Deceptive people can flood you with truthful answers and make you believe that they are good people. Filter through all the information that is meant to deceive you to get to the real untruths.

Manage your bias

Self Improvement

Communication

A deceptive person will talk around the issue without actually answering the initial question.

Recognize evasiveness

Listen and search for the direct denial of an accusation. A guilty person will try to qualify the situation by  saying words like “not really” or “not for the most part.”

Watch for failure to deny

A deceptive person will get angry at the question. They may attempt to redirect the situation by accusing the questioner of discrimination or bias or by attacking a third party.

Beware of aggression

Where a response of yes or no would convey the answer, the responder launches into a convincing explanation instead of answering the question. They may add disqualifiers such as “I won’t lie to you” or “honestly” in an attempt to convince.

Watch for adding disqualifiers

The person will enter a phase of fight or flight. The strain of deception will typically cause the skin to flush or to turn cold and itch. The person will scratch their ears or nose. They will answer too quickly.  They might fidget or suddenly tap nervously.

Look at the nonverbal cues

Assuming folded arms are a sign of lying behavior is speculation. Instead, consider whether the behavior is a result of your question, or possibly just nervousness.

Analyze vs. speculate

<div>
Body language is a critical part of public relations. As I tell our clients, if the visual and verbal aspects of a message don't align, you are doomed.
Yes, there are clues that show the world when someone is telling a flagrant lie or shielding the truth. For your PR, the takeaway is to tell the truth, always, for your words to ring true. However, the realities of communication are complex in several ways:

<ul>
	<li>Some lies are habitual and intended as a courtesy, such as saying, "I'm fine" when someone asks how you're doing, even when you are not. While these are not the issues that would generally get you in trouble in front of a camera, it is important to recognize that most adults lie multiple times, every day. (Interestingly, <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/lie-average-frequency-age-behavior-quiz/">research shows</a> the majority of the lies are told by a relatively small minority of the population. Clearly some do not belong in public communication.)</li>
	<li>Lying is so commonplace in our culture that it is habitual and even expected. Legal strategies are a scenario where "plausible deniability" is customary. We face situations such as regulatory requirements for publicly traded companies, cross-company relations and adherence to nondisclosure agreements. "Do you have a partnership with Amazon?" is a tough question to answer when you are in the negotiation stage of an agreement that has not yet been signed. These situations require fast thinking and practice in order to stay honest while keeping commitments about the information we are required to protect.</li>
	<li>We are bombarded with people who by training or nature have learned to avoid the body language tells of lying by deflecting core questions, flooding their audiences with non-related information or utilizing deceptive forms of the truth. (Sociopaths are highly skilled at this. Politicians as well.)</li>
</ul>

So while it is relatively easy to spot deception in action, it is much more difficult to know when you are dealing with a person who has a fundamentally dishonest intent.
But here's a surprise: A <a href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/02/10/how-to-spot-a-liar.aspx?utm_source=dnl&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=art1&amp;utm_campaign=20180210Z1_UCM&amp;et_cid=DM184796&amp;et_rid=210093627">recent video</a> presentation by former CIA officer Susan Carnicero, who spent more than 20 years interrogating suspects, shows that a person who is "not being candid" (her preferred way to frame a situation than calling someone a liar) will show deceptive behavior within five seconds. Even more surprising: the person will commit two or more deceptions by the time they complete their response.
So how can you tell when a person is lying? Pay attention to the following keys:

<ol>
	<li>
Analyze vs. speculate. A person with his arms folded is perhaps feeling cold, or it's a habit. But assuming folded arms are a sign of deceptive behavior is speculation. Instead, you should analyze whether the behavior is a result of the question. Knowing the first deceptive behavior will occur within the first five seconds of the question helps to determine that it was the stimulus of the question that produced the response. In fact, Carnicero notes, the first clues of deception may happen while the question is still being asked, as the person's brain is moving faster than the speaker's words and the signs are occurring as they subconsciously frame their response. Watch for clusters of behaviors and whether they are a direct response to the question, as opposed to nervousness at the situation.</li>
	<li>
Manage your bias. Ironically, deceptive people can give truthful answers. By flooding you with true information, they increase your belief they are "good people" and dilute your ability to identify when they lie. To guard against this, you will need to filter out the truthful responses. This will allow you to deal with the "garden hose" of lies instead of the "fire hose" of information meant to sway you into thinking "she seemed to be an honest and likable person on the whole."</li>
	<li>
Recognize evasiveness. A deceptive person will give a long explanation of issues without directly addressing the issue at hand. They will redirect their responses to questions such as "Am I a reliable person?" "Do I have a reputation for doing good?" "Have I ever been accused or found to be guilty of a situation like this one before?" When someone talks for 10 minutes and never answers the original question, this is a tell.</li>
	<li>
Watch for failure to deny. The most important thing to listen for is the direct denial of an accusation. Someone who is guilty will verbally dance around the bush or attempt to qualify the situation by saying words like "not really" or "not for the most part." Someone who responds to the question of "did you do this" with "fundamentally, this is the way we do things" has failed to deny.</li>
	<li>
Beware of aggression. When someone is angry at the question, it is a near 100% indication of guilt. They may attack the questioner. Or they attempt to flip the situation by accusing the questioner of discrimination or bias. "Why don't you trust me?" They may deflect the question with responses like "Why aren't you paying attention to what Harry did?" Or they attack the business or a third party with responses like "It's the store's fault. We don't have what we need. The security is terrible; so things disappear." Anger, disgust or blame in response to the question is a sign of probable guilt.</li>
	<li>
Watch for convey vs. convince. "Did you take the merchandise?" A response of yes or no would convey the answer. But if the responder launches into a diatribe about being a good employee, having a great reputation, having never even faced a suggestion of guilt, the person is providing a convincing statement instead of answering the question. A person who chronically adds disqualifiers to their statements such as "to be perfectly truthful" or "I won't lie to you" or even "honestly" or "frankly" is in many cases a person who is subconsciously trying to cover up for the fact that they chronically lie. Worst of all, they may invoke religion. "I swear on a stack of bibles" is an attempt to convince.</li>
	<li>
Look at the nonverbal cues. Beware an inappropriate level of concern for a situation (such as a nonchalant attitude or even a smirk or a smile in response to a question like "Did you murder your wife?") These clues may include a behavioral pause or jumping in to answer a question too quickly. They include the inability to look the questioner in the eye, or conversely, staring into the questioner's eyes with aggression. Their head may nod "yes" while they are answering "no." A person who touches their nose or face is showing suspicious behavior, as covering the mouth can be a subconscious act of hiding the lie. The strain of deception will typically cause the skin to flush or to turn cold and itch, and the person is suddenly scratching their ears or their nose. Watch for anchor point movements such as changes in the direction of the arms or the feet. If a dangling foot is suddenly tapping nervously or pointing in a different direction, the person has entered a phase of fight or flight.</li>
</ol>

In all of these situations it is important to watch the clusters of activity as opposed to honing in too heavily on any one act, Carnicero says.
In public relations, each of these points relates to the standard practice we call "bridging." When a questioner heckles a spokesperson with accusatory questions, a good spokesperson will hold his or her emotions in check. They will maintain the volume and pace of their speaking while they (or their handlers) deflect the situation to a more meaningful topic or end the interview if there's no appropriate conversation to be had.
This is an important distinction, as <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fcherylsnappconner%2F2018%2F02%2F10%2Fhow-to-spot-a-lie-in-5-seconds-and-why-it-matters-in-pr%2F&amp;text=getting%20heated%20may%20cause%20a%20spokesperson%20to%20exhibit%20the%20very%20signs%20a%20reporter%20would%20assume%20to%20be%20an%20admission%20of%20guilt.">getting heated may cause a spokesperson to exhibit the very signs (aggression, blaming, avoiding) a reporter with a negative bent would assume to be an admission of guilt.</a> 
My own true story of lies in public relations. The following is the biggest lie I ever told in public relations. Technically speaking it was not a lie, but I purposely misled a reporter in a way that perhaps modeled Abraham Lincoln's careful use of the truth.
Some 20-plus years ago a client of my company was being acquired by one of the largest technology firms in the world. The acquisition was meaningful not only for the dollars it represented but because it marked a sharp turn for the acquiring business into an area where it had not been present before. As a further complication, the company was (is) publicly held. For this information to leak out before the deal was completed would be a horrific mistake in investor relations and even a violation of SEC rules. With so much at stake, my client knew that if the information were to leak, there would be a giant risk of losing the deal.
Two reporters, a woman and a man, came into my client's office for an interview. The client had been trained and was fully prepared on what he could and could not say. But to my horror, as we sat down to visit, I could see the entire acquisition strategy spelled out on the whiteboard behind his head on the wall.
 <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fcherylsnappconner%2F2018%2F02%2F10%2Fhow-to-spot-a-lie-in-5-seconds-and-why-it-matters-in-pr%2F&amp;text=Most%20every%20trained%20journalist%20is%20skilled%20at%20looking%20for%20the%20clues%20in%20a%20situation%20beyond%20the%20words%20that%20are%20said.">Most every trained journalist is skilled at looking for the clues in a situation beyond the words that are said.</a> My client handled the questions with every bit of the mastery within him while I silently prayed the whiteboard would go unnoticed and that my stress wouldn't show.
Several days later, the reporter who had led the interview gave me a call. Perhaps she had seen a glimpse of the whiteboard, or perhaps another source had tipped her off. Thankfully, for my sake, the telephone helped to disguise the visual clues to my stress.
She got straight to the point. "Is your client being acquired by XXXX?" I responded without hesitation, "My client is in discussions with multiple companies, as you would expect. By policy, I can't reveal who they are. But I can assure you there is no contract between my client and XXXX. If there were, I'd be sure you were among the first to know."
She acquiesced. I was telling the truth in that a contract between parties does not exist until the agreement is signed and executed. I was saved. Perhaps the deal was even saved. Interestingly, I discussed the situation several years later with the second reporter, a man who is a friend dating back to my earliest days in PR. I was astonished to learn he'd seen the whiteboard in full while the other reporter was talking. But he stayed silent during the interview and after. Why had he done that, as breaking a story like this would have been a professional coup?
"You and I have been friends for 20 years," he said. "I could see the information on the board was unintentional, so I let it lie."
In addition to honesty under pressure, the incident underscored another principle in communication that saved my tail that day. The investments we make in genuine relationships, expecting nothing in return, may pay off when you least expect it, or even in situations you may never have known. This is yet another reason to not only adhere to strict honesty in public relations (and everywhere), but also to treat every relationship we encounter with care.
Did I behave appropriately? Did the reporter who held the story behave appropriately? These are difficult questions. I welcome your thoughts.
</div>

Body language is a critical part of public relations. As I tell our clients, if the visual and verbal aspects of a message don't align, you are doomed. Yes, there are clues that show the world when someone is telling a flagrant lie or shielding the truth.

Bite‑sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

How To Spot A Lie In 5 Seconds (And The Biggest Lie I Ever Told In PR)

Manage your bias

Recognize evasiveness

Watch for failure to deny

Beware of aggression

Watch for adding disqualifiers

Look at the nonverbal cues

Analyze vs. speculate

Magic Spells for Instant PR Results

How To Successfully Respond To A Question You Really Don't Want To Answer

Public Relations vs. Advertising: Which Is the Right Choice to Promote Your Business?

Bite‑sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

How To Spot A Lie In 5 Seconds (And The Biggest Lie I Ever Told In PR)

Manage your bias

Recognize evasiveness

Watch for failure to deny

Beware of aggression

Watch for adding disqualifiers

Look at the nonverbal cues

Analyze vs. speculate

Magic Spells for Instant PR Results

How To Successfully Respond To A Question You Really Don't Want To Answer

Public Relations vs. Advertising: Which Is the Right Choice to Promote Your Business?

Bite‑sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career