Interviewing is the most skillful component of any investigation! Whether you are engaging in a routine or suspected fraudulent claim inquiry, questioning someone under oath, screening someone as a new-hire or for promotion or if you are gathering information for a business deal or a personal issue, there is nothing potentially more powerful than person-to-person contacts.
Unfortunately, people lie frequently, so how to you sort out what is the truth? Interactions with people you know or with strangers can help you decide whether to trust the information they provide or whether you should suspect that you are not being told the truth. Lying patterns and also how people speak lies have been highlighted in past RNI Newsletters. This month you will be introducted to body language and behavior that can be lying telltales.
Deception detection expert Pamela Meyer and Australian forensic psychophysiologist Martin Taylor as well as psychologists Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner all found that there was an interrelationship with speech, body language and behavior when people lie. Here are several examples of what to watch for when “Liespotting” some of the more common body movements and behaviors:
- Eyes are giveaways! They will signal if someone is telling you the true…or not. Good eye contact, normal pupil size and normal blinking are all positive signs. Be suspect if someone looks away when they provide all or a portion of information about a subject. Similarly, if someone maintains eye contact which appears forced or unnatural, if they don’t blink or if they blink frequently these (coupled with other verbal and physical signs) could be signs of deception.
- Head shaking that does not relate to what is being said, sudden skin flushing, exaggerated arm movements, arms crossing/uncrossing, a fake smile, a raising or lowering of one’s voice, a change in voice inflection or an obvious mood change (such as an expression of contempt) all are examples of physical / behavioral changes that can indicate someone is not being truthful. Students of human behavior look for connections with what is being said or not said at the time to understand whether or not there is more of a basis for lying.
- Age, ethnicity, formal education, practical experience, life problems such as marriage, arguments unrelated to your contact with an individual, divorce and illness are unique circumstances that can impact behavior. Psychological make up such as someone who routinely is negative, egotistical or narcissistic, someone who experiences mood swings or someone who has other physicial or emotional challenges might send signals to an interviewer that appear to be a lying red flag. In fact, what you see may just be the way that they are acting at the moment and what is normal for them. It is your job to figure this out early during the contact so that what appears to be aberrant can be factored in with the information presented.
Interviewers can turn a potential lier into a truthteller. Most liers are amateurs, and if you as the interviewer demonstrate a professional skillset that takes control early in the contact, most people will not lie significantly.
Do you possess the “art of the gab, “ and, at the same time, are you a good listener? Can you take control of the conversation early on while at the same time developing a positive relationship where someone feels comfortable speaking up? 50% of success in interviewing is your personality and your ablity to relate. Do you have these effective people skills? If so, as a student of human behavior, you should be able to identify a lying red flag when it surfaces.
Don’t forget, take note of physical appearances and changes in behaviors especially as relates to what is being said at the time. Recognize that these could be signals of falsehoods. You should continue to look, listen and probe to confirm whether you are being told the truth or whether you are being told further lies. And, do not be aggressive in your inquiry; that will alert the interviewee of your suspicions.
Next month: How to identify falsehoods in writing!
Research North, Inc. (RNI), is a professional private detective service providing support to the business community, the insurance industry and individuals in Michigan and Wisconsin since 1981. The company also offers pre-employment background checks to small and medium sized businesses through a subsidiary called Backgroundcheckswork.com that is fully staffed by professional investigators who are retired from law enforcement.
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