Telling Lies
Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage
Author: Paul Ekman
Amazon info
I read this book only because I was unable to download Ekman's "Emotions Revealed, Second Edition: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life" as an ebook. In fact, due to library restrictions and poor book timing on my part, I was actually unable to finish the book.
Key lessons:
* There is no reliable way to detect lying. Except for someone that tells you there is (since they are clearly lying :) ).
* The fear of being caught in a lie is indistinguishable from the fear of not being believed - so signs of "fear" don't always indicate untruths.
* Some people always show signs of nervousness, even when telling the truth. It is the delta between their truth nerves and their lying nerves that can be observed - but only if you know the person well enough to know their variance. This is called the Brokaw trap.
* There are certain facial muscles that are very difficult to use voluntarily. Close observeration of these muscles and facial expressions can provide important clues as to withholding of truth or suppression of emotions.
* Lies are harder to conceal when they are tied to strong emotions, but there are perfect liars who cannot be caught (in today's technology).
I am more interested in the facial expressions than in the lying/deception, so I look forward to reading his other book. Overall this was informative, if a little bit tedious (hence my not finishing it in a timely manner).
Recommended: Psychologically oriented individuals.