Body Language: An Accurate Way to Detect Lies?
Your body language reveals a lot about the things you don’t say.
By Joshlin Sheridan, Marketing —
Recently, its become a popular skill to know if someone is lying or not. There are a variety of sources that claim to give you tips on how to spot liars. Americans love watching people who seem to know how to crack the code. Consider, for example, the movie The Lives of Others, the T.V. series Lie to Me, or Pamela Meyer’s TedTalk “How to Spot a Liar.” In fact, Pamela Meyer’s Ted Talk has over 10 million views and over 7 thousand comments.
Tips for Human Observation
Clearly, we are eager to learn how to spot lies and the “human lie detectors” are willing to share their techniques. According to Meyers, liars often look you in the eyes too much to compensate for their deception. Mark Bouton, author of How to Spot Lies Like the FBI,– you can detect a liar by reading subtle body movements such as rapid blinking, face touching, and lip pursing.
Detecting Lies when Hiring Employees
While these specialists are expert in their fields, regular individuals are not going to be able to pick up on these subtle cues. This can be especially tricky in a hiring situation where it is critical to know the true ethics of a potential employee. In this case, studies show that the odds of a hiring manager being able to spot a lie while talking to an applicant is about as accurate as flipping a coin. Therefore, popular tips for reading body language could be useful in detecting small lies but for serious hiring decisions, a more methodical approach would be helpful.
A Scientifically Proven Approach
Converus ® offers a line of deception detection products that provide unbiased and accurate results. Law enforcement agencies can use EyeDetect®, a nonintrusive lie detection technology that can screen applicants for deception by analyzing eye movement and other behaviors. The EyeDetect test is taken on a computer, allowing for a more accurate deception measurement than human observation alone. Test proctors need not be eye detection experts; they only need two hours of training in order to properly facilitate the test.
Private companies can consider using IntegrityDetect™ when making hiring decisions. IntegrityDetect is a web-based technology which is as much as 28% more accurate than traditional integrity tests.
Whatever the needs of a company are, using one of Converus’ products can help avoid hiring deceptive individuals who might pass an interview assessing body language alone.
