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Telling fact
When politicians feel insecure they produce symbolically defensive hand gestures eg hands held across their body. Source: The Book of Tells by Peter Collett |
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The Book of Tells written by Peter Collett, the Big Brother psychologist and presenter of The Secret Language provides the basis for much of the analysis of the everyday body language used by us all that reveals what we are really thinking - Tells. In this edited extract he reveals the best indicators of lying... Talking tells Most people believe that liars five themselves away by what they do, rather than what they say or how they say it. In fact it's the other way round - the best indicators of lying are to be found in people's speech rather than in their behaviour. Aldert Vrij from Portsmouth University has suggested that when people try to catch liars they pay too much attention to their non-verbal behaviour and not enough to speech. This, he points out, if reflected in the tendency to overestimate the chances of detecting deceit by watching someone's behaviour, and to underestimate the chances of catching liars by listening to what they say.  Circumlocution. Liars often beat about the bush. They tend to give longwinded explanations with lots of digressions, but when they're asked a question they're likely to give a short answer. Outlining. Liar's explanations are painted with board brushstrokes, with very little attention to detail. There's seldom any mention of time, place or people's feelings. For example, a liar will tell you that he went for a pizza, but he probably won't tell you where he went or what kind of pizza he ordered. When liars do provide details they are seldom in a position to elaborate on them. So, if you ask a liar to expand on his account, it's very likely that he'll simply repeat himself. When a truth-teller is asked the same question, he usually offers lots of new information. Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
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