How good are you at catching liars? Are you good at distinguishing between people who are more likely to lie versus less likely?

I’m pretty good at it. My first job was in banking. You have to be able to pick them up in that line of work.

I tend not to think of people as liars. I try to put myself in their place and see why they might say what they say, even if it is not an accurate reflection of reality as I see it. It doesn’t bother me if people “lie.” I just correct for the lie and move on. I don’t tell them I believe they are lying. I just act as if my version of the truth is true.

I don’t try to throw it in their face. I don’t try to tell them I don’t believe them. I just act as if we both agree that my version of the truth is true. Often they never even notice, so it become irrelevant. If they don’t change their behavior, though, I gradually drop them from my life. As far as I’m concerned, you walk the walk, or you walk out of my life.

I like to think I’m very good at such a thing but I’ve been proven wrong. Once or twice.

Sometimes I am but if someone really has their schtick in order they might be able to fool me. Most give off subtle hints they are being disingenuous, body language, eye contact or other inconsistencies.

> It is true that everyone lies in their life

I don’t know how you could back that up with evidence.

Need for evidence is also the problem with giving a good answer to your question. How would I know if I’d been lied to—or told the truth—by someone unless I had independent verification? In many cases a good liar won’t be found out, and in others we may be led by misleading circumstances (or a genuine liar) to doubt someone who is really telling the truth.

Sometimes I do know for certain that I’ve been lied to, but I don’t know by which person.

I think maybe all I can answer is whether I frequently have the feeling of believing someone as opposed to the feeling of doubting someone. And yes, I do tend to believe people, mainly because I’m not a liar. I think liars suspect everyone of being like them. So I probably get fooled a lot. I’d rather err on that side than fail to believe someone who deserved my trust.

But suspicion and trust are feelings, not fact.

@Jeruba

“It is true that everyone lies in their life” I sincerely doubt that there is a person in this world who has never lied. It can be challenging to prove but maybe you can ask yourself an instance when you did so?

For anyone, it can be something as simple as saying they didn’t eat the last cookie left in the jar but their sibling did or that they clogged the restroom at a rather formal event and aren’t willing to admit it “It was like that before I got there”. I can’t think of other examples but the point I am making is that there are plenty of harmless lies that people say and its not a big deal (unless you are teaching kids to be honest in case of the cookies).

I like what @woodcutter said. Unless the person is really good, we can pick up the subtle hints of being deceptive if not conflicting statements.

I can tell. Liars usually answer questions not asked, because they have either prepared their lie and want to get it out, or they are unprepared and blurt out some rambling thing to try and cover up. Either way they don’t sound like they are giving normal responses.

I am not hugely concerned with people lying to me. I’m sure they do it. I don’t really want to catch them in it. So if you aren’t looking for a liar, you aren’t going to find one. I think of lying as a natural thing that happens. When people lie about really big and personally important things, then it bothers me, not because they told a lie, but because their lie hurt me. The distinction is pretty big for me.

I have a somewhat way of knowing when people lie or they don’t even if I don’t know them. Doesn’t apply online but real life I can spot a liar really easy.

I’ve never put much effort into it, so I don’t know, but I would like to be. The obvious liars are, well, obvious, but aside from those, at least. Not that I need to have such skill, though, it would just be fun.

Having grown up with a perpetual (pathological?) liar for a parent, I’m really good at spotting that behavior.

That being said, I rarely call someone on their lie. Unless they’re actively trying to fuck me over, I let them have their deception. Ultimately, they’re only fooling themselves.

Unless it’s someone I can watch and listen to on a regular basis such as a coworker, I’m terrible at spotting liars. I have this overactive imagination where I give people the benefit of a doubt that all they say is true until they show me inconsistencies.

@cprevite True. I think letting them have their deception is one of the best ways to deal with the. I have done that withe someone I knew once.

Horrible! Never seem to distinguish, unless it’s really obvious. Which I don’t think it ever is.