How To Know If a Person Is Telling The Truth: Truth is a genuine depiction or statements of reality. It is such facts which are verified to be correct. Truth is merely a concept which defines the state of things. Truth is said to be subjective and not objective because it requires validation from humans. Its subjective nature has made it exceedingly difficult to define a truth or determine when one is telling the truth. Bryan C.J in consideration of the complexity in determining the truth opined that not even the devil knows the true intention of a man.
Similarly, according to Williams Shakespeare in his popular book, Macbeth, there is no art to find the construction of the mind on the face. This simply explains that it is difficult to read one’s mind even from his body languages. Now, bringing it down to our topic of discourse, these opinions are valid only to the extent that they place a balance or check on the reliance on body languages and other surrounding circumstances while trying to determine the truth. Psychologists have long identified and verified certain impulses and exhibitions to be expected from a person telling the truth.
The truth is a concept that is very important to everyone. At every point in time, what people desire is the truth no matter how much they live in denial in respect of this. The truth is subjective which makes this seem more difficult, and it is from the information you are given that you distill the facts in search of the truth. You cannot dictate to people the information to give you, but you can distill and evaluate the contents and the surrounding circumstances to at least know if the person is telling the truth.
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13 Signs to Tell If A Person Is Telling The Truth
Below are how to know if a person is telling the truth
1. He maintains a steady breath: Situations may warrant that a victim may become tensed up, furious and surprised, and this most likely will increase the blood flow and the heart beat. However, it ought not to be such that induces a heavy or irregular breathing. People naturally tend to become nervous when they are lying no matter how well they intentionally struggle to control their reaction.
One who is telling the truth is always relaxed because he has the straightforward information and there is no fear of mixing things up. His nerves are not so excited; they are relaxed as well as his breath. A person telling the truth is most likely to have his steady breath maintained.
2. Their information is detailed: If the line of his information is detailed and analytical, there are chances that the person is telling the truth. It is usually difficult to stage a truth, assuming it were a lie. It is only the truth that can withstand the test of details. A person saying the true side of a story most often dishes out every relevant content of the story and has little or nothing to hide. He is not afraid of giving out the details regardless of how lengthy it may be, because there are fewer chances that things would get mixed up somewhere.
Lies are short and incomplete because the more lengthy they are made the more loopholes are dictated. The truth need not necessarily be lengthy; just that every part of the series of event is not found wanting, and when the stories are rendered, there a usually no uprising questions left to be answered. This is known as resolution. The truth is so detailed that it resolves all possible loopholes. You can know if a person is telling the truth if his story is detailed without rising issues, and also if he makes use of complete sentences.
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3. They have a steady Vocal tone: There are chances that a person is telling the truth if he maintains a steady vocal tone while walking you through his line of story. But then, you must first take note of his normal voice and his initial tone.
Going further in his narration, if there are noticeable digressions in vocal tone, there are chances that he is telling lies. A true part of a story is usually straightforward and this also applies to the vocal tone. If the vocal tone is steady, it is a contributory positive act to consider and be convinced that the person is telling the truth.
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4. He maintains the right amount of eye contact: Maintaining eye contact in some cases should qualify as a reflex action. It is in fact a definitive part of body language. When body language is being talked about, a subconscious reference is usually made to eye contact. A person’s eye contact says a lot and much more than his voice. People who are familiar with this tool will employ it best. Eye contact is so sensitive and reflexive that its communication cannot be entirely suppressed no matter how well they are mastered.
A person telling lies does not even know the right amount of eye contact to maintain as well as a person telling the truth, but people can correctly observe the difference anytime, any day. Liars tend to maintain eye contact anxiously and deliberately, and that is the only way they can allow you to look into their eyes in the first place. On the other hand, a person telling the truth is not bothered about making a deliberate eye contact because his natural countenance does the proper thing without more or less. It is natural to know when one is maintaining the right amount of eye contact, and if the person so does, it is a sign that he is telling the truths.
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5. Observe the movement of their hands: If the person’s eyes is regularly touching or covering his face or his throat, it may be an indication that he should not be believed. A person telling the truth does not regularly have his hands shield his face or throat. He stands or sits freely while placing his hands on a confident posture.
He could be standing hands down or his arms folded or kept in a relaxing position. The state of things unconsciously tends to affect the body posture and they begin to display a number of reflexive body languages. When the hand movement is always covering the face or enclaves the body, the person’s line of stories must be questioned when other factors are put into consideration. You can correctly tell if a person is telling the truth by observing and reading meanings into the movement of his hands
6. Consistency in the rhythm of his blinking: Eye contact says a lot as much as the rhythm of the eye blinking. A person telling the truth is more likely to maintain consistency in the interval of the eye blinking when they are talking to you.
This is as opposed to a liar whose rhythm of blinking becomes irregular and faster when he unfolds his story. Eye blinking is a reflex action which cannot be regulated or suppressed. Thus, it can be relied on to determine when a person is telling the truth or otherwise.
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7. No fake smile: We all can defect a fake smile when we see one. A genuine smile in a suitable circumstance is a sign that the person is telling the truth.
8. Coherence and consistency of information given: You can tell if a person is telling the truth if the information he dishes out is coherent and consistent. Thus, there are no loopholes and there are no unresolved questions. The series of events being told is chronological or at least logical and as such, believable.
There are no doubts that meanings always can be deduced from the stories being told. His lines of stories are not vague and he can always tell them again without mixtures or fallouts.
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9. No avoidance to give answer: You would notice that a person telling lies would always avoid the occasions of questions being put to him, and even when questions are put to him, you may find him avoiding the answers by running around the question or deviating from it entirely.
Reverse is the case for a person telling the truth. He will always face the questions and tackle them as required, since there is nothing implicating to avoid. He has the answers right and handy and he would deliver outrightly when needed.
10. You could literally feel the truth: Your instincts are always there to guide you. Truth is an abstract concept; yet, it can be felt when told. Your instincts will be right after you consider all given circumstances to believe that a person is telling the truth. You could literally feel the truth being told.
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11. They’re speaking in complete sentences: According to UCLA studies on lying, those who tell the truth typically talk in entire sentences, but those who lie more frequently utilise sentence fragments. Therefore, be sure to pay attention to how the individual is structuring their sentences in addition to picking up on the non-verbal indicators we’ve already covered in great detail.
12. Ask them to tell you the story again but in reverse: When a person lies, they typically already have a made-up story prepared and ready to go in chronological order. Because telling it backwards is not something they have practised, they will become anxious if they have to.
As a result, lying will be considerably more challenging. With their increasing anxiousness, they will begin to omit details and their story will start to fall apart. A truthful narrative, on the other hand, will be much easier to tell, and if you retell it in reverse, you might even recall aspects that you had forgotten the first time.
13. They neglect to blame negative outside forces: While liars tend to use negative outside forces as excuses (e.g., “I couldn’t run the errand because the sun was scorching hot”), truth tellers are less likely to do so. Liars will tend to blame these outside forces because deep down — on some level — they might feel guilty about the fact that what they’re saying isn’t true.
Listen closely to the person you’re speaking with. Are they constantly blaming in this way? If not, they might be in the clear.
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Conclusion
Every living person is in desire for the truth. What constitutes the truth is subjective, thereby making it difficult to tell when one is being told the truth, but it does not make it impossible. You can tell when one is telling the truth by assessing the totality of the person’s conduct and body languages, and in most cases, your instincts are always right.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.