong feelings. It is possible that they are lying to you. Blushing is a sign of embarrassment, but you can also become embarrassed from shame for lying.

Do you like field hockey? If you try to abruptly change the subject, the person telling the lie will take it with relief and support your initiative, because he understands that the less you talk to him, the less chance he has of “messing up” and giving himself away. If the interlocutor is sincere, then his natural reaction will be a misunderstanding of the reason for the change of topic, dissatisfaction that his story was not heard to the end. He will try to return to the topic of conversation.

I don't like you guys... If you have doubts about the veracity of the interlocutor’s words, MirSovetov advises to implicitly show that you do not believe the interlocutor’s story: after his answer to the next question, pause, look closely, with distrust. If they are not honest with you, it will cause embarrassment and uncertainty. If a person tells the truth, then he often begins to get irritated and stare at you. The following changes can be noted in it: embarrassment disappears, lips compress, eyebrows frown.

Eye movements

It is true that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. A person is designed in such a way that the eyes actively participate in the process of thinking.

They take position depending on which area of ​​the brain is involved at the moment. Knowing this, we can assume what the brain is doing at one time or another in the dialogue: coming up with something new or processing real information.

If a person confidently wants to defend his lie and lies consciously, he tries to maintain eye contact. He looks soulfully into your eyes. This is to know if you believe his lies.

And when a person is taken by surprise and wants to lie so that everyone will forget about it, he immediately switches your attention: he goes into another room, supposedly on business, or starts tying his shoes, sorting out papers and muttering something under his breath...

However, sometimes a person looks into the eyes in the hope of seeing support. He may not lie, but he can be very unsure of his rightness.

Watch for blinking. When they lie, they often blink involuntarily, because for many, lying is still a . But, in addition, increased blinking may mean that the subject of conversation is unpleasant to him and causes pain. And the less often a person blinks, the happier he is at that moment.

When asking a question, pay attention to the eye movement at the moment when the person answers. When a person is really trying to remember all the details and tell you, they look to the right. When a person comes up with ideas, his gaze goes to the left.

Usually when a person remembers (invents) he looks not just to the side, but down (down right, down left)

See a diagram by neurolinguistic psychologists that tells you what eye movements indicate.

Let's imagine that the picture shows the face of your interlocutor. Further, in order to avoid confusion, we will agree to write in relation to you when you look at the “interlocutor’s face”, and in brackets there will be instructions regarding the face depicted in the diagram

You see that the other person's eyes

• They're watching to your left and up(the person looks at the upper right corner), this indicates the construction of the picture.
• To your right and up(for him this is the upper left corner) - access to visual memory.
• They're watching left(right side for the interlocutor) - comes up with a sound,
• right(left side for him) - tries to remember what he heard.
• Eyes below and left(lower right corner) - checking sensations and feelings.
• Below and to the right(lower left corner) - reflects on the situation, talks to himself.
• If the look straight, then the person perceives the information.

For example, if you asked your boss about the salary date, and while answering, he looked down and to the right relative to you, then he thought about it for the first time and is forming an answer “on the fly”, thinking. And if he just turns to the right, it means he’s saying what he heard before from his superiors.

Pay attention to this nuance: if you are talking to a left-handed person, then the left and right sides are mirror opposites. This is also true for right-handers, in whom the left hemisphere still predominates over the right, for example, the so-called. retrained lefties.

There is an opinion that a direct look eye to eye symbolizes the sincerity of a person, but if the eyes are averted, then they say that someone is “hiding” his eyes and hiding something. In reality, this is not the case. During a conversation, it is often necessary to break eye contact in order to focus on a thought, think, or remember.
Based on materials from bskltd.ru, mirsovetov.ru

Interesting fact:

Scientists from the State University of New York at Buffalo have developed a high-tech polygraph. Based on eye movements, it recognizes when a person is telling the truth and when he is lying. According to the researchers, their system is able to detect false statements with an accuracy of more than 80%.

The new system was tested on volunteers. Before the experiment began, they were asked to guess whether they had stolen a check that was made out to a political party they did not support. An interrogator sat next to the subjects, who first asked questions not related to the topic, and then directly asked about “theft.”

At this time, the program, using web cameras, monitored the violation of the trajectory of eye movement, the speed of blinking and the frequency with which the participants in the experiment shifted their gaze. As a result, the system was able to successfully detect lies in 82.2% of cases, while for experienced investigators this rate was about 60%.

How to recognize a lie by facial expressions and gestures:

It should be noted that just as in nature there are no two identical personalities, each person is individual in his own way, so there is no universal set of signals that detect lies. Therefore, all signs must be carefully analyzed in the context of the current situation, and pay attention to both the voice and emotions, and do not forget about body movements. The tongue can lie, but the body cannot lie.

However, be careful and do not make hasty conclusions, no matter how insightful people you are, because even Sherlock Holmes once suspected a girl of a terrible crime, mistaking her awkward gesture for an attempt to hide the truth. Later it turned out that the girl was simply embarrassed by her unpowdered nose: o).

And what do you think,

Many people lie, omit words, embellish reality and smooth out unpleasant moments with the help of not entirely truthful words. This is psychology. For some, lies are a constant and familiar companion in life, a convenient tool for manipulating people. Someone, having deceived, feels guilty and repents.

How to recognize a lie by a person’s eyes, facial expressions, gestures and behavior? In fact, it is not difficult if you are observant and learn to watch for signs of behavior characteristic of liars.

Looks won't deceive you

It is not for nothing that the eyes are called the mirror of the soul. Using them, you can determine a person’s psychological mood and understand whether he is telling the truth at the moment. When you doubt the information your interlocutor is giving, follow his gaze. It is highly likely that you are being lied to if the following happens:

• the person avoids direct eye contact, constantly looks away, pretends to be looking at interior items or “rummaging” through a mobile phone;
• the interlocutor blinks frequently and quickly;
• before answering, he raises his eyes and directs his gaze to the right (in psychology, this involuntary movement of the eyes is considered a clear sign of lying).

Sometimes it is worth paying attention to the state of your interlocutor’s pupils when he is telling you about something, and you doubt his veracity. If they are slightly expanded, then the person is most likely telling the truth. He is relaxed, immersed in memories and captivated by his narrative. Constricted pupils with shifty eyes indicate internal discomfort and fear of being caught in a lie.

Proven technique. Let the alleged liar start telling you a story, even if you don't believe it. Listen to your interlocutor calmly, assent from time to time and maintain a slightly absent look. Let him feel that he has already tricked you and relax. As soon as this happens, quickly ask a question clarifying some detail, catch the eye and look carefully into the eyes. If a person demonstrates all the signs listed above, then, at a minimum, he is not telling something!

An honest interlocutor will react something like this:

• will answer the question, but will be slightly surprised that he was interrupted;
• admits that he doesn’t remember such details and smiles.

At the same time, his gaze will be calm and directed at you.

Smile or disgust?

There are other ways to recognize a lie by facial expressions, because each emotion is accompanied by a certain facial expression. Even trying to hide true feelings, an ordinary person will not be able to completely control all reactions. A widely used method in psychology requires paying attention to subtle changes in the face of the interlocutor before he answers a “dangerous” question.

• The lips press together tightly for a moment, and the corners of the mouth turn down. This facial expression is typical of a person who sees something disgusting in front of him or smells a bad smell. Lying is always unpleasant. The stress that precedes lying words affects facial expressions, like a nasty spectacle. Even a seasoned liar will give himself away before he has time to put on a serene expression on his face.
• A person smiles with one corner of his mouth, while the other can be pulled down. Such a crooked grin indicates internal disharmony, the discrepancy between the spoken words and reality. A sincere smile does not require effort; on the contrary, it is difficult to contain it!
• The interlocutor smiled only with his lips. Psychologists say that you can truly smile only “with your whole face,” while characteristic cheerful wrinkles appear near the eyes. This suggests that the emotion is not artificial, and a smile involves those facial muscles that naturally tense when we are having fun.

A strained smile, a feigned, deliberately loud laugh, a barely concealed dislike for the topic of conversation or the interlocutor - all these are signs of shameless lies!

Gestures say more than words

How can you recognize a lie if a smile is simply inappropriate in a conversation, and a person’s eyes are hidden behind glasses? When the conversation is about serious or even unpleasant things, a dissatisfied facial expression and irritation are a normal reaction, and it is unreasonable to suspect a friend, relative or colleague of lying because of it. It’s strange if, when telling you about something bad, the interlocutor looks relaxed and peaceful. Here suspicions are quite appropriate.

If your facial expressions correspond to the nature of the conversation, but you continue to be tormented by vague doubts, focus on the gestures of your interlocutor. The following actions should alert you:

• the person unconsciously covers his mouth with his hand (this suggests that he may internally resist the need to lie);
• the person sitting opposite you (for example, on the other side of the table) places objects between you, as if wanting to separate and protect himself from your close attention;
• the interlocutor pulls the tip of his nose or rubs his forehead, removes a speck from his eye (psychologists believe that in this way he strives to close himself off, remain impenetrable, he is already tormented by a feeling of guilt);
• a person constantly tries to distract your attention with his actions (he spends an endless amount of time wiping his glasses, brushing invisible specks of dust from his clothes, twirling his hair on his finger or straightening his tie);
• Crossed arms or legs also indicate tension and a person's desire to cover himself.

In such cases, let him do whatever he considers necessary, do not interrupt and listen, looking into his eyes. If you are being deceived, it will be clearly visible. The interlocutor will begin to get more and more nervous, perhaps want to drink water or start rummaging through the drawers of the table.

Try asking him a question on an unrelated topic. The liar will be glad to have the opportunity to end the unpleasant conversation and will begin to speak out with enthusiasm. The person telling the unpleasant truth will be angry or discouraged at being interrupted and will consider your question inappropriate and untimely. It is not easy for him to continue this conversation, but he will prefer to bring it to the end.

Speech, voice, intonation - indicators of truthfulness

Conversing casually and in a close, familiar circle, people do not think about how to speak, how their voice changes depending on emotions. They use the words and expressions they are used to. Therefore, when you have to lie, speech changes, because now you need to take care that others do not suspect deception! The more naturally and naturally the liar tries to speak, the more pronounced the opposite effect is obtained:

• illogical pauses appear between words (after all, they need to be selected!);
• the voice rises noticeably (excitement shows) or becomes insinuating (this is how experienced liars act);
• the words flow too quickly, the story is replete with unnecessary details (the sly man tries to convince everyone of his truthfulness);

If all this is accompanied by nervous laughter or inept jokes, then all is not lost: your interlocutor has not yet learned to lie professionally. Tell him this, smile, and he will most likely become embarrassed and blush. And he will no longer lie (at least to you).

True feelings are reflected on our face because facial expressions can be involuntary, beyond the control of our thoughts and intentions. But the face can also lie, since we are able to control our facial expressions, not allowing people to see the truth and forcing them to accept the lie. The face leads a double life, combining expressions that we intentionally adopt with those that sometimes appear spontaneously, without our knowledge.

Truth is rarely pure and never unambiguous. (Oscar Wilde)

In fact, when a person communicates, he is always accompanied by microexpressions, and they can be seen. This suggests that even diplomats or intelligence officers are not always excellent at lying and restraining their facial expressions during times of strong emotions.

Facial movements - a joyful, tense, mournful facial expression, etc. - are involuntary and not purposeful. All voluntary movements, however, have a facial aspect: they are not identical to each other even when the same goal is in mind, and vary for the same person depending on his emotional state.
On the one hand, the face seems to obey our will. On the other hand, it lives on its own, its own, unknown to us life. The unconscious, involuntary component is constantly present, very often becoming predominant - and most of all when we are overwhelmed by some feeling. Crying, laughter, squinting with pleasure, a furious grin, as well as a simple yawn - all these are convulsions of the facial muscles, proceeding somewhat differently... Two levels of facial life - voluntary and involuntary - fully correspond to our internal stratification: consciousness and subconscious. The face is the center of mental muscles - the organ of communication between the psyche and another psyche - and with itself. Organ of the soul.
A person is a very valuable source of information for a verifier, because he can lie, tell the truth, and do both at the same time. Usually a face carries two messages at once - what the liar wants to say and what he would like to hide. Some facial expressions support a lie by giving us incorrect information, while others give away the truth because they look false and true feelings seep through all attempts to hide them. At some point, a face, being deceitful, may look quite convincing, but after a moment, hidden thoughts may appear on it. And it also happens that both sincere and ostentatious emotions are transmitted by different parts of the face at the same time. I think that most people cannot immediately spot a liar simply because they do not know how to distinguish sincere facial expressions from false ones.

Along with involuntary and intentional expressions, there are also those that were once memorized by us and now appear automatically, whether we want it or not, and sometimes even despite this and, as a rule, without our awareness. An example of this is facial expressions that have become habitual and “ritual”; they appear on our face quite often, especially when, for example, we cannot express our anger towards a high-ranking person. However, for now we will be interested only in intentional, controlled, false expressions used by people when trying to mislead, and involuntary, spontaneous, emotional ones, which sometimes reveal the true feelings of a liar despite all his efforts to hide them.
The involuntary expression of emotions on the face is the result of evolution. Many human facial expressions are similar to those seen in primates. Some emotional expressions - at least those talking about happiness, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, grief, and perhaps a number of other emotions - are universal, the same for all people, regardless of age, gender, racial and cultural differences.
These expressions give us rich information about a person’s feelings, revealing the slightest movements of his soul. A face can convey such shades of emotional experiences that only a poet can express in words. It can tell us:
- what emotions a person experiences (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, grief, joy, satisfaction, excitement, surprise, contempt) - each of these emotions has its own specific facial expression;
- about the overlap of emotions - often a person experiences two emotions at once, and both are partially reflected on his face;
- about the strength of the emotions experienced - all emotions have varying degrees of manifestation - from mild irritation to rage, from fear to horror, and so on.
In addition to automatic, habitual facial expressions, people can also have quite conscious ones, which they adopt by suppressing the manifestation of their true emotions and imitating others that are not actually experienced. Most people are excellent at using one or another mimic methods of deception. Almost everyone can remember a case when someone's facial expression completely confused him, but almost everyone is familiar with the opposite, when it is clearly visible from the person's face that he is lying. There are moments in the life of every married couple when one reads on the face of the other a feeling (usually fear or anger) that his partner not only does not realize, but even denies.

There are thousands of different facial expressions, and they are all different from each other. Many of them have nothing to do with emotions and belong to the so-called signs of speech, which, like illustrations, correspond to stress and punctuation (for example, facial expressions reflecting a question mark or exclamation mark). But there are also facial emblems: winking, surprised raising of eyebrows, contemptuous squinting of eyes, horseshoe mouth, skeptical grimace, sagging jaw, etc. There are also facial manipulations - biting and licking lips, smacking, puffing out cheeks. In addition, there are simply emotional facial expressions, both sincere and feigned.

Moreover, one emotion corresponds to not one facial expression, but dozens, and sometimes even hundreds.
Each emotion has a certain and very specific range of expressions. This is not surprising, because each emotion corresponds not to one situation, but to a whole series. Let's look at expressions of anger. Anger varies according to:
- its intensity (from mild irritation to rage);
- degree of control (from explosion to hidden anger);
- rate of development (from a sudden outbreak to a slow boil);
- rate of decline (from sudden to prolonged);
- heat (from boiling to cold-blooded);
- degree of sincerity (from genuine to feigned - like parents scolding their naughty but beloved child).
And if we add to this the admixture of other emotions with anger: gloating, guilt, righteousness, contempt, then there will be even more components of this series.

Disgust. In disgust, the eyebrows frown and the nose wrinkles, the upper lip rises and the lower lip falls, the mouth takes on an angular shape. The tongue sticks out slightly, as if it is pushing out an unpleasant substance that has entered the mouth. Children, feeling disgust, stick out their tongue and say “fu” or “beh”; adults can express this emotion only by moving the upper lip or barely noticeable wrinkling of the nose. These movements are sometimes so subtle that they can go unnoticed by others. Sometimes they are involuntary, and the person does not realize that he is experiencing disgust.

Sadness. In a saddened person, the inner ends of the eyebrows are raised and brought together to the bridge of the nose, the eyes are slightly narrowed, and the corners of the mouth are lowered. Sometimes you can observe a slight trembling of the slightly extended chin. Depending on the age of the person and the intensity of the sadness experienced, its facial expression may be accompanied by crying. Mimic sadness lasts for a few seconds, but its experience can last longer. Usually it gives itself away in one way or another, although its signs can be almost subtle. The face looks faded, lacking muscle tone, the eyes appear dull. A sad person speaks little and reluctantly, the pace of his speech is slow.

Contempt is a complex pantomimic expression. By portraying contempt, a person becomes taller: he straightens up, tilts his head back slightly and looks at the source of the emotion, as if from top to bottom. With all his appearance, he seems to show his superiority over his “rival”. At the moment of contempt, the eyebrows and upper lip are raised, the corners of the lips may be compressed, the mouth is slightly raised and small symmetrical indentations are formed in the area of ​​the cheeks adjacent to the corners of the mouth. The eyebrow may be raised or the head tilted back and to the side.

Happiness. The forehead and eyebrows are at rest, the lower eyelids are raised, but not tense. The outer corners of the eyes have wrinkles called spider's feet or crow's feet. The corners of the lips are pulled to the sides and raised.

Astonishment. The eyebrows are raised upward, and horizontal wrinkles may form on the forehead. The upper eyelids are raised and show the sclera, the lower eyelids are relaxed. The lips are relaxed and parted.

Fear. The eyebrows are drawn together and raised, which can cause wrinkles to form in the center of the forehead. The upper eyelids are raised so that the sclera above the iris is visible. The lips are tense and stretched to the sides, and the mouth is slightly open.

Unlike a mask or a grimace, a living face incomprehensibly changes every moment - and it is its microfacial expressions that change - the ratio of the tones of different muscles, the play of their fibers and ligaments in infinitely varied combinations and vibrations. Tonic microfacial expressions convey secret movements of the soul, deep moods and states of mind, and convey character.
With great facial expressions you can play like a ball, juggle with masks. You can frown menacingly, you can smile tenderly; you can slyly squint your eyes or, raising your eyebrows, feign surprise; you can draw a face of horror, rage, despair, chain yourself in impenetrability - everything is possible and beyond that; but - if you are not a professional actor, not an expert in acting - you never know exactly what is coming out and what the possible impression will be...
It is very difficult to control the tone of the face - microfacial expressions, which alone give expressions liveliness, authenticity and persuasiveness. No wonder: unlike the arms, legs and torso, we don’t see our own physiognomy (and, sorry, the back face) - and by nature we shouldn’t see it, we communicate with it blindly. Yes, least of all, oddly enough, we know and understand our own face - all our lives it is the most unfamiliar, the most unexpected, the biggest mystery for us... Hence the insatiable need to communicate with mirrors...

Not every politician is able to control facial expressions so skillfully. The former president of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, wrote about his youthful attempts to learn to control his facial muscles: “...My hobby was politics. In those years, Mussolini ruled Italy. I had seen photographs of him and read about how he could change his facial expression in front of the public, sometimes taking on a firm, sometimes aggressive look, so that people, looking at him, read power and strength in every feature of his face. It fascinated me. I stood in front of the mirror at home and tried to imitate the authority of his face, but my results were disappointing. All my facial muscles were tired and it hurt – that’s all.”
How to understand what politicians are saying sincerely and what they have been taught? Olga Gladneva and a psychologist helped me understand facial expressions.

“In this photo, Viktor Andreevich is disappointed and irritated, trying to choose words so as not to offend anyone,” comments Olga Gladneva, a specialist at the EVAX-BiS center. - This is a very characteristic photo - in uncomfortable situations the president is difficult to see openly indignant. Because, based on the laws of physiognomy, such a person a priori will not strive for leadership, and therefore he speaks, as a rule, as if through force quite often. With his innate gentleness, he bribes the women he listens to, but he acts in his own way. Viktor Andreevich knows how to work scrupulously and for a long time, is patient, sees shortcomings, including his own, has a mathematical mind and possesses logical thinking.”

“Here Yulia Vladimirovna confidently talks about something she doesn’t really believe in,” says Olga Gladneva. - She emphasizes her organizational skills with her hair, and her open forehead signals her readiness to hear criticism. But if we consider that image makers are working on the prime minister’s image, then the “readiness” may be insincere. Her face is a challenge. She is probably the only politician to whom no one is indifferent. This is because this woman's character is a paradox (the high cheekbones and sharp chin give it away): when she tries to do good things, the result is bad, and vice versa. It is not surprising that among her subordinates there are people who are opposed to her, and among her opponents there are people who sincerely admire her.”

The fact that Viktor Fedorovich’s emotions in public are quite monotonous, according to Olga Gladneva, suggests that he does not play roles, and such people, as a rule, are well versed in the business they take on. They make decisions quickly. “In this photo, Viktor Yanukovych is definitely happy to see someone. Although the smile on his face is not always natural: when everything around is not good, he cannot pretend. And if you analyze a photo from, say, 10 years ago, you will notice that since then he has become less categorical and tough,” says Olga. - A general analysis of Yanukovych’s face indicates that he does not always say what he really wants to say. But in general, the work of specialists on his facial expressions is minimal.”

“Yatsenyuk has an unusual face for a politician,” says physiognomist Olga Gladneva. - There is no imprint of self-confidence on him - his facial features are small. But he is observant, sees all the shortcomings - his small eyes speak about this. Capable of making grandiose plans, while taking everything into account. Because of this, he makes decisions for a long time and implements them in the same way. He knows how to invent, but he needs hands that will embody his ideas; his own energy is not enough for him. He is polite in the Western cliché, when asked: “How are you?” answers: “Okay,” and it doesn’t matter how it really is.”

“Vladimir Mikhailovich, analysis of his facial expressions suggests that he is an open, emotional person who loves to express himself and talk. He likes to joke around with his friends. People with such facial features do not have real power, but they know how to act covertly, through others. He has unusual ideas, creative thinking - this is emphasized by his cheekbones. He knows how to listen and analyze, and present any idea beautifully. But it’s difficult for him to finish what he started.”

Simonenko’s face speaks of his determination: “He is inclined to bring everything to the end, but the result is not always what it was intended,” says Olga Gladneva. “During the process, things may acquire new details, and this politician does not always respond to changes with flexibility. He knows how to embellish events, but sees them in real light. In this photo, when leaving the Presidential Secretariat, he has a worried face, although it is clear that he was thinking about something of his own. And this is always the case with this politician: he can think about personal things, but business is primary for him anyway.”

Oleg Tyagnibok “There is some difference between his personal attitudes and those that he expresses to a large audience - in the photo the look is both defiant and confident,” says Olga Gladneva. “That’s why he quickly makes decisions and quickly implements them. He looks at things realistically, but positions himself as an optimist. From a general analysis of the person, it follows that there will always be people in his team who are opposed to him.”

People tend to say one thing and think something completely different, so it is very important to understand their true state. When transmitting information, only 7% of it is communicated through words (verbally), 30 percent is expressed by the sound of the voice (tones, intonation) and more than 60% goes through other non-verbal (looks, gestures, facial expressions, etc.) channels.
Thus, if facial expressions are the movement of facial muscles, reflecting the internal emotional state of a communication partner, then the mastery of facial expressions is necessary, in fact, for any person, but especially for those who, by the nature of their activities, have numerous contacts with people.

Scientists have determined that the more accustomed a person is to lying, the more difficult it is to understand that he is telling a lie. But if you know how to identify lies by facial expressions and gestures, and have experience communicating with liars, then it is quite possible to recognize their insincerity. However, if a person rarely has to lie, then it is quite easy to figure him out.

Facial expressions of lies

First of all, a person’s lie is indicated by his excitement, signs of which can be detected in his gaze, movements and voice. You can notice how his speech, gestures and behavior have changed. For example, the following speech and voice parameters indicate that a person is lying to you. When a person is insincere, his intonation involuntarily changes, his speech becomes more drawn out, faster or slower. A trembling voice indicates false information. Its timbre may change, unexpected hoarseness or, conversely, high notes may appear. Some even begin to stutter a little.

How to determine the veracity of information by looking at it

If you want to know how to detect a lie by the eyes, then a running glance will help you. Of course, this does not mean insincerity at all. Perhaps the interlocutor is confused or embarrassed, but you should still think about the reliability of the information received. When a person is ashamed and embarrassed by his lies, he almost always looks away. At the same time, an excessively intent gaze may also indicate that they are telling you a lie. So the interlocutor monitors the reaction of the listener and analyzes whether his words are believed or not.

How a person's eyes reveal lies

When a person tells a lie, his eyes often give him away. Knowing what movements reveal a lie, you can learn to control them, but monitoring your eyes is much more difficult. A person who cheats feels uncomfortable, so he looks away from his opponent. Observe your interlocutor: if he diligently does not look you in the eyes, then this is the first sign of false information. But it is worth noting that many people know about this feature, and in order to hide the lie, they look a person straight in the eyes, which again is one of the signs of deceit. Liars try to appear honest, so the look comes out unnatural. As they say, honest people don’t have such honest eyes.

In addition, in an uncomfortable situation for a person, the pupil greatly decreases in size, and this is impossible to control. Look carefully at your interlocutor, and if his pupil is constricted, then he is lying to you.

There is one more sign that needs to be taken into account when determining a lie: pay attention to which direction your interlocutor’s gaze is directed. If he is looking to the right, then most likely he is lying to you. If to the right and up, he comes up with a picture, an image. If straight and to the right, he selects phrases and scrolls through sounds, if to the right and down, he has finished thinking about the situation and will now begin the story. But note that all these rules only work if the person is right-handed. If he is left-handed, he will look to the left.

How to spot a lie by facial expressions

When talking to a person, you should pay attention to his smile, and if it is not appropriate, then this indicates that he is deceiving you. This is explained by the fact that a person tries to hide his inner excitement behind a smile. If you carefully observe a person, you can recognize a lie by facial expressions. Liars are characterized by strong tension in the facial muscles, which does not last very long, just a few seconds. But, you must admit, it happens that the opponent lies with a straight face, which clearly indicates his insincerity.

Other indicators of deception

So, we found out how to detect a lie by the eyes. Let's look for other signs, such as involuntary reactions that a person cannot control: redness or paleness of the skin, frequent blinking, or periodic constriction and dilation of the pupils. Some other manifestations of emotions, individual for each person, may also be observed. They always accompany deception and help you understand whether they are telling you the truth.

What gestures can you use to detect a lie?

The psychology of lying is great for determining the credibility of information. If you believe the theory of the American researcher Alan Pease, then the interlocutor, trying to mislead his opponent, often accompanies his speech with the following actions.

1. Touching your face with your hands.
2. Touching your nose.
3. Rubbing the eyes.
4. Pulling the collar.
5. Covering your mouth.

Naturally, deceptive gestures do not necessarily indicate that a person is telling you a lie, since they should not be considered separately, but in conjunction with facial expressions and other factors that need to be analyzed taking into account the accompanying circumstances. That is, each reaction is not an independent indicator; it must be compared with other signs. And it is equally important to have an idea of ​​the so-called background state of each person, that is, to pay attention to his intonation, voice, gaze and gestures in everyday life.

How to correctly analyze and compare details

To understand how to identify a lie by people’s gestures, you need to communicate a lot, be attentive to others, be able to capture the smallest details in people’s behavior, and soberly assess the situation and current events. That is, it requires rich communication experience, the ability to analyze and compare all factors. Only in this case will you be able to distinguish truth from lies, focusing on facial expressions and gestures, and correctly assess the reliability of the information you hear.

Psychological portrait of a liar

There is no specific psychological portrait, since each person has his own individual signs of manifestation. The theory of lies is a set of laws, taking into account which one can determine whether a person is telling the truth or not. When you are having a conversation with someone, your face, like a mirror, reflects what you really feel and think. Some of them have to be hidden from others, but this does not mean that you need to completely control yourself, because otherwise others will treat you with distrust, as an insincere and fake person.

In general, it is not always possible to read his true feelings on a person’s face. There are rules to help determine how sincere your interlocutor is. Firstly, you should know that facial expressions of the forehead are much easier to control than the movement of the eyes and forehead, which means that it is in the upper part of the face that you should look for involuntarily appearing features that indicate deception. For example, when a person smiles falsely, he does not develop folds under the lower eyelids, which necessarily appear with a natural smile. One more thing: a fake smile occurs a little earlier than you expect it. Moreover, an unexpected smile always raises suspicion. You should be wary if the grin stays on your face for too long. When the interlocutor smiles naturally and at ease, it lasts no more than four seconds.

It has been noticed that many people find it difficult to look their interlocutor in the eye if he is deceiving him. This is why we don't trust a person with shifty eyes. Someone who lies often looks away from the other person, blinks more often than usual, or turns away altogether. Be extremely careful, as these signals may not indicate a lie at all, but awkwardness, confusion or discomfort.