Body Language Experts Share Advice on How to Tell When Politicians Lie

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With midterm elections looming, some voters are still undecided about candidate choices.

And when campaign claims conflict, some wonder, whoโ€™s being honest?

That doesnโ€™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 theyโ€™ve been told about how to spot a lie. Wrong are the generations-old myths, such as a liarโ€™s inability to look into the eyes of the person heโ€™s trying to deceive.

โ€œAverting eyes is not a clue of deception, and not looking up to the right, and not looking up to the leftโ€”all of that science has been debunkedโ€ by at least 22 peer-reviewed studies, says expert Susan Constantine.

So what does expose a lie?

Thereโ€™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 โ€œclusterโ€ of what experts call โ€œhotspotsโ€ or โ€œtellsโ€ will stray from the personโ€™s usual way of acting or speaking.

โ€œWe have a general way that we behaveโ€”thatโ€™s our baseline,โ€ said Traci Brown, author of โ€œHow 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 โ€œoff 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. Itโ€™s the bodyโ€™s response when untruthfulness is being formulated in the brain.

โ€œThat is the science, and thereโ€™s 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 โ€œlearned how to answer questions and present them in a way where theyโ€™re giving you information,โ€ Constantine said.

โ€œTheyโ€™re 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 itโ€™s almost impossible to completely camouflage their deception, especially when forced off-script by an unexpected question, experts agreed.

Thatโ€™s when the body gives it away. And thatโ€™s the best time for observers to watch closely.

Byย Nanette Holt

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