Looks horrid open. Then the insides decompose quickly.
Lying well is hard — but not in the way you might think.
We usually look for nervousness as one of the signs of lying. Like the person is worried about getting caught. But that’s actually a weak predictor.
Some people are so confident they don’t fear getting caught. Others are great at hiding it.
Some get nervous when questioned so you get false positives. And others are lying to themselves — so they show no signs of deliberate deception.
So lying isn’t necessarily hard in terms of stress. But it is hard in terms of “cognitive load.” What’s that mean?
Lying is hard because it makes you think. You need to think up the lies. That’s extra work.
Looking for nervousness can be a wild goose chase. Looking for signs of thinking hard can be a great strategy.
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They tend not to move their arms and legs so much, cut down on gesturing, repeat the same phrases, give shorter and less detailed answers, take longer before they start to answer, and pause and hesitate more. In addition, there is also evidence that they distance themselves from the lie, causing their language to become more impersonal. As a result, liars often reduce the number of times that they say words such as “I,” “me,” and “mine,” and use “him” and “her” rather than people’s names. Finally, is increased evasiveness, as liars tend to avoid answering the question completely, perhaps by switching topics or by asking a question of their own.
To detect deception, forget about looking for signs of tension, nervousness, and anxiety. Instead, a liar is likely to look as though they are thinking hard for no good reason, conversing in a strangely impersonal tone, and incorporating an evasiveness that would make even a politician or a used-car salesman blush.
