
With midterm elections looming, some voters are still undecided about candidate choices.
And when campaign claims conflict, some wonder, whoโs being honest?
That doesnโt 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 theyโve been told about how to spot a lie. Wrong are the generations-old myths, such as a liarโs inability to look into the eyes of the person heโs trying to deceive.
โAverting eyes is not a clue of deception, and not looking up to the right, and not looking up to the leftโall of that science has been debunkedโ by at least 22 peer-reviewed studies, says expert Susan Constantine.
So what does expose a lie?
Thereโs 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 โclusterโ of what experts call โhotspotsโ or โtellsโ will stray from the personโs usual way of acting or speaking.
โWe have a general way that we behaveโthatโs our baseline,โ said Traci Brown, author of โHow to Detect Lies, Fraud and Identity Theft.โ
To spot untruthfulness in a politician or suspect under investigation, Brown looks for 2-5 deception-linked clues โoff their baselineโ 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. Itโs the bodyโs response when untruthfulness is being formulated in the brain.
โThat is the science, and thereโs research to back that up,โ 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 โlearned how to answer questions and present them in a way where theyโre giving you information,โ Constantine said.
โTheyโre withholding, omitting, and skipping over pertinent information, which is purposeful.โ
By rehearsing their talking points, they practice hiding the delivery of not-so-truthful tidbits.
But itโs almost impossible to completely camouflage their deception, especially when forced off-script by an unexpected question, experts agreed.
Thatโs when the body gives it away. And thatโs the best time for observers to watch closely.
Byย Nanette Holt