As sad as it may be to admit, lies exist everywhere. Even if we can forgive ourselves for lying to someone, having a lie is not very pleasant. And it is exactly for this reason that honesty is a quality highly sought after socially, because it establishes a climate of trust and transparency which allows the durability of relationships.
How much lies is there in our lives?
In 2002, psychologists Felder, Forrest and Happ conducted a study of 242 people. The experiment was to be as follows: The subjects were made to believe that they were going to participate in an experiment that aims to study their reactions when they meet a person for the first time.
Volunteers were then split into two distinct groups, each of whom had to report to each other for a conversation of up to 10 minutes. The researchers also suggested to some participants to make sure to be pleasant, while they invited others to highlight their talents, those who remained had no particular instructions.
That said, it was not only the purpose of the experiment that these individuals did not know, they did not know that they were filmed either. What was revealed to them after the end of the 10 minutes, the researchers have of course asked them permission to use video recordings to carry out their study.
The verdict is quite surprising
After obtaining the agreement of the participants, the researchers broadcast the videos for all of them so that they could spot their different lies, or other "inaccuracies" they would have said during the 10 minutes of conversation.
The observation of the different recordings led to a rather puzzling verdict: people who were instructed to be pleasant or to put forward their skills said more lies than those who had not had a particular instruction. 60% of the participants lied between two and three times on average during the discussion. Results that the researchers found very surprising, but not only, since the subjects themselves did not expect to be lying so much.
For some of the participants, the lies were rather "minor" because, for example, they pretended to agree with their interlocutor. Nevertheless, for others, the lies have reached a fairly advanced stage, there was even one who had claimed to be at the head of a very famous rock band!
The 3 psychologists have deduced that the lie is more present in our daily life than we imagine and that it is even more used in new encounters. This would apparently convey a very positive self-image while highlighting aspects of our personality through facts that are all but true.
Are there effective ways to identify a liar?
1. The liar avoids referring to himself: When a liar distorts the truth, he tends to avoid talking about himself. He speaks or writes in the third person. A way for him to distance himself from the fact about which he lied.
2. The liar displays a negative attitude: The liar is someone who is generally negative because he feels unconsciously guilty of his own lie. He will also display a certain nervousness in uttering the latter.
3. The explanations of a liar are as simple as possible: The liar usually explains things in simple terms because his brain refuses to think of a complicated lie. Judgment or evaluation being complex things that can be quite difficult to calculate.
4. A liar uses a confusing vocabulary: Despite his simple explanations, the liar uses a complicated and absurd sentence structure, inserting excess words and insignificant but plausible details that help him inflate his deception.
5. The eyes do not lie: Observe the eyes of your interlocutor attentively. Lying becomes nervous, resulting in increased heart rate and dilated pupils that retract as quickly.