How to Spot a Liar Part II

 Learning From the Past

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Miss. Lewinsky.” This statement was played over and over during the presidential scandal of the 1990s. It was later found out that President Clinton was in fact, lying. But were there some hidden signals that would have exposed his bluff the moment he uttered those words?

Well, as mentioned in Part I of this series, Pamela Meyers is an expert in the field of lying, and has listed several signs of lying in her article for Forbes.com . But two of these I thought would be extremely beneficial to those of us searching for truth are, 1. Learn who tends to lie and understand their motivation, and 2. Know the basic verbal and nonverbal cues and use them as red flags to ask questions.

1.       

        1. Learn who tends to lie and understand their motivation. 

      People with power have a higher tendency to lie because they feel comfortable doing so. So this should quell any thought that authority figures would never lie to us. For example, when President Obama said he would not sign the NDAA, which allows the president to detain any American citizen and hold them without due process, but then did sign it, should come as no surprise to us.

2.      

      2. Know the basic verbal and nonverbal cues and use them as red flags to ask questions.  

     Once again I will use the example of the signing of the NDAA to spot these cues. According to Pamela Meyers, use of non contraction words like will not instead of won’t is a signal of lying. Interestingly, when concerns were raised over section 1021 of the bill Mr. Obama stated, "I want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.”

 Arming Ourselves

 Knowledge is power, and if we as everyday people can arm ourselves with understanding we will be in a better position to change the way things are. Instead of accepting lies we should demand truth, and in the process maybe just maybe, we can alter the future for the better.