With midterm elections looming, some voters are still undecided about candidate choices.
And when campaign claims conflict, some wonder, who’s being honest?
That doesn’t have to be a mystery anymore, body language experts told The Epoch Times.
But first, voters seeking to root out the truth must forget everything they’ve been told about how to spot a lie. Wrong are the generations-old myths, such as a liar’s inability to look into the eyes of the person he’s trying to deceive.
“Averting eyes is not a clue of deception, and not looking up to the right, and not looking up to the left—all of that science has been debunked” by at least 22 peer-reviewed studies, says expert Susan Constantine.
So what does expose a lie?
There’s no one sign for any person. But there are behaviors all liars have in common, experts said.
Blips from the Baseline
When someone tries to deceive, he or she unconsciously reveals a burst of behaviors associated with lying, said Constantine and two other top truth-detectors.
And that “cluster” of what experts call “hotspots” or “tells” will stray from the person’s usual way of acting or speaking.
“We have a general way that we behave—that’s our baseline,” said Traci Brown, author of “How to Detect Lies, Fraud and Identity Theft.”
To spot untruthfulness in a politician or suspect under investigation, Brown looks for 2-5 deception-linked clues “off their baseline” in the span of about one sentence. Constantine coaches her clients to look for at least three signs in seven seconds.
Clue clusters happen fast, and they indicate anxiety. Anxiety accompanies deception, experts agreed. It’s the body’s response when untruthfulness is being formulated in the brain.
“That is the science, and there’s research to back that up,” Constantine said.
Blips from the baseline will expose even a polished politician adept at exaggerating truth, hiding facts, or telling outright whoppers.
Most seasoned politicians have “learned how to answer questions and present them in a way where they’re giving you information,” Constantine said.
“They’re withholding, omitting, and skipping over pertinent information, which is purposeful.”
By rehearsing their talking points, they practice hiding the delivery of not-so-truthful tidbits.
But it’s almost impossible to completely camouflage their deception, especially when forced off-script by an unexpected question, experts agreed.
That’s when the body gives it away. And that’s the best time for observers to watch closely.
By Nanette Holt
