Becoming angry and defensive If they feel that someone closes in on their lies and raises questions, liars tend to get angry and defensive. Even if no one is outright accusing them, they have an overblown reaction due to their fear of being caught.
Getting defensive when confronted about a lie. Constantly changing their story or being vague when questioned. Lying about something even when there's no reason to. Seeming unconcerned with being caught in a lie.
Fear microexpressions: Microexpressions are brief, involuntary facial expressions that give away a person's true emotions. Liars are often afraid of being caught, so they may express fear through small movements, like raising their eyebrows or wrinkling their forehead.
They're Defensive
This is probably the most obvious way to tell if your partner is lying: They overreact and get defensive.
Even though this doesn't apply to everyone, “If you try to confront them with evidence and proof of the facts, they may be outraged, insulted, and attack you verbally. They may even badmouth you to others and avoid you.”
Most of the time, pathological liars remain cognitively dissonant about their lying. It's too painful to confront, or they are just so used to lying that they don't even know that they are doing it. It is very uncomfortable for them to tell the truth.
"When a liar becomes hostile or defensive, he is attempting to turn the tables on you," says Glass. The liar will get hostile because he is angry that you've discovered his lies, which may result in a lot of pointing.
A defensive person can be someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It can also be someone that is a regular victim of emotional abuse that is constantly criticized. A defensive person can also be someone that has low self-esteem or that has a difficult time listening to criticisms about themself.
Defensiveness can mean trying to counter or deny criticisms in areas where you feel sensitive, afraid, guilty, or deceitful. In some cases, defensiveness may arise if you felt the need to use specific coping skills in childhood or adolescence to survive, and those skills were helpful at the time.
When it comes to detecting lies, people often focus on body language “tells,” or subtle physical and behavioral signs that reveal deception. For example, shrugging, lack of expression, a bored posture, and grooming behaviors such as playing with hair or pressing fingers to lips can give away a person who is lying.
Most people say they lie to avoid causing negative feelings, sidestep conflict, and to escape hurting or insulting a partner.
For many lies, the reasons are complicated. Sometimes it's to protect the liar from being punished, or to protect someone else from punishment. The lie might be to avoid being embarrassed, to hide an awkward situation, or to simply have others think better of the person telling the fib.
Tightened jaw and forehead
Liars also tend to tense up when they're not being truthful, and this can include tightening the jaw and forehead. Both are connected to the "mental effort and stress" associated with telling a lie, according to Wenner.
People who lie pathologically often tell lies about things that don't matter, for no apparent reason. They may do it unconsciously and may not even realize they're lying in the moment, although they can often tell afterward.
A guilty person may avoid answering direct questions, refuse to provide information that could be used against them, or simply disappear altogether. Another telltale sign is that a guilty person may tend to lie or provide false explanations for their behavior.
People don't like to viewed negatively. If there is a chance they will be seen as incompetent, negative, uncooperative, or unsupportive, they will respond defensively when confronted. This is a common reaction. Every one of us wants to put our best self forward.
Defensiveness is most often a response to criticism. It's when a person tries to defend themselves from feeling angry, hurt, or ashamed when they perceive the other person as critical.
People with high levels of narcissism tend to respond very defensively when their positive self-evaluations are threatened.
However, when someone gets defensive about their idea or point of view, it is usually a clear sign of insecurity. Defensiveness occurs if we know we aren't comfortable with what we are saying or doing.
Defensive individuals often have control and power issues, and perceive anyone confronting them or holding them accountable as a threat. They are uncomfortable with feelings in general and managing their own.
If they feel that someone closes in on their lies and raises questions, liars tend to get angry and defensive. Even if no one is outright accusing them, they have an overblown reaction due to their fear of being caught. It also acts as a distraction and helps take the spotlight off their lies.
A narcissistic liar is a person who lies to get what they want. They are often charming and persuasive. But their primary goal is always self-promotion. They want to present themselves in a certain light and believe they can get away with it.
An inability to bear the truth
Attorney Rebecca Zung writes about what happens when you catch a narcissist in a lie. They will either deny, deflect, devalue, and/or dismiss you.