 | What Makes an Effective Liar?posted by Wesley Clark, Group AdministratorMonday, August 8th 2011 @ 3:09 PM |
When we teach interview and interrogation to law enforcement and investigative professionals, we often talk about the characteristics of an effective interviewer or interrogator. We do this fully understanding that some individuals are more naturally skilled or gifted when it comes to effectively conducting investigative interviews and criminal interrogations. Our intent as trainers is to build upon those natural gifts and talents of each individual and to make better and more effective interviewers, interrogators and investigators. Interestingly, several researchers have studied the characteristics of good liars, and have identified 18 traits associated with these individuals who are skilled at pulling the wool over people’s eyes. By knowing how the most effective liars think and behave, we can better understand them and their tactics, better prepare for interviews, and in general be more aware while taking with these effective deceivers.
(1) Manipulative. They are scheming and always are thinking ahead they are fairly intelligent and talented individuals. In conversation and social settings, they tend to dominate conversations and appear relaxed and confident.
(2) Good actors. They read their audiences well and adapt their story and presentation as necessary.
(3) Expressive. Animated people in general create favorable first impression on others. This helps to drop the guard of their conversational partners.
(4) Physically Attractive. Fair or not, attractive people are judged by others as being more honest as compared to unattractive people. This has been supported in life and in research studies. “Baby-faced” people as well tend to be believed more frequently too.
(5) Natural Performers. Really good liars go with the flow of the conversation and don’t get easily thrown off course by changes or “curve-balls” thrown by their counterpart. They adjust quickly and convincingly.
(6) Experienced at lying. Prior or frequent lying helps people manage emotions, such as guilt and fear, which are two of the strongest emotions frequently surrounding lying and deceptive behavior.
(7) Confident. Effective liars are confident in themselves and in their ability to deceive other people. This confidence may stem from personality characteristics, or may just be specific to one particular incident because they believe that they will not get found out or they covered up the crime extremely well. This confidence was reflected in Scott Peterson’s TV interview regarding his missing wife, before she and her unborn child were found killed and thrown into the ocean.
(8) Emotional Chameleons. Excellent liars often "mask’ their true emotions effectively with what appears to be an appropriate, convincing show of emotion.
(9) Eloquent. Well-spoken, eloquent individual’s captures people’s attention and gain buy-in with their effective use of language. Think “politics”, from the President of the United States on down…and I’m sure in other countries the same problem exists as well!
(10) Well Prepared/Rehearsed. Effective liars plan and prepare what they are going to say, several layers down, which will reduce the need to make something up on the fly. Spontaneous lies are often easier to detect than planned-out, detailed fabrications covering all the bases.
(11) Evasive language. Skilled liars are effective at concealing their misdeeds. Concealment of information is easier than creating a lie to cover it up. Liars often use specific words and phrases that frequently go undetected by others but may contain missing information (afterwards I went to the store, the next thing I knew…).
(12) Minimal information. Pool liars frequently ramble on, and on and talk in circles at times, whereas good liars try to limit what they say as much as possible in response to specific questions, which may make it more difficult to verify the details of what they are saying. However, this may backfire on the deceiver when they limit TOO MUCH of the information tipping off the interviewer that they may be concealing something.
(13) Spontaneous and convincing. The most effective liars are quick-witted and can respond to difficult questions with clear, convincing non-scripted responses.
(14) Smooth talking. Good liars are able to respond quickly and smoothly to difficult questions, without the need for verbal stalls, hedging and delays frequently attributed to deception (um, er, ahh, hmm, etc).
(15) Intelligent. The more intelligent the deceiver is the better he/she maybe able to navigate the demanding cognitive load associated with active deception. Since lying is a cognitively complex task, it seems logical that the stronger the cognitive abilities of the individual are, the more effective they can be at deceiving others.
(16) Good memory. As Abraham Lincoln said, “No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” That may be true, since the devil is in the details, but is stands to reason, someone with an excellent memory will be better at remembering what was said, when, where, to whom, etc to avoid contradictions in what they have told other people, or told the investigator previously.
(17) Bending the truth. Most people would prefer to tell the truth because it is easier and less stressful than making up a lie to cover something up. However, rather than outright lie, effective deceivers tend to take the truth and twist it, bend it and shape it to fit their version of the story. In essence, their lies are wrapped around a nugget of truth making it more difficult to distinguish the truth from the lies.
(18) Reading people. The best liars are masters of human nature and have a very good ability to detect when someone is not buying their story, and then effectively respond to that to secure buy-in.
There you have it, 18 characteristics of excellent liars, most of which are inborn characteristics, traits and qualities and cannot be effectively learned, so I don’t think that someone reading or hearing this will transform into a “Master of Deception”, but I do think it will help interviewers and interrogators understand the individuals they are talking with a little bit better, making them a little bit more effective and aware during interviews and interrogations. For more information on this research you can contact Aldert Vrij at the University of Portsmouth in England http://www.port.ac.uk/
I appreciate you tuning in to “8-Minute Insights”. If you want to learn more about the art and science of interview and interrogation, statement analyses, and detecting deception, please join our international association of investigative interviewers at the Interview and Interrogation Group, which you can find online at www.lies.igroops.com