Six ways to spot a liar

Harry Clark in BBC’s television series The Traitors – Studio Lambert/BBC

Britain has found a new anti-hero. Liar-extraordinaire Harry Clark, the baby-faced assassin who’s managed to deceive his way to tonight’s final of the current series of The Traitors with barely a whiff of suspicion hanging over him.

You can’t help but marvel at the way the serving soldier coldly dispatched former ring-leader Paul, and then ruthlessly threw new Traitor recruit Ross under the bus. But is he a Machiavellian mastermind or have the other players (the Faithfuls whose task it is to sniff out the Traitors in their midst) been so ineffective that Harry’s job has been made easy?

New research suggests we shouldn’t be too hard on everyone Harry has managed to trick. According to a study by the University of Aberdeen, when we are presented with lots of faces our brain creates an average of them all, which becomes our general perception of the group and means details are lost, making it easier for deception to go unnoticed.

And most of us just haven’t had the chance to practise lying as much as Harry has. Research by the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that the average person told 1.3 lies a day and only 1 per cent of people regularly told more than 15 lies a day.

Part of Harry’s success may also be down to his physical appearance, as Jody Freshwater, managing director of Silverbridge, a corporate investigations and intelligence agency, explains: “His physical appearance certainly helps. The puppy-dog eyes, the soft voice. The edges are rounded off, all of which makes him appear harmless.”

Stephanie Davies, behavioural psychologist and founder of Laughology, a consultancy that advises organisations about behaviour change, explains that Harry’s likability gives him influence over the group. “We do not realise it,” she says, “but we make decisions based on emotions and Harry elicits positive emotions.”

How to spot a liar

The devil is in the detail

To expose a liar, you need to stick to the facts and try not to get emotionally invested in gut feelings.

“It’s a human trait to want to rely on instinct,” explains Freshwater. “We’ve had cases where clients are convinced of their instincts rather than the facts we present to them during due diligence. The reality is that the type of professional liars engaged in white collar crime and sophisticated frauds that we investigate can be very good at what they do. When you are inside a lie it can be difficult to see.”

Matt Damon as fraudster Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr Ripley, 1999

Freshwater offers some advice to the remaining Traitor-hunters in tonight’s final: “A common tactic to uncover lies during an interrogation is to get the person you are investigating to speak as much as possible and to get them to commit to as much detail as possible. It is often in that detail that they get themselves caught out and become inconsistent in their stories. When you present the inconsistency to them, they must create another lie to cover it, and through that process you can start to dismantle the deceit.”

Exaggerated body language

Sometimes liars will try to cover deceit with body language, and often the act of consciously attempting to mimic an unconscious reaction looks exaggerated. Davies says: “Laughing too hard at jokes, being overly-jubilant at a victory. These are signs that someone is trying to consciously direct you into believing they genuinely are reacting in the way they are presenting.”

Stress signals

According to former FBI agent, Jim Clemente, stress can indicate lying. He says signs of stress can include a higher voice pitch and drinking more frequently or swallowing deeply because stress reduces salivation. Stress also releases adrenaline and this can cause increased fidgeting, which can be another physical clue.

Behaviour change

If someone’s mannerisms change suddenly, and they start acting out of character, this can indicate that they are hiding a secret. As Davies explains: “When Ross became a traitor, his demeanour changed. Previously he had been easy-going and laid back and then overnight he seemingly became more serious and more engaged in gossiping on the show.”

Too good to be true

If someone or something seems too good to be true, it generally is, particularly in the case of fraudsters. As Freshwater explains: “Professional liars know that they must include something in the lie that is attractive to the victim and that encourages them to cross the Rubicon and commit to the lie. If someone is offering you something that seems too good to be true, you should be very careful.”

Once you are on the hook, it becomes harder to detach yourself.

Freshwater continues: “Often, once a fraud victim is in the lie, the desire to keep wanting to believe they haven’t lost hundreds of thousands of pounds means that they can remain open to even more lies.”

Self-soothing

Some people habitually rub their faces, cover their mouths or stroke their hair at times of stress. This is called self-soothing. Not everyone does it. Look for inconsistencies. Davies explains: “This is one of the clues that might have given Harry away. Normally he’s very cool and tends to go with the flow but in some of the more tense roundtable banishments he’s been covering his face with his hands, which is out of character.”

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