Common body language signs of lying include fidgeting, covering the mouth/nose, inconsistent gestures, avoiding eye contact (or overcompensating with too much), changes in breathing/voice, and shifts from their normal baseline behavior, often driven by nervousness or attempts to create distance. Look for physical discomfort (neck rubbing, sweating), attempts to block or hide (hands over face, crossed arms), or disjointed signals where words don't match actions, like saying "yes" while shaking their head.
There are many signs someone could be lying. For example, one may make too little or too much eye contact, sweat or flush in their face, fidget or enact unusual gestures, have trouble maintaining normal speech patterns, and have difficulty controlling the volume and tone of their voice.
Keep an eye out for the following signs, and you won't be taken advantage of by a liar.
Instead of saying, “I didn't do it,” a deceptive person might shift the focus with a protest statement like “Why would I do something like that?” or “You know me, I would never.” Others might repeat a question verbatim, buying themselves time while crafting a response.
Their gestures don't match or are too dramatic
But when someone is being fake, their body movements don't match their words and it might feel off. They may use exaggerated gestures to cover up their discomfort or delay movements, and this is a huge indicator of them being fake.
7 signs someone is simply a bad person, according to psychology
The effort required to lie varies among people; however, evidence suggests that liars are more likely than truth tellers to exhibit certain behaviors—hesitating, making errors, speaking slower, pausing more, and waiting longer before answering.
Liars fear being caught, leading to consequences like punishment, rejection, or humiliation, but also fear the exposure of their true, often flawed, selves or the shame and guilt associated with deception, especially when lying stems from trauma or low self-worth. They fear losing control, the damage to trust when lies are revealed, and situations where someone remembers details, as inconsistencies unravel their fabrications.
Words like "never" and "always" are common among liars. By using these categorical terms, they try to reinforce their version of events and make it seem more convincing. However, reality is rarely so absolute, which may indicate that they are trying to hide something.
Here are a few techniques to determine if someone is telling the truth or not.
“Among other common lies, we have the silent lie — The deception which one conveys by simply keeping still and concealing the truth. Many obstinate truth-mongers indulge in this dissipation, imagining that if they speak no lie, they lie not at all.” —Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Watch for inappropriate, unusual, or uncommon behavior.
They might say “no” while nodding “yes.” They could exhibit strange emotions (laughing when the subject is serious, for example). Or, they may say they feel one emotion while looking like they feel another.
When someone feels guilty, they may show signs of defensiveness, submissiveness, or self-protection. They may cross their arms, touch their neck, or cover their mouth. They may also show signs of tension, such as clenching their fists, tapping their feet, or shifting their weight.
Although there have been claims that looking in a particular direction (for example looking towards the right) is a tell-tale sign of a person lying, these assertions have been debunked (and also here).
However, there are a few potential red flags that might indicate that someone is lying, including:
10 Strategies for Detecting and Responding to Lying
How can you tell if someone is an untrustworthy person?
Questionable content: “Ask a deceptive person to tell their story, they're going to pepper it with way too much detail in all kinds of irrelevant places,” Meyer says. Vocal characteristics: People who are lying may sound tense, and their voices may be more high-pitched than usual. Some may adopt a deeper tone.
Those traits included callousness, sadism, vindictiveness, narcissism, and deceitfulness. Working with the lab's director, psychology professor Christian Hart, Masters student Peyton Yarbrough studied 537 subjects. They found that all of these personality traits were associated with more frequent lying.
Key points
People lie for a variety of reasons, such as to avoid receiving punishment, obtain rewards, or keep personal information secret.
Even meticulous liars can be thrown by the unexpected, so the ability to give original, convincing, non-scripted responses comes in handy. Delays and verbal fillers signal deception, so good liars are quick-witted, thinking fast on their feet.
“It told us there were basically five kinds of smile-related 'faces' that people made when responding to questions,” Sen said. The one most frequently associated with lying was a high intensity version of the so-called Duchenne smile involving both cheek/eye and mouth muscles.
Sweating or dryness: Autonomic nervous system changes can trigger liars to sweat in the T-area of the face (upper lip, forehead, chin and around the mouth) or have dryness in the mouth and eyes — the person might excessively blink or squint, lick or bite their lips or swallow hard, according to Glass.