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Thursday 18 September 2008

To Cover Up

I happened to wander into Lulu's blog when I saw this:


Now Lulu thinks that they're smelling something unpleasant. :)

Somehow, I don't think so.

Some of you know that I am a voracious reader. I read practically everything. When I was a student, it used to drive my parents crazy because unfortunately, rather low on the list of reading priorities were my textbooks.

But something jogged my memory on the topic of psychology as I studied the picture.

They're not covering their noses, though it looks like it. It's actually a subconscious attempt at covering their mouths. You know why?

Those two creeps are lying. Check out How To Spot a Liar:

1. No eye contact. His eyes will look away. If the room has a means of egress - that's where they'll look.
2. Crossing of arms and/or legs (a protective instinct).
3. The pupils of the eyes will narrow. Lying is stressful.
4. Hands on the face, especially the mouth. They are "covering" the lie.
5. Talking fast. A liar wants to get it over with.
6. Sometimes the head will nod a "no" when answering a "yes" question or visa versa. This is a subconcious movement.
7. Mispronouncing the words or mumbling. A liar kinda thinks he is not lying when he pronounces words incorrectly or mumbles.
8. Overstated friendliness/laughing. He wants you to believe and he wants you to like him so you will believe him.

If you're still skeptical, check out this site on behavioural psychology:

They cover their mouth as if to cover the lie. A lot of face touching in general is not a good sign.

I really wonder what they were lying about.

7 comments:

Pat said...

The pix didn't come up for me, so I can't comment on that lah.

But what you've said is true. And, have you tested it on yourself? I used to make my participants do this as homework (in my corporate training days ;) - and they always reported that it was true.

E.g. See what you do when you beat a red light, or tell a white lie yourself. Chances are, you'll touch your nose, or your chin, or something! Try it.

BUT. Always, eh? Con-men and those whose job it is to fool you, know this as well. And they learn to NOT do this.

SO, they can look you in the eye and say an untruth - say at a press conference - and behave like they are telling the absolute truth.

Pat

Pat said...

The pix didn't come up for me, so I can't comment on that lah.

But what you've said is true. And, have you tested it on yourself? I used to make my participants do this as homework (in my corporate training days ;) - and they always reported that it was true.

E.g. See what you do when you beat a red light, or tell a white lie yourself. Chances are, you'll touch your nose, or your chin, or something! Try it.

BUT. Always, eh? Con-men and those whose job it is to fool you, know this as well. And they learn to NOT do this.

SO, they can look you in the eye and say an untruth - say at a press conference - and behave like they are telling the absolute truth.

Pat

Anonymous said...

doesn't really work.... ' How To Spot a Liar'..,everything can be manipulated.

walla said...

"Some of you know that I am a voracious reader."
http://tinyurl.com/42mlkc

"why politicians have to lie"
http://tinyurl.com/4bbypt

Anonymous said...

There was definitely something dishonest going on with these two lah......fidgetty, shifty eyes, uncomfortable body language...you name it, they displayed it.

And they expect the rakyat to trust them with our army and coffers?

shar101 said...

No lah, C.

They both farted simultaneously.

Honest, sis. I won't lie!

*Errr.. Dear, why is the webcam turned on? Dang! Busted!*

Crankster said...

I'm really bad at lying, so I'd get caught effortlessly. I guess there are also people who learn how to pass lie detectors even. :)

The Know It All, eh Walla? :) I'm not big on facts really, more on ideas. I'm usually the mastermind, I get other people to sweat out the details.

erniejean, I wouldn't trust them with dust! :)

Hi Shar, were you there? :) If so, my deepest sympathies to you!