有很多人都认为自己能够辨别他人是否在说谎。但研究表明事实并非如此：我们其实更倾向于过度分析他人的行为举止并依赖错误的假设进行判断，因此做出的结论还不如相信自己的直觉准确。本文探讨为何识破谎言如此之难。
词汇：lying 说谎
Squirming in their seat, glancing around the room and never looking you in the eye. We think we know when someone is lying to us, but do we really?
A study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Review showed that people’s ability to tell if someone is lying to them is little better than 50%. Interestingly, other research suggests that we are actually quite good at unconsciously spotting liars, but our conscious thoughts overrule this. Forensic Scientist R. Edward Geiselman points out that training in recognising liars doesn’t always help, saying “quick, inadequate training sessions lead people to over-analyse and to do worse than if they go with their gut reactions“.
One reason for this may be ‘truth bias‘. Experts have suggested that we are usually biased to believe that people are telling us the truth, at least in most contexts. Another reason that might make us bad at identifying liars is that there are a number of myths around body language and lying. Many of us believe that liars are unlikely to look us in the eye or will fidget in their seat. However, this isn’t necessarily the case. Professor of psychology Kevin Colwell suggests that liars often work hard to disguise these behaviours. It may be that not looking away, or sitting more still than usual, are actually the giveaways that someone is not telling the truth.
To see how someone’s behaviour really changes as they lie, many experts recommend observing people talking about things known to be true. This allows us to establish a baseline of their normal behaviours while speaking. Any differences to this baseline behaviour could show that someone is lying. This is why it’s much harder to lie to people who know us well.
As liars may be working hard to conceal their behaviours, some psychologists have suggested increasing the effort needed for this by asking them to tell their story backwards. When faced with this increased cognitive load, any behavioural tell-tale signs are magnified.
It can be hard to spot liars. We are likely to trust people, and behaviours can be hidden, but if we know someone well, and if someone is working too hard to stick to their story, it’s possible to see through people who are not telling the truth.
squirm 扭来扭去
glance 扫视
look someone in the eye 直视某人的眼睛，与某人坦诚相视
unconsciously 无意识地
spot 看出，发现
conscious 有意识的
over-analyse 过度分析
gut reaction 直觉，本能反应
truth bias “取真偏好”，人们更倾向于相信他人所言为真的现象
biased 偏向的，倾向于
fidget 动来动去
disguise 掩饰
giveaway 让（某人）露马脚的事情
behaviour 行为
establish 确立，建立
baseline 基准，基线
conceal 隐藏，掩盖
cognitive load 认知负荷
behavioural 行为上的
tell-tale sign 暴露隐藏行为的迹象，端倪
stick to 坚持
see through 看穿，识破
1. 阅读课文并回答问题
1. True or False? People are good at spotting liars unconsciously.
2. Why can quick training in spotting liars be a problem?
3. Why might liars sit more still than usual?
4. What is important if we want to see how someone’s behaviour changes?
5. What technique makes it difficult for people to conceal lies?
2. 选择意思恰当的单词或词组来完成下列句子。
1. Can’t you sit still? You keep _______.
concealing squirming behaving glancing
2. You need to look at all viewpoints, so that you are not _______.
over-analysed established spotted biased
3. As soon as you _______ a problem, tell us so that we can fix it.
disguise conceal spot glance
4. Watch out for him, he’s always trying to _______ his mistakes, so that no one discovers them.
conceal spot bias establish
5. I know you want to leave because you keep _______ at the clock.
spotting glancing fidgeting establishing
1. 阅读课文并回答问题。
1. True or False? People are good at spotting liars unconsciously.
True. The article says that people are quite good at unconsciously spotting liars.
2. Why can quick training in spotting liars be a problem?
Training sessions that are not good enough can lead people to over-analyse someone’s behaviour and get worse results than if they trust their intuition.
3. Why might liars sit more still than usual?
Liars may sit more still than usual because they are trying to disguise their behaviour.
4. What is important if we want to see how someone’s behaviour changes?
It is important to establish a baseline of how they normally behave.
5. What technique makes it difficult for people to conceal lies?
Having to tell a story backwards increases the cognitive load and makes it more difficult to conceal that you are lying.
2. 选择意思恰当的单词或词组来完成下列句子。
1. Can’t you sit still? You keep squirming.
2. You need to look at all viewpoints, so that you are not biased.
3. As soon as you spot a problem, tell us so that we can fix it.
4. Watch out for him, he’s always trying to conceal his mistakes, so that no one discovers them.
5. I know you want to leave because you keep glancing at the clock.
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