The Fastest Way to Spot a Liar

Much has been written about the complicated art of reading body language, and some of it might even be considered helpful. Most of us, however, don’t have time to become experts in this seemingly complicated field of study. So to help you spot someone who’s hiding something, or perhaps just not telling the whole truth, here’s a very simple way to tell.

Whenever we communicate, it all begins with an image in our brain, which we then decide to share with our listener. Once we make that decision, that image gets sent to two places: the "gesture center" of our brain, which determines whether the image is worthy of a gesture, and if so, what type of gesture should accompany it, and the "word center" of our brain, which proceeds to determine how to describe that image, figuring out what words will be most effective for that particular listener, selecting the proper language, making sure everything fits the rules of grammar, decorum and occasion. Once those words are selected, they then must make the journey to the mouth, where tongue, lips, cheeks and breathing must all be perfectly applied in order for that image to be conveyed.

It should be obvious that the amount of time necessary to determine an appropriate gesture is considerably shorter than the time it takes for the words to finally get out of your mouth. That means that if your gesture center has decided a gesture is appropriate, the gesture will always reach their destination long before the words do, relatively speaking. Quite simply, in a natural and truthful communication, the gesture will always come first, albeit a split second sooner.

When a gesture is late, however, appearing at the same time as the words, or worse, after the words, it is a clear indication that something is wrong. Whenever you notice a late gesture, alarm bells should start to go off in your head. Listen to it, because it is these kind of incongruities that are the basis for our instinct and intuition.

That’s because the first image in our mind is always the truth. Adjusting that image to suit a more favorable impression that is contradictory to the original truthful image is a conscience decision a presenter makes after that image is sent to the gesture center. The gesture center must then reassess the new image, and that disrupts the natural flow, which causes the gesture to be late.

So the easiest way to spot a liar is by looking at the timing of the gestures with their words. Take a close look at some well-known contemporary video and it will become more obvious. For example, when President Bill Clinton said, "I did not have sex with that woman," notice how long it takes for the finger pointing to kick in. Had it been the truth, that gesture would have occurred well in advance of the statement, because it was certainly a statement that warranted such an emphatic gesture, but a natural and truthful gesture would have come before the words.

The same was true in the case of the major league baseball player who made the claim, "I have never taken steroids in my life." Again, the finger-pointing gesture he used came much later than the words, once more indicating the absence, or manipulation, of the truth.

That isn’t to say that someone can’t be a good enough presenter to fool you, after all, good actors do it all the time. But when you do notice incongruities between a person’s words and the timing of their gestures, you can rest assured that any doubts you may have are justified. In this case, more than in any other, timing is everything.