Former CIA: How to Catch a Liar Before They Even Say a Word

I want to quickly teach you how to spot a liar based solely on their body language. I'm a former CI officer. I do lie detection and deception detection training, and you can detect someone is lying without them ever saying a word. So I do a lot of consulting on this, and somebody can have me watching from another room. I don't need to hear any audio whatsoever, and I can know, oh yeah, that person is hiding something. They're being deceptive, or no, they look good. So how do you spot a liar based solely on their body language? Let's say you couldn't hear a word they were saying. Well, one is you do have to baseline somebody. So what does that mean? Well, let's say you are watching through another room, and they're in there with somebody, is baselining means they have to ask them normal questions. When the CIA polygraphed me, they don't immediately seat you in a chair and say, are you a Russian spy? Are you trying to overthrow the United States government? They say things as, you know, is your name Jason Hansen? Yes. Is today Tuesday? Yes. You know, is this carpet blue? Yes. Was it raining outside when you walked in here today? Yes. So they get your baseline so they can see how you normally behave, right? And so they can see, okay, you know, he's sitting there with his legs crossed. He's sitting up straight or whatever it is. They need to know how you act when they're asking you normal questions. Then they start going to the questions they really want to hear. So let's say I've been seated straight, normal, you know, the whole time, just like you're seeing me now. And then they start asking me questions like, hey, are you a Russian spy? And I'm, my legs, I know you can't see my legs right now, but my legs start getting jittery. Because guess what? We're great at lying with our mouth. We're great at controlling what we say, but we're not used to dealing with our lower half of our body. So if I've been sitting there calm the whole time, and again, I don't have to hear anything going on. I can be observing without audio. And I know that you're now going to ask them the uncomfortable questions and their feet start jittering a little bit, kind of like that. Something is making them nervous. Or maybe they've been sitting there smiling, having me the whole time. And you say like, hey, are you a Russian spy? And they're like, no, no, no, I'm not. And they get a deer in the headlights, nervous look that a normal person would not get. Because if a normal person says, are you a Russian spy? You're saying, no, I'm not a Russian spy. You know, that's a ridiculous question, right? But somebody who's like, no, no, no, it's, you can see it in their face. So when I do lie detection training, I teach like one of the best questions you ask is tell me the last time you stole something. Because most people say, oh, you know, I stole money from the super or I stole candy from the supermarket when I was in seventh grade. Or, you know, I stole $20 from my parents' wallet when I was in high school. But I've had people go deer in the headlights, uncomfortable looking face, and then finally admit, yeah, I stole stuff recently from Walmart or whatever it might be. Right. So watch the face. Is it a normal human reaction or is a deer in the headlights? Look, and you don't need any audio for that whatsoever. Also, almost all of us have some kind of tell. When you start going to those hard questions, what did Bill Clinton do? Bill Clinton loved to rub his nose. That was his tell. He was doing that. Other people grab the back of their neck like, hey, have you ever murdered anybody? No, no, I've never murdered anybody. Now, obviously, it's not going to be as extreme and as goofy looking as that. But people still do it. So that is why when you're detecting deception, you can do it totally without audio. Now, if you have audio, obviously, use it. It's great. But if you just are observing somebody in a room, you observe the baseline, how do they act normally versus how do they act when you start hitting with the hard questions, the uncomfortable questions. So, for instance, somebody may be sitting there like, you know, excited in a job interview and, you know, hey, Bob, have you ever been fired from a company? No, I've never been fired for a company. Why would you ask that? They are leaning back in their chair. That is a sure sign, a 99% sign that something just made them uncomfortable. And they're trying to create distance in their mind. So they're like, have I ever been fired? No, no, no. I've never been fired. So those are a few small of the ways you can detect deception if you're only using body language, because guess what? All of us think we're much better liars than we are, and we're not that good. And you can easily see it when you really pay attention to body language. If you want to know more, as I said, I'm a former CI officer. I literally wrote the book on detecting deception. Go to spylie.com. Again, spylie.com. If you want the book, very easy to read. Anybody can use it to spot lies. And you can use this with co-workers, family, friends, and lovers, making sure somebody's not taking advantage of you. With all the con men in this world, you've got to take care of yourself. Okay. Have a wonderful rest of the day. Stay safe, and don't fall victim to scams.