Deception Myths: Week One

My mission in 2015 is to help eradicate the myths to deception detection. There are so many “clues” that I believe are myths floating around that we need to do something to stop it once and for all.

How can we do that?

It’s quite simple. We can take each myth and find people who are telling the truth who exhibit the so-called “clue” or “myth”. If people can see someone telling the truth in a real and genuine environment doing the “clue” that should help eradicate a lot of myths out there!

Are you in for the task?

I need your help, commitment and dedication.

Each week I will charge you with a new task–go look for someone in a news story, on a TV show, in a documentary where we know with reasonable certainty they are telling the truth doing the behavior of the week!

This week’s task: Look for someone telling the truth who looks up and to the left. Many people are taught that when we construct imaginary stories, we gaze up to the left.

I believe this is a myth because we look up, down, left or right when thinking regardless of the fact we are telling the truth or a lie. It’s individual and not this simplistic!

Can you find example? If so, please post it below or email it to me.

Good luck and thank you!

11 replies
  1. Eyes for Lies
    Eyes for Lies says:

    If you want to find a good example, look at videos where people are recalling, remembering events. That’s when you’ll see it. They have to be actively thinking!

  2. Renaissance Girl
    Renaissance Girl says:

    Hello Eyes, do we just post ideas here for you? I wasn’t sure how you wanted to be informed of them.

  3. clownfish
    clownfish says:

    I will look! This particular one is not hard to find at all, because tons of people look up and to the left, it is just their cognition, not lies. it is only locating an example exactly when you have some spare time that is work. I will try to keep an eye out. I know I’ve seen this so many times in honest situations. You see this sometimes when a person is accessing an inner framework of sorts that they use to formulate an answer to a question or to push a topic beyond even the original scope of a question, or to just access a picture.

    • clownfish
      clownfish says:

      Hmmm. I just saw from the videos you posted that up and to the left means “how the viewer sees it”. I was talking about something different lol. Whoops. To the viewer’s left has always seemed a clue that the person is recalling (almost viscerally) as opposed to recalling memorized data about, say, botanical species. Either way, though, it’s not a proof of lying and that’s what matters!!

    • Eyes for Lies
      Eyes for Lies says:

      Thanks for sharing this, Russ. I think he is putting his head down, so his eyes go up, but they are not going up looking into the air. They are locating the person he is talking to so I would think this is slightly different. Funny video though!

  4. kellie
    kellie says:

    I’m in my 40s, my sister’s in her 50s. We live together and we’re good friends. I totally trust her. I often see her shaking her head from side to side when she’s emphasizing a true statement. This is supposed to be a sign of deception, but when my sister does it it’s totally not!
    Is the people’s-head-movements-reveal-the-truth thing a myth? Or is it a more specific case of these things not being universal? My sister spends more time with books than with people. Is it possible she just didn’t acquire standard body language as she grew up in our odd family?
    I noticed that Tom Brady was shaking his head from side to side all the way through the deflategate press conference (even when saying the league was very competitive, etc.). Is it possible some people use side-to-side as an intensifier?
    Also … I noticed that at a certain point in time, Lance Armstrong started giving his doping denials while holding his head perfectly still. I assume he either read a body language takedown of his denials or got counseling from someone bent on helping him deny the doping.
    PS love your blog, Eyes!

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