February 28, 2018 Excerpts taken from Dr. Paul Ekman’s scientific autobiography, “Nonverbal Messages: Cracking the Code” (p. 237-239) When is it a lie? Many observable signs of lying have been identified, but they are not always shown by everyone. Their absence does not mean a person is truthful, but their presence, especially when there are multiple different types of signs … Read More
Verbal Deceit
Why liars choose their words carefully
Excerpt from Telling Lies by Paul Ekman, PhD What liars pay attention to When lying, people usually do not monitor, control, and attempt to disguise all of their behavior; they probably couldn’t even if they wanted to. Instead, we tend to participate in verbal deceit, showing the most concern about choice of words. Liars censor what they say, carefully concealing messages … Read More
Types of LyingDifferent Types of Lying
Original excerpt from “Telling Lies” (pp. 329-330) October 31, 2018 What makes a lie a lie and what distinguishes a lie from another form of untruth? Dr. Ekman takes a look at the role of memory, interpretation, intention and belief in understanding deception. Failure to Remember The failure to remember is not a lie, although liars will often try to excuse … Read More
Are there honest liars?
The truth about being deceitful
Are all liars being deceitful? Don’t you have to be one or the other: honest or dishonest, a liar or a truthful person? As I see it, no. An honest liar doesn’t claim to be telling the truth and, therefore, can justifiably reject later accusations of being deceitful. Unfortunately, such a painfully simple concept rarely occurs in the real world. … Read More