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[attutle]

I need to improve my ability to tell when people are lying to me, especially at work.

What advice can you offer on developing this skill?

Comments

[elegantelbow]

If someone smiles, look at the outside corners of their eyes. If they go up -- it's a genuine smile. If they stay where they are, it's a fake.

[elegantelbow]

http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies.php
http://www.weeno.com/art/0799/106.html
http://www.increasebrainpower.com/how-to-tell-if-someone-is-lying.html

[elegantelbow]

http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php

Up and to the left suggests imagining something visually
Sideways and to the left suggests imagining something auditorially

[thewronghands]

This is one of the zillion ways that I differ from most people, NLP-wise/body-language-wise. (Either that, or 90% of my smiles are fake and I just don't know it.) My corners don't move unless it's an "OMG LIFESAVER, SO HAPPY" smile... "hey, good to see you" and "ha ha, good joke" smiles apparently don't rate.

So, the NLP stuff works on most people, but keep in mind that it doesn't work on everyone. (NLPers tend to think all kinds of nutty things about me, because I read differently and they don't want to acknowledge that some people aren't "in the system" like that.)

[7ghent]

Play poker, it'll develop your skill. Everyone has a tell, you just have to figure out what it is. There are lots of common ones, but everyone's a little different.

[djsparkydog]

I was actually going to say the exact same thing.

Also, when someone can provide you no details, or no consistent details on the subject you're talking about, they're idiots, or lying. Either way, you should keep an eye on them.

[7ghent]

That's also true. The entire reason I'm such a talented liar is my ability to make up consistent details on the fly and remember them later.

[fruitylips]

Assume everyone is lying at all times. It's probably closer to the truth anyway.

[killbox]

you could attempt to plant electrodes on their skin, and then test Galvonic Skin Reaction,

pacing, people change their tempo when they are covering a lie,

document, paper, email or even get in the habbit of "recording memos" to yourself on a small mp3 recorder.

[apotheon]

To quote (or maybe paraphrase) De Niro's character in Ronin:

If there's any doubt, there isn't any doubt.

Of course, that might be a little extreme. I just try to arrange things so that any time I feel like I might need to trust someone, and there's any question about whether they're trustworthy, trusting and being wrong doesn't really hurt me.