How to spot a liar: Seven tips from 'human lie detector' Darren Stanton

It's all about the eye contact

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

When was the last time you lied? The chances are, you can’t remember. But it was probably a lot more recently than you think.

In 10 minutes of conversation, the average person will tell at least three white lies. Over the course of a day, most of us lie a whopping 200 times, and that number goes up even more over the Christmas period.

New research into festive fibbing, carried out by bronchostop with help from ‘human lie detector’ Darren Stanton, has discovered that 32 per cent of people lie more than usual around Christmas, perhaps because we’re actually trying to spare others’ feelings.

58 per cent of us have lied about loving a present and 28 per cent have fibbed about enjoying someone’s cooking.

In response to the research, world-renowned body language and deception detection expert Stanton spoke to The Independent about how to spot a liar over the festive season, whether that be a friend who claims to love the gift you gave them or a sibling who lies about enjoying the gingerbread you made.

Stanton started his career working in prisons and for the police where he developed his knack for spotting a liar.

He explained that it’s our micro-expressions that give the game away when we’re lying, but only if there’ll be consequences for it.

“If you give someone a present and they look surprised for longer than a second, they’re actually feigning that emotion,” Stanton told The Independent.

So if you want to tell if a person is lying to you, here are Stanton’s seven top tips:

1. Eye contact - in normal conversation, people hold eye contact for about three to five seconds before breaking it. When someone’s lying, they tend to overcompensate and hold it for longer.

2. Stress nerves - people’s noses go very pale or red when they lie, which is often called the Pinocchio effect. They often also rub a nerve in the back of their neck when stressed.

3. Coughing - “If someone suddenly starts coughing when they haven't coughed throughout the conversation, this could be a red flag,” Stanton says.

4. Changes in pitch to someone’s voice - our voices get higher when we’re lying.

5. Insecure gestures - out of character gestures like licking your lips more than usual could be a sign of lying.

6. Changes in body movement or posture - “If someone is quite animated and then they suddenly slow down and shrink in, then that could be an indicator that potentially, something isn’t right,” Stanton explains.

7. Stutters and pauses - if someone hesitates, uses strange language or stutters more than normal, it could be a sign they’re lying