Verbal signs of lying

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For the most part, the art of exposing a lie is perceived by people as the ability to read body movements and decipher facial expressions. This is partly true, but there is another side to this activity. What we say - the semantic load of speech - can also be used to reveal deception. Later in the article, we will consider the verbal signs of lying.

How does lying affect verbal behavior?​

There are three main factors that influence a liar that make it possible to expose him: emotions, attempts to control the situation, and the cognitive load caused by the need to process more information than when telling the truth. All of them affect the verbal part of communication, as a result of which we can notice quite specific changes.

As in the study of non-verbal behavior, there are no signs that would unequivocally indicate a lie, except when it is known. It is necessary to take into account all possible explanations for such behavior and conclude about a lie only when discarding other options.

Emotions​

Most often, liars feel guilty about their deception, especially when it concerns people who are important to them. In addition, fear of exposure is considered another common emotion. As a psychological defense, liars try to abstract themselves from their words. This is manifested in the following verbal signs of lies:

• indirect, evasive answers;
• overly generalized information;
• the answers do not contain self-references (references to oneself) - such words as "I", "me", "me", etc.

Persistent questions, fear, guilt - all this can irritate the liar, as well as attempts to get away from continuing communication. The manifestations of irritation can be negative negative statements. For example, instead of saying, "I am an honest man," the liar will say, "I am not a fraud." Reluctance to further communication is manifested by short evasive phrases, monosyllabic answers.

Situation control​

A feature of the behavior of liars is that they do not adequately assess the situation, which is associated with both an abundance of conflicting emotions and cognitive difficulties. This explains their attempts to make a better impression on their listeners. The verbal manifestation of this can be the communication of irrelevant information. For example, when asked “where have you been tonight,” a liar, confining himself to a short, evasive answer, will immediately move on to colorful descriptions of weather or road difficulties.

Increased cognitive load​

The need to lie, hide your true emotions, or mask them with feigned ones, requires much more stress from the brain. This is especially evident during spontaneous lies, when it has to be invented right in the course of a conversation.

In this case, the story of the deceiver will be short, generalized. It may sound unlikely. Also, it will have few personal characteristics, experiences and self-references.

Restrictions​

It should be noted that verbal behavior is much more controllable than non-verbal behavior. Liars who are aware of the above features of deception can correct their speech quite well. In addition, more educated and eloquent people are less prone to verbal leaks.

Conclusions​

Learning to take into account the verbal signs of deception is a very promising tool in a profiler's arsenal. Most liars tend to give generalized, evasive and short answers that contain a minimum of self-reference. They also prefer to switch to unimportant but well-known details. Often, their stories are implausible or convey irrelevant information.

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