It is often said that a liar is caught sooner than a lame person. This statement, unfortunately, is not only politically incorrect: in many cases, it is not true. The world is full of big liars who get away with it. They manipulate, alter reality with their stories and manage to deceive everyone around them. This is precisely why learning to decode the true messages of non-verbal language is so important.

The expert in synergology, Eva Garcia Ruizteaches us how to achieve it with his new book Synergology (Dome). In this he proposes a realistic body language analysis non-conscious or semi-conscious to better understand people’s emotions and thoughts. And it is precisely thanks to the discipline that it teaches that we have found some keys that clearly indicate when someone is lying to us.

The two obstacles that separate us from the truth

Learning to distinguish who is lying to us can have infinite practical applications. Wouldn’t you be happier if you could avoid those who blatantly deceive you? Any area of ​​life, whether personal or professional, improves when doubt and deception are eliminated. To achieve this, however, we must face two major obstacles that reside in our minds, as García Ruiz explains.

The first is intuition. The expert warns us that this mental system, which we call intuition, works by relying on easily accessible and available information. The less experience, the worse intuition workssince you will have fewer patterns to extrapolate. It is, therefore, a tool apparently useful, but ineffective in practice.

On the other hand, we have cognitive biases. Ruiz explains to us that these “affect our perception and memory without us being aware of it, which leads us to trust in erroneous beliefs and to underestimate our own cognitive limitations.”

To face this, we have an alternative, synergology, a scientific discipline that teaches us to decipher what others say with their body language.

Deciphering the mechanisms of lying

It is clear that the tool that cannot be missing from our kit to discover liars is synergology. But where does it come from and what does it consist of? Dr. Philippe Turchet, doctor in Language Scienceswas the one who laid the first stones of what would become a technical discipline and a structured methodology that classifies more than 1200 items of body reactions with universal meanings. Eva García Ruiz, director of the Spanish Institute of Synergology, now brings it closer to our language through the most complete work that has been written on the subject in Spanish.

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From this catalog of obvious signs, some that we usually associate lyingare discarded. For example, look away. “Lies, surprisingly for popular beliefs, tend to correlate more with someone who looks at us than with someone who doesn’t look at us,” says García Ruiz, “If they don’t look at us, it could be because of many things.”

Movements like this discarded, others come to light gestures that are suspicious according to synergology:

• Compress lips. Nonverbal language experts emphasize that this gesture can indicate that the person is withholding information or experiencing discomfort.
• Cover your mouth. Covering your mouth while speaking can be a sign that you are hiding something or doubting what you are saying.
• Touch the neck. This gesture can denote anxiety, nervousness or insecurity regarding what is being communicated.
• Rubbing eyes. This unconscious movement may be a manifestation of discomfort or desire to avoid eye contact, especially when information is being withheld.
• touch your nose. Although synergology warns us that it depends on the circumstances, this gesture may be related to the release of catecholamines, a substance that our body generates when we lie and causes an itchy sensation in the nose. It is the origin of the famous story of Pinocchio.

Beyond gestures

Although these microgestures can help us, García Ruiz warns us that rather than looking for universal “signs” of deception, we must focus on the way in which the liar relates the facts, the coherence between what he says and how he expresses himself. In this sense, synergology distinguishes three fields in non-verbal communication that are useful to understand lies.

Relational field

This field is conditioned by the relationship shared by the interlocutors. Human beings modulate our body language to build trust or avoid conflict. For example, to reinforce a message we can look for eye contact. And to be credible, we make softer gestures than usual.

It is important to note, however, that Not all changes in nonverbal communication indicate a lie. Sometimes, they are only a reflection of the interpersonal relationship that the interlocutors share.

emotional field

The emotional field shows us the person’s mental state, but it does not always indicate deception. Someone can feel nervous or anxious without lying.while another person can lie without showing obvious signs if they have internalized their story.

However, it is worth identifying some of these gestures:

• Inconsistency between emotion and speech. If someone claims to be calm, but shows signs of tension (rigid facial muscles, rapid breathing), there is a possible incongruity on the horizon.
• Contradictory microexpressions. By reading microexpressions we can detect other types of inconsistencies, such as when someone says that something makes them happy, but their face briefly shows sadness or fear.

The problem with this emotional field is that, unfortunately, There are people who can consciously control their emotionsso it is not sufficient by itself to detect lies.

Cognitive field

Finally, we have the cognitive field, the most effective for detecting liars, according to synergology. It is based on the structure and coherence of discourse, rather than on isolated physical signals.. In this sense, some of these situations should set off alarm bells:

• Lack of specific details. A person who tells the truth usually remembers specific details and remains consistent when repeating the story. A liar may give vague answers or change stories.
• Inconsistencies in the story. If when asking questions the person introduces new elements or changes key aspects, it is a warning sign. Don’t let your guard down with this person.
• Use of evasive strategies. Overly generalized answers, repeating questions, or diverting the conversation are other signs that show discomfort and, possibly, a poorly hidden lie.
• Excessive justification. Sometimes, the liar adds unnecessary details to make their story more believable.

Although all these signs are useful to detect lies, the expert makes us one last important warning: “If the person who is lying truly believes in what he is saying, his body will not send contrary signals.”

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