by Garrett Anderson

Created on: September 07, 2009   Last Updated: September 09, 2009

About a quarter century ago, my introduction into the world of deception came with a book by Paul Ekman, "Telling Lies." This was followed by hundreds of hours of training by some of the best "lie-catchers" in the business which included all forms of non-verbal behavior. Non-verbal behavior is in fact far more reliable than anything that pours out in speech. I put this knowledge to work everyday for many years and it allowed me to become quite successful. But it came with personal cost.

Practiced and well rehearsed deception, and the ability to detect that very deception, are true art forms. Liars are far more successful than anyone cares to guess. Your ability to detect deception depends almost entirely on your willingness to go to great lengths to school yourself. Absent extensive training and the ability to practice those skills daily on a variety of people, most people have little to no ability to accurately "read" and detect liars. You are not born with the ability nor have I met someone so inherently intelligent that they could immediately spot deceptive behavior. Most folks come to this battle uneducated and therefore, unarmed.

Excellent liars are almost undetectable. If a would be liar knows their target well, they can construct a tailor-made and believable story. If you are the target, it is very important to listen carefully but discount virtually everything that is said. If that sounds contradictory, it's not.

There are two ways to detect deceptive behavior. Deceptive people spin yarns, and when they do so, they leave out details. Listen intently and never interrupt them. They will be as vague and non specific as possible when telling a story. They will leave out significant details. As we listen to the story intently, we look for patterns of non verbal behavior in clusters. Covering the mouth, looking away, uneasiness and shifting, crossing legs and arms, hostile behavior. Evasive answers to question that are specific. Micro gestures are revealed, particularly those involving the eyes and forehead. Seen independently, any of these gestures by themselves are less significant. Viewed as a whole, or seen in clusters, they become very indicative of deceptive behavior.

The bigger the "stakes," the more difficult it is for liars to achieve their goals. They are under stress. Liars are entirely focused on not being detected or exposed. A liar's ability to succeed is entirely dependent on the intelligence and emotional needs and beliefs of the target, the

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