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IS A LIE A TRUTHFUL ACT?

Surely not, you say. After all, a lie and the truth are polar opposites. They are opposite ends of the spectrum, lies having the ability to dilute the truth so that it is no longer truth.

The truth is, though, that even when you play a character, you can act truthfully. You can be so good at the nuances of the character you intend to play, that your lie, or your portrayal of the character, can be said to be a truthful act!

This skill is developed by understanding the physical responses to lies.

 Physical Responses

When you lie, you have a few natural responses. This is why those in the know were able to develop and trust lie detector tests. Some of the physical responses when you lie are:

• Dry mouth
• Sweaty palms
• A sweaty brow
• Speeding up of the heart rate

Yes, there are people who are capable of beating these tests, but this is just because they are aware of what the machine is looking for.

When you are lying to an actual person, though, they may not be aware of your physical reactions. Your sweaty palm could be concealed easily by putting your hands in your pockets. Your dry mouth isn’t visible unless it affects the way you speak. And unless the person you are lying to can see inside your chest, you can hide your accelerated heartrate.

Even when you are not lying, per see, and merely playing a role, acting, you have similar responses. Think of stage fright in all its varying degrees. Your motivation, therefore, very often determines your level of skill when it comes to lying, and whether or not in fact this comes across as a truthful act!

The following examples give an idea of some of the motivations.

The Motivation

Lies are intentional deceptions. Whether you’re acting, telling a white lie, or a more serious untruth, the intention is fueled by your motivations.

When you are acting, you are playing a role, preceding to be someone you’re not. Some people have mastered this. They have won awards for it.  So these people have a real handle on the physical responses to telling these lies.

How many times haven’t you heard someone told that they should win an Oscar for their performance?

When you tell white lies, the responses might not be as intense. A simple interrogation normally has you singing like a canary. This is because the motivation for these little untruths are usually unimportant:

• You want to get out of a blind date
• You don’t want to be caught out for cheating on your diet
• You are running late and you don’t want the person waiting for you to leave

With more serious lies, though, you might be a little more invested, your motivations running a lot deeper.

• You want to hide infidelity
• You don’t want to be caught out as one of the masked men who robbed the bank
• OR you want to get away with murder

These motivations are more serious, granted. And you can still get away with it, if you master your body, and are able to control your behavioral responses.

Looking truthful is more important than actually being truthful when you are lying. There are many ways that you can do this.  The following is a discussion of how you can appear truthful, when you know that you are actually not!

You Can Look Truthful

With human beings, the only thinking animal with choice at least, lying is a choice. While this choice is made in the mind, your body, as shown above, usually doesn’t cooperate. This is mostly, however, in the instance that the individual lying is healthy, of body and mind, living in a normal and acceptable way in society.

This is because normal peoples’ bodies are hardwired to react when they lie. Your mind cannot control your autonomous nervous system, which is what sends the alarm signals throughout the rest of your body’s systems.

You can, however, learn to mask these signals, in order to make yourself appear truthful.

How?

Note that while you can mask the physiological tells, your behavioral signals, the psychological signals are more difficult to mask. This is because the psychological signals happen automatically.

To pass of lies as truthful acts, you could do some of the following:

• You can mask your discomfort with lying by avoiding touching your mouth, throat and face
• You can resist the urge to put anything in front of you, as this could be seen as a sign that you are trying to protect yourself
• You can avoid the natural instinct to look away, keeping your face and body forward
• You can avoid pulling your limbs towards yourself, another sign of protection, by keeping your physical movements comfortable and loose

If you succeed at these, you can pass off any lie as absolute truth, making your lie a truthful act!

Conclusion

Learning behavioral changes is the best way to ensure that you are not caught out in a lie. But excessive use of these changes, and the perfect execution of these, could also give away the lie.

In conclusion, let us look at a few ways to tell that someone is being less than truthful with you:

• According to Pamela Meyer, who wrote Liespotting, you should start off with stress-free questions, to establish a baseline, giving you an indication of a person’s behavior when they are absent stress and pressure!
• You can then ask more pointed questions, checking non-verbal cues or signs of agitation or distress

Not all cases will be as simple, though. Another telltale sign to look out for, is that liars tend to practice their story in chronological order. A truthful person will have no problem telling you their story backwards!

In short, then, lies can be truthful acts, or they can appear as truth. It really depends on the amount of truth you need to make a determination, this will inform the amount of interrogation required by your specific circumstance!

References

Henriette Joubert, How to look and act truthful, (Aug 29, 2016)

Whitson Gordon, How to Detect When Someone’s Lying (and Get Them to Tell the Truth), (Nov 13, 2012)

Pamela Meyer, Lie Spotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception, (September 13, 2011)

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