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Scientists have discovered an effective way to determine whether a person is lying or not, according to a new study by a group of legal psychology experts at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
It is noted that a group of researchers studied the opinions of 50 experts on detecting deception and concluded that it is necessary to check facts, ask questions and listen very carefully to what people say.
“The researchers sought to determine not only which deception detection methods experts prefer, but also which of them studies prefer. Equally important, they wanted to find out what doesn’t work,” the publication emphasizes.
For example, they learned that observing a person's body language will only help you determine whether a person is lying if the potential liar is someone you know well. If you're dealing with a stranger, observing body language won't help you distinguish truth from lies. It can even make the task more difficult.
Researchers recommend focusing all your attention on what the person is actually saying.
“There are no reliable nonverbal signals, but there are reliable verbal signals,” said Per-Anders Grönhag, a professor of psychology at the University of Gothenburg and one of the study’s authors.
Most experts agreed that liars provide fewer details than truthful people.
Another way to try to determine if someone is telling the truth is to fact-check what they're saying. Researchers suggest that trying to confirm or deny what they've told you is a better use of your time than studying body language.
