How To Spot Lies

It is possible that you can detect lies even by merely looking at the body language. There are many signs delivered by the body, head to toe, wherein you could determine the person is lying. Catch your husband cheating, your friend hiding a secret from you, or a person being dishonest by knowing the signals of lying and dishonesty.

The Typical Signs of Lying

The signs that obviously shows that a person is lying are sings of nervousness, tension, and anxiousness. You could observe these emotions by the way his eyes are moving, how he moves around, and how he reacts to your verbal attacks.

Eyes: The Clearest Indicator 

The eyes are very strong indicators of every emotion, including dishonesty. When the person cannot look straight at you or he is unable to prolong the eye contact, there is a big possibility that he is lying. Notice also the rate of his blinking. Do not literally count how many times he blinks, you can easily spot it. Frequent movements of the eyes, like looking at other objects other that you, and pupil dilatation are also indicators of lying.

Observe The Hands

Some people have practiced prolonging eye contact when lying, so the next best sign you should be observing are the hand gestures. A person lying would usually have trembling hands during anxious moments. He also would tend to show excessive use of hand gestures while talking. When defensive from a verbal attack or when hiding something, the person would usually put his hands into his pockets or cross his arms over his chest. He will also tend to fidget with something with his hands or tap them.

Note How He Speaks

Observing a person's way of delivering his speech is somewhat tricky. You may have to know first how he normally speaks before judging his sincerity or honesty. But if you already know the speech habits of the person, then it would be less difficult to detect lying. The volume of the voice would be softer than usual, but during a defensive state of mind, he would usually raise his voice. Then there would be some speech errors, such as mispronunciation, stuttering, or stammering. The pacing of the way he talks would also be faster.

Other Signs Of Lying

Another sign of lying is when the person would tend to touch himself when he delivers his lies. Self touching gestures include rubbing the nose, scratching the forehead, and touching the nape, elbow, or other parts of the body. Self touching is a strong indication of discomfort and guilt.

Observe also the rest of the body. Note if the person is trembling, fidgeting, or shaking. But these actions are usually found during extreme nervousness. A stiff posture with the elbows pulled to the sides and tightened muscles is a posture which reflects lying as well.

The meanings and interpretations of the different acts and signals of body posture are not always true and definitive. This is one of the risks in reading other people's body language. You may be too quick to judge their honesty and even their whole personality. Thus, be careful in interpreting other's gestures and body movements.

The last thing you would want to happen is a conflict due to miscommunication and misinterpretation.

Body Language In The Culture Of Asian Countries

Research on body language usually just entail the general meanings and indications of the most common gestures and body movements that most people us in their daily lives. However, these signals of communication may mean differently in other countries and cultures. These are cultures that use a certain gesture as a positive sign, but there are other cultures, specially in Asian countries, that may see it as a rude act.

This article would discuss the accepted gestures of touch, forms of greeting, and signals of summoning in different Asian countries, specifically China, Japan, Korea, and Philippines.

China

China is one of the most conservative countries in Asia, thus touching is rare. You can rarely see public display of affection. Holding hands is alright, but only as a sign of friendship. Chinese have small personal spaces, thus unintended slight bumping or shoving does not need an apology.

Chinese usually greet themselves with a bow or nod of the head. Handshakes are also being used. They rarely use hugging or kissing during greeting. Greeting cards are also exchanged, but it must be handed with both hands. In terms of beckoning or summoning, they face their palms downwards and move the fingers back and forth. They believe that summoning with the palms facing upwards is rude and is only used to animals.

Posture is also very important in China. One must not slouch or put feet on stools or tables. They also try to prevent saying “no” to other people. They simply simply opposition by tilting the head back and sucking in air loudly through the teeth.

Japan

Japan, just like China, is not a touch-oriented country. Thus avoid public display of affection, especially prolonged touching. Japan is famous for their graceful bows as a form of greeting. Handshakes are also accepted, but bowing is a better sign of showing respect to another person.

The lower and longer the bow, the stringer you are showing respect, humility, or gratitude. H In greeting Japanese people, avoid kissing, hugging, or staring at them. Prolonged eye contact can be intimidating for them, thus they consider it as rude, as well as putting your hands in front of the pocket when greeting.

Summoning gestures in Japan are similar with that of China – palm facing down. Acts of body language that one must avoid in the public in Japan is spitting or blowing of the nose, opening the mouth, such as in yawning and laughing.

Korea

Bowing is the traditional way of greeting and departing in Korea. For men, they usually shake hands, bu for women, they just give a slight nod of the head. Korea is a conservative country, thus hugging and kissing is not acceptable when done in public. They beckon people with the palm facing downwards as well. They also rise when an elder person enters the room as a sign of respect.  Knocking before entering and good posture is important as well in Korea.

Philippines

Unlike in other countries in Asia, Philippines is a touch-oriented country. Public display of affection is accepted, but with minimal limit as a consideration. When greeting, they do handshakes or simply raise their eyebrows quickly. In beckoning a specific object, Filipinos tend to point it with their mouth. Respect to the elderly is always shown, usually by placing their forehead onto the back of the hand of the elderly.

When interacting with Asian people or visiting the said countries, it is essential for you to be sensitive to their culture and acceptable body language. You may think that what you are doing is all right since it is accepted in your country, but Asian people may think you are being rude.

Body Language - How to read?

Look all around you, the people around you may be verbally communicating with you but are you noticing the non-verbal signals that they are sending out? You should! Reading the body language is a very useful social skill. So here are a few tips for you to learn on how to read body language.

1. Gauge their distance

You need to pay attention to how close someone is standing to you. The closer they are standing, the more intimate they think of you. The farther they stand away, the less they care of you or the situation. Remember that everyone has their own personal space too. If you move forward towards them, do they take a step back? If they do, don’t go further. You don’t want to come across as pushy.

2. Look into their eyes

People who are unable to maintain eye contact are more likely to come across as being untrustworthy. If they tend to look to their sides a lot, they may be nervous or distracted. There might be some people who have their eyes always fixed on the floor. This may be because they are shy or timid. So be gentle and kind with them and you will be received more kindly by them. Notice too if their pupils are dilated. Dilated pupils usually indicate a sign of interest. However, remember that after a few alcoholic drinks, the pupils may get dilated too. So don’t get the wrong idea there!

3. Their arms

People with crossed arms are usually cold and not receptive to your presence. Although to some it me just a habit, it may also indicate that the person is slightly reserved. If they have their arms at the side of their body or behind their back, this indicates that the person is warm and open to new things.

4. Mirroring your moves.

If a person mirrors your moves, this may be a genuine sign that they are interested in you. Try changing your position to see whether they imitate you too. If they do, it’s a positive signal!

So try all these little tips today and be on your way to social success!