Tips To Know If Someone’s Lying To You
Everybody lies. But since you can’t have the dudes at Maury to give every person that sets off your bullsh*t detector a polygraph, we asked body-language expert Patti Wood to help us spot hidden clues that serve as red flags. That way you’ll know if what you’re being told is a lie, or if you’re just a paranoid wacko with trust issues.
TRUST YOUR GUT — ESPECIALLY WITH FRIENDS
If your Spidey Sense starts tingling, don’t ignore it. “Your central nervous system acts like a human lie detector,” Woods explains. “So when you think someone is lying to you, it reacts with a stress response.” A stress response — otherwise known as a “fight-or-flight response” — means you’ll either be all “wtf?” and confront the person, or get the hell out of there and go play Skyrim until you forget about the whole thing.
Your inborn bullshit detector resides in the limbic system of your brain, which is also responsible for, among other things, emotional behavior. Problem is, it’s not always on target. It works better with people you know because you already have an idea of how they act when they’re not lying. When you have a feeling a stranger is fibbing, things are a little more up in the air. Still, you probably shouldn’t get in the guy’s van.
