I guess many Aspies have had the experience of being accused of lying, or being called "shifty" due to lack of eye contact. However, I´ve been reading a book about lying lately- (kind of a new special interest of mine at the moment)- and according to the author, there are no particular non-verbal cues that signal when a person is lying. In other words, there is no telltale way to know if someone is lying at all. The only signals that may alert people that someone *might* be lying are signs of anxiety. Apparently, typical signs of anxiety are things like sweating, fidgeting, or lack of eye contact. Also, lie detector tests aren´t really totally effective because once again, they don´t pick up when somebody is actually lying, they can only pick up minute signs of anxiety. So, if someone is anxious for another reason when taking the lie detector test- (like for instance, being falsely accused), the test may show up positive, and they may be accused of lying, even if they are not.
The author also stated that most "regular" people develop the ability to lie well, so by the time they are adults- (or possibly teenagers) they can lie with little or no anxiety anyway. So, in other words, this whole idea about "lack of eye contact" and "lying" is only a myth, though people seem to believe it anyway.
This might be old news to some of you? Not sure..... but I just learned it, so I thought I might share, in case it interested anyone.
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"death is the road to awe"
28 Feb 2011, 5:31 pm
