Unraveling the myth that deception can be detected solely through visual cues, we delve into the complexities of human behavior. Discover why spotting a liar isn't as straightforward as it seems, and why our eyes might not be the best lie detectors.
Many people think that liars will give themselves away through nervous mannerisms like shrugging, blinking or smiling. But the scientific evidence tells a different story.
Across cultures, people believe that behaviors such as averted gaze, fidgeting and stuttering betray deceivers. But there has been little evidence to support this belief despite decades of searching.
Slow to change
In the US, these science-based reforms have yet to make significant inroads among police and other security officials.
- The US Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) still uses nonverbal deception clues to screen airport passengers for questioning, despite having been thoroughly debunked by researchers.
Tough to Tell
In 2003, Bella DePaulo and psychologist Charles Bond of Texas Christian University reviewed 206 studies involving 24,483 observers judging the veracity of 6,651 communications by 4,435 individuals
- Neither law enforcement experts nor student volunteers were able to pick true from false statements better than 54 percent of the time
- The impact of luck is apparent in small studies
- This suggests that the greater accuracy reported in some of the experiments may just boil down to chance
- Police experts have frequently made the argument that the experiments weren’t realistic enough
Something to Hide
Mann examined nonverbal deceit, such as when someone is trying to conceal illicit activity – a type of deception relevant to detecting bombers or smugglers
- She recruited 52 university student volunteers and asked half of them to transport a laptop said to contain sensitive photographs on a ferry ride between two cities.
- In interviews afterward, the “smugglers” said they were nervous, but they consciously tried to act normal and control their nerves with tactics such as listening to music or using their phones
- The finding that deceivers can successfully hide nervousness fills in a missing piece in deception research
- Studies like these have led researchers to largely abandon the hunt for nonverbal cues to deception
- Today, psychologists investigating deception are more likely to focus on verbal cues, and particularly on ways to magnify the differences between what liars and truth-tellers say
