Lies from Friends/Family and Strangers and How to Tell

In a study of groups of people that knew each other (familiar persons) they were able to able to detect deception when visual cues were withheld.

They also learned, deceptions of strangers were more likely to be detected when visual cues were not withheld.

How we can use this?

• If you are an investigator and you need a family member to verify an alibi, play a segment of an audio tape of the suspect's denial. At the very least you should be able to "read" either stress or relief when you watch them listen to the tape. I always say "mother knows best" and when dealing with a criminal investigation they instinctively tell you much more than they know.


• When dealing with someone you know it may be best to use the telephone to more accurately determine the truth, instead of waiting for a face to face confrontation.

An article from The Journal of Nonverbal Behavior describing this in detail:
Detection of deception in familiar and unfamiliar persons: The effects of
information restriction. Millar, Murray G.; Millar, Karen; Journal of Nonverbal
Behavior, Vol 19(2), Sum 1995. pp. 69-84.

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Lies from Friends/Family and Strangers and How to Tell

Masking or Suppressing Facial Expressions

What to look for?

- Narrowing of the eye

- Tense forehead

- Tightened jaw muscles

The more slight and subtle you observe the above to more reliable the read. The quicker you see them, the more reliable they are. If they are shown in more than a subtle expression, or in the extreme, and the longer they appear on the face the LESS reliable is the concealment and more likely you are seeing the beginning of intense anger.

Tense forehead is usually shown in horizontal wrinkles appear across your forehead, in the above photograph a vertical line appears between the eyes on the lower part of the forehead, this usually shown in extreme emotion responses, such as anger and stress.

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Masking or Suppressing Facial Expressions

Nadal Loses in French Open Post Match Interview

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Nadal Loses in French Open Post Match Interview

Sonia Sotomayor Video Interview on Courts Making Policy

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Sonia Sotomayor Video Interview on Courts Making Policy

Is it Fair?

I was setting up a new computer with voice analysis software. I needed to calibrate so I went to uTube and picked one of the latest press conferences from the White House Press Secretary. The video was 40 minutes long and with the complexity of the cameras, screen recording software, and getting it to work all together it took almost the entire 40 minutes.

There were clear times where he show stress and high stress- normal given the environment and the veracity of the press. There was one time when he was being untruthful. I'm not going to get into the specifics, but I would characterize it as a white lie, because it was said to avoid hurting the feelings of another.

With the technologies that are available, and will be in the future, is it fair for everybody to know when everybody is being truthful or under stress? Could it get to the point where we see this real time -in ticker fashion- when watching the news?

Regardless of you answer, there are people like myself, regardless of the technology see these things. I'm on a vacation in Sanibel Island and while watching the local news there was a first court hearing for an accused murderer... and given what I saw while the accused simply stood before the judge- I saw him show shame and other signals that he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar- technology is what it is- but I trust human lie detectors more than technology. You have to ask then why the voice stress analyzer- well the general public trusts technology above people who have been extensively trained to detect emotions and deceit... there still is the "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar attitude" - So I use both.◦

Is it Fair?

Fritz Henderson GM CEO: Government and Unions Won't Run General Motors

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Fritz Henderson GM CEO: Government and Unions Won't Run General Motors

Senator Lindsey Graham on Fox News: Sotomayor Is Not a Racist

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Senator Lindsey Graham on Fox News: Sotomayor Is Not a Racist

"You know I'd never do something that terrible to another human being."

If you get an answer like the above headline, to a question like, "Did you steal that old woman's purse?" You've got someone trying to pull your leg...

It is saying your too good to do that sort of thing. It is avoiding the direct question with an indirect answer. It takes the human element out of the question. The answer is distancing from the actual crime. Whenever someone abstractly denies wrong doing and they are taking the "high road" you are dealing with a liar.

Here is another one along the same lines, "Did you cheat on me with Linda?"
"I could never do something so wrong in the eyes of God..."
(whenever someone uses God be on the lookout, that is another sign, more on that in another post.)

Here is another example from the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin:

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The , July, 2001 by Joe Navarro, John R. Schafer
"The young mother leaned back and cleared her throat. Her eyes teared and her voice quivered as she explained how her baby disappeared. Her clasped hands trembled slightly and her feet pointed toward the door. Her demeanor appeared too subdued. Reluctant to call the mother a liar, the investigator asked her if she had a reason to lie. She answered, "I never lie. My mother taught me always to tell the truth." The investigator had seen and heard enough--he asked the woman to take a polygraph examination. During the postpolygraph interview, the woman confessed that she had suffocated her baby. Both her verbal and nonverbal behaviors had revealed the gruesome truth."◦

"You know I'd never do something that terrible to another human being."

Ronald Cummings on the Today Show: Language Slip

"Where she used to reside..."

Wonder why he didn't say, "This is her room."

For more on this topic, I wrote about this when I believed there might be a shred of hope she was still alive but left out the details, click here

Kicker is, he probably didn't actually kill her, but he will be charged with a slew of things after the fact. I have viewed several interviews from different times after her "disappearance" and it is clear that he knows what happened and is protecting himself and others at this point.◦

Ronald Cummings on the Today Show: Language Slip

Paul Ekman with 'Lie To Me' writer Josh Singer at APS Conference

Filmed at Association for Psychological Science (APS) Conference May 23, 2009.

During the recent Association for Psychological Science (APS) convention, Ekman and the show’s head writer Samuel Baum were interviewed in a popular session, and other scientists detailed their research based on his FACS system in separate talks.

Part 1


Part 2


Part3


For more about this discussion, visit Lies, Lies, Lies
PsychCentral.com - Boston,MA,USA
By Sandra Kiume Psychologist Paul Ekman is a pioneer in deception research who heads a high profile consulting firm that works with the FBI and other big ...◦

Paul Ekman with 'Lie To Me' writer Josh Singer at APS Conference