The art and science of Reading people

The TV show Lie to Me is based on facial expressions and behaviors that we all do. We all shade the truth, "fudge" a little on the specifics, exaggerate the details - or in some way communicate in the gray area, rather than the black and white. Another way to say that is: we all lie.

In the show, we see a someone make a face, and the experts immediately say, "His mouth turned down 20 degrees: he's lying!" I with it were that simple, but it's not.

Normal people (boyfriend or girlfriendn) "fib," but that doesn't mean we're evil or malicious. Normal people also make faces that other people can interpret as angry, bitter, hurt, deceptive or disgusted. But, those faces are only giving us one tiny bit of information, and most of the time, that information is either unimportant or incorrect.

What can you do with that information? Use it as a red flag. Pay more attention and look for more infomation.

In this space, I will describe signs that could mean lying. And, I'll explain how you can spot them. I'll also explain what you can do to verify if that's a lie - or just something innocent.

-- Michael Lovas