7. Eye think you are lying to me

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“No one can lie, no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone’s eyes.” – Paulo Coelho

Whist Coelho is a great author, his expression of the above popular myth is wrong. Practiced liars not only have the ability to look directly into someone's eyes whilst successfully telling a lie, many actually do it deliberately so as to prove they are telling the truth.

Conversely, looking away whilst talking to you does not mean your suspect is lying. Innocent people frequently look away when trying to clarify their thoughts. This is particularly so in circumstances where the suspect knows their interrogator.

The eyes can, however, still provide useful insights into whether or not your suspect is lying. An increased blink rate is often consistent with telling lies. On average people blink 6 - 8 times per minute when not lying. When blinking at this rate their eyes remain closed for approximately 1/loth of a second.

Pupil dilation is another reliable indicator of deception and is something that the liar will not be aware of or have the ability to control.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) provides a useful technique for detecting when someone is recalling or creating a picture, sound or feeling. The technique involves paying close attention to a person's eye accessing cues. NLP research has established that generally speaking:

1. When a person (right handed) is remembering something, their eyes will go up and towards the left.
2. If a person is constructing / inventing an image in their mind they will tend to look up and to the right.
3. If a person eyes go straight across to the left, this indicates they are recalling something they heard.
4. If a person's eyes go across to the right, this indicates that they are imagining or constructing a sound or sounds e.g. conversation.

The above works in reverse if the person is left-handed. You can easily test this technique on someone by asking them to remember something recent that you know they saw or heard. Then ask them to imagine something they haven't seen or heard before. Observe closely and you should be able to spot their eye accessing cues. As with all of the techniques in this book, you should treat your observations as indicators that go into the scales to be weighed along with other indicators you will have observed.

Table of Contents

1. We all want to be lie detectors
2. Types of liars and degrees of lying
3. You need to be cautious
4. Factors influencing detection accuracy
5. Setting the scene
6. Your body wants to confess
7. Eye think you are lying to me
8. Time to face the truth
9. Listen like a lawyer
10. Download the PDF

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