Detective suspense TV dramas often mention some simple lie detection methods. The more common one is “looking to the right is a lie, and looking to the left is to tell the truth.” This theory is also used by many people in love, life and even the workplace. So, is this polygraph method reliable? Is it really applicable in daily life?
Many detective suspense TV dramas, such as “Holmes”, “Mind Reader”, “Don’t Lie to Me”, etc., often mention some simple lie detection methods. The more common one is “Looking to the right is a lie, looking to the left is Truth”.
The “scene detectives” in the play believe that when right-handed people look to their right, they are likely to imagine a “structured thing”, which is a lie; and when they look to the left, they are likely to be Think of a “remembered” memory, which is the truth.
This theory is also used by many people in love, life and even the workplace. So, is this polygraph method reliable? Is it really applicable in daily life?
Eye movements become a polygraph
Foreign scientists conducted two experiments on this. In the first experiment, they divided the subjects into two groups. One group had to tell the truth when answering questions; the other group had to tell lies. It turns out that whether you are telling the truth or telling lies, the probability of turning your eyes to the left and to the right is about the same.
In the second experiment, they collected 52 video recordings related to real cases. In these videos, after the victims disappeared, their relatives publicly called for the victims to be found. These cases have already been solved, and some of them were committed by relatives. There is evidence to prove who in the video is telling the truth and who is lying.
Through research on these videos, the researchers also failed to find the relationship between eye movement and lying. Neither of these two studies could provide evidence to support the idea that eye movement helps polygraph detection. Therefore, from the current research, it is irresponsible to analyze whether a lie is based on eye movements alone.
How to tell if you are lying
So, is it possible to judge a person to lie by observing behavior? It is feasible in theory, but it is difficult.
First of all, there are traces of lying. On the one hand, people who lie sometimes do not prepare the lies in advance, practice and memorize them, or cannot clearly anticipate all possible situations and the reasonable answers needed; on the other hand, it is difficult for people to detect their own subtle emotional changes. . Once a strong emotion appears, it is generally difficult to get rid of it. Therefore, lying will still leave clues.
For example, when a liar describes a past scene, if he has prepared in advance, the story will be fluent and skilled, and the story will be more perfect, but it will lack details or emotional description. But this does not mean that a certain behavior can prove that the person is lying.
After a lot of research, psychologists have discovered that many behaviors related to lying are diametrically opposed. For example, when lying, some people will dodge their eyes because of tension, while others will deliberately make eye contact with each other; some will deliberately slow down the pace of speaking, while some will speak very quickly; Some people have very few hand movements, while others have a lot of extra movements…
If you have enough understanding of the object you are discriminating, observe the subtleties, and add enough clues, you may be able to draw conclusions that are close to the truth, but you may still draw wrong conclusions due to changes in the opponent’s emotions.
In general, it is not easy to identify lies through personal behavior, even for professionals, the success rate is not high. I sincerely hope that you will meet more sincerity and less routines in the future.
