HOW HUMANS ACT TRUTHFULLY
Elangovan, October 22, 2018Sanford Meisner once said that ‘acting was behaving truthfully in the confines of largely imaginary circumstances’! This is a very loaded statement.
Acting and truth can therefore be synonymous. But they are also contrasts, where acting is the opposite of truth. Authentic, truthful behavior, however, is possible.
So, how do human beings act truthfully?
Well, whether the satiation is fictional, in reality or in your head, there are behaviors that are truthful, impossible to mask. These are specific to individuals, but also to groups of people, depending on the circumstances that these groups exist in.
Influences of behavior include:
- Truth Bias: This is a social default. Despite evidence to the contrary, people tend to want to believe that others are being truthful. This bias gives liars an advantage, because people tend to want to believe what they read, hear and see.
- Cognitive Dissonance: This is the physical discomfort you feel when entertaining conflicting thoughts, and it shows up a lot when you lie
So, even when you lie, or act, there is a physical discomfort that you might be able to mask, but cannot hide completely.
The physical Effects of Lying (Or Acting)
When you tell the truth, you need only remember the facts as they happened. Lying, on the contrary, takes a considerable amount of effort. Even when you are acting, rehearsal is required so that you can put forward the character as close to script as possible. As a side note, Pamela Meyer, deception expert, says that we lie on average, three times within the first minute of interacting with a stranger, and a remarkable 10-200 times a day.
Therefore, we seem to handle this really well, considering the frequency in which it occurs.
Over time, though, this affects us.
How?
Lying increases stress levels, and stress, especially prolonged stress, adversely affects the brain and the body. Even polygraph machines are designed not to detect lies, but to detect the stress that accompanies the telling of lies!
With the mental effort required for lying, emotions tend to give people away. This is because, as stated previously, lying causes stress and anxiety.
Deception often leaks out, then, in non-verbal behaviors.
- People who are lying make more speech errors
- They offer shorter responses
- And they tend to blink and fidget more
- People who lie also often avoid making eye contact, but it is as important to note that even liars do not always break eye contact!
Acting truthfully takes a lot of practice. You just need to consider what it is you are trying to hide, decide on a believable and plausible version of its opposite, sell the untruth with a convincing performance, and then, of course, remember this for as long as the lie is necessary.
This can often be forever, if you never ever want to get caught.
There are a few examples of this!
Short Examples
Pretending is one way that lies start. It can start with simply pretending to like your mother’s rice pudding. As a child, this pretense is difficult to hide, your face scrunching, or even you spitting it out are natural responses.
It is easier to mask this liking the older you become. You take a deep breath, and you swallow hard. You probably clench your fists and fake a smile, a smile that doesn’t make it to your eyes.
The words that come out of your mouth feed the untruth. Words like delicious and yummy pass your lips, as hard as you swallowed. And with more practice, the more you eat this disgusting rice pudding, the easier it becomes for you to pretend to enjoy it.
Your motivations for this lie are selfless of course. You don’t want your mother to feel bad, or to feel that she somehow missed the mark. You lie to her because you love her, and you don’t want to hurt her feelings.
Even this is a hell of a lot of pressure!
Outright Lies are different, but you are no less capable of acting truthfully! I did not take the car last night, is a lie, when you did in fact take it and returned it with a scratch. You may not have been seen driving the car, but you were the only person with access to the keys.
The pressure in this situation is more intense than the previously described pretense. But how you can come across as truthful is as intense. You can become defensive, pointing, banging down on the table in denial, and raising your voice in denial. This type of reaction is typical of someone who may have been falsely accused, and can therefore pull the wool over the other person’s eyes.
Conclusion
When people come across as acting truthfully, especially when you know the truth, can be frustrating. There are ways that you can get the other person to be more honest, or more forthcoming with the truth, or additional information that can confirm the truth you already know.
One such way is with Judicial Skepticism!
When you receive responses that are presumptive, or that are too open or vague, you can slightly raise your voice, and add an ‘uh huh?’ Or a ‘really?’, and then wait. This tricks the other person to give your more information than they initially may have intended, allowing you to better glean the situation.
So, not all lies are exposed by non-verbal cues. Not every situation where someone appears to be acting truthfully are exposed by micro-expressions. Sometimes, it is the words spoken that give this away.
Your truth bias can put you off your game. It can predispose you to believing everything that you see. The cognitive dissonance of the person lying to you can help you see through untruths, however. But all of these things come together, and work together, if you are to avoid being duped when other human beings appear to be acting truthfully. You need to be aware of this especially when the other person is believing their own acting!
References
Sanford Meisner, mrskirstenhanson.weebly.com, (Sep 9, 2015)
Jack Schafer Ph.D., Truth Bias | Psychology Today, (Jun 26, 2013)
Adam Dachis, What Lying Actually Does To Your Brain And Body Every Day, (Dec 12, 2012)
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