Can you tell when people are lying?

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I feel I've developed a very good bullsh*t detector over the years. It's not intuitive, but rather based on many years of experience dealing with and observing people who have tendencies to exaggerate and invent dramatic situations in order to seem more exciting. This makes spotting someone with schizophrenia pretty easy, too.

To spot lying is harder than to spot when information is withheld, I think. I have a working "BS" detector, but I'm sure it's weaker than that of average people's.

I tend to find that I can spot most people when they Lie, they give it away by the fact that their lips are moving and sound is coming from their mouth.
What I find hard to grasp is what they are trying to gain by lying, I understand and know of the "social" type of lies, and the "it’s best to not tell the kids" , but the rest of the Machiavellian type, I, for the life of me, cannot get my head around it. “If I tell Tom X then he’ll think Dick did Y so he’ll tell Harry that Z is not true, and they’ll all think I’m great. “what a freaking waste of time. And everyone seems to play this game. but it make no one happy, and once you start it you cannot stop!
WHY!! Just get a life tell the truth and be happy.
I think that people expect to be lied to, so much in fact, that when you don’t them lie , they Translate what you say in to a lie for you.
Kind of ---I asked Tadpole did he like my new dress, and he said “It’s ok but the blue one looks much better”, ---so what he really means is he hates the dress it makes you look huge, and the Blue dress is better because no one will recognise you in it”--- When what Tadpole means is exactly what he bloody well said “ he like the dress but likes the blue dress better “

Not very easily at all. My brother likes to wind me up by saying things that could be true but probably aren't ... a lot of the time I have no idea whether he's actually telling the truth or not until he starts laughing.

i am the most gullible person in this universe. when i was a young adult, a smart-alec coworker had me convinced that the empire state building was originally constructed upside-down, then torn down and reconstructed right-side-up.

I always know when people are lying. You don't lie to a face like this.

[img][800:561]http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i372/Simonono_Rogers/tim-roth-as-dr-cal-lightman-in-lie-to-me.jpg[/img]

well, in my case, I've developed a much better BS detector from trial-and-error experiences of being lied to by unsavoury types, and I can spot these personalities fairly easily, and have been pretty dead-on the past couple of years in weeding them out. They tend to be extreme extroverts who seem to either have a calculated slyness about them, or they act like they've had 5 cups of coffee and talk fast, walk fast etc.

For me, it's easier to use my powers of logic and long-term memory to unravel someone's stories over time - I am adept at noticing inconsistencies in what people say, if somebody tells me X then 5 days later they say Y which contradicts X, I will bring that up to them...as a wise man once said, "If you don't tell lies then you don't have to remember anything." (This quote has also been attributed to Judge Judy )

No I can't, at least not reliably. So I never fully believe anything without good evidence. It's no good just watching for them to avert their gaze and squirm.....I've seen some people look others straight in the eye and lie to them, looking as calm and genuine as anything.

I've read that it's a common fallacy that anybody can reliably detect lies, even if they have machines to help.

I thnk most of it is based on noticing stress in the speaker, but the fact of lying is only one of many possible reasons for that stress. It would probably stress most people out just knowing that they were under scrutiny.

I think the only sure-fire way of detecting a lie is when you know that the truth is different to what the liar is saying. Even then you don't know if it's a deliberate lie or just the result of poor rigour...some people will believe and repeat all kinds of crap without really asking themselves if it's true - they heard it on the news or from a man in a white coat, so it must be correct.

Actually I don't think it's downright lies that are the biggest problem. People can mislead by omitting information and by saying things which, although not exactly lies, will have the effect of deceiving the listeners. People can lie with their eyes and bodies, and with their behaviour. And people can psyche themselves up to believe themselves.

No, I can't tell if someone's lying by looking at their body language. I can guess that someone might be lying if:

1. They contradict themselves;
2. The say something that is very improbable.

But, sometimes people just have bad memories, or they have a crazy experience. So, I'm never certain.

I don't really mind. I think it makes my life easier in some ways.

I am excellent when telling if people are lying. Once at work, a new woman had started, and what she said was a lot of BS, and I was the first one to figure out she was lying (can't remember what she said exactly). And I have never met her before, and neither had anybody else, and there was no background evidence that made me know she was lying. I just really knew that she was lying. Then about a week or so later, she suddenly got found out, then everybody were saying to me, ''you were right!''

Ain't that ironic that an Aspie figured out somebody's BS before a group of 14 NTs?

My arrogance says yes. My history says no.

Generally no. I can never tell if someone is lying or not in the moment. I tell someone is lying by looking back and comparing what they're said before. I think the best way to avoid being tricked by liars is to avoid them. That's what I do. Once I realize you are a liar, I'll never speak to you again.

Yes, I see right through people's lies and exaggerations. But, I never let it be known to them that I don't believe them. My mum's just like me and we both think her next door neighbour's daughter has Munchausen's Syndrome. She doesn't just think she's ill (like with hypochondria), we're convinced she's actually doing stuff to make herself appear ill to doctors. She's telling everyone she has MS, but when she has a flare up, she's quite obviously acting. She's been doing this sort of stuff since she was a child and most other people believe her. One morning, she told my Mum she had swine flu, then went out shopping that afternoon. What I do with that sort of info, I don't know. I suppose I should tell a doctor, but she's so convincing to others, that they'd probably think I had it in for her for some reason, which I don't, because I like her, despite this flaw.

I can't really tell when someone is lying. I thought everyone told the truth. I had to learn over time that people aren't always perfectly honest and that was a bit hard to accept.

Unless what they say is totally out of context or factually incorrect, I probably won't notice.

Nope. I have no idea how to tell. But if someone is comfortable lying to me when I ask for the truth, so be it. If that's what they want be to believe, then I'm fine with it.