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Poker Face or Pinocchio? Could You Spot a Liar?
Can You Tell Who’s Lying?
“I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With That Woman”
That was a whopper.
Bill Clinton’s lie follows him like a damp fart.
It would be easy to spot a liar if their pants caught on fire, but most lies go undetected, even by those who believe they can spot a liar.
If you’ve studied NLP, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, you probably believe you can tell if someone is lying by studying their eye movements, but research says this isn’t so. Practitioners say looking up to the right shows someone is lying, whereas looking up to the left suggests that they are telling the truth. In reality, looking to the right is imagining something rather than remembering, which means it isn’t true but isn’t a lie either.
Could you honestly put your hand on your heart and say that you haven’t ever told a lie? One study says everyone tells at least one or two lies a day.
Many moons ago, my friends and I attempted to enter a new London club. The bouncers had none of it and directed us to a snaking queue.
“What a shame” I cooed. “I’m scouting for a venue for my new book launch and thought this might be the place.”
