“Honestly!”

/12 Comments/in /by

How many times have you heard someone say, “To tell you the truth…” or “To be honest with you…”

Does it make you doubt their sincerity?

Many people believe when someone does this, they are lying.

I have always taken exception to this rule because I am one who truly sees when people don’t believe me and so I will emphasize specifically that I am being honest by saying those exact phrases.

To think people are judging others on this statement concerns me.

Can a liar say these statements?  Absolutely!

But so can an honest person, and if you are going to use this as a clue, then you should be able to delineate when its used truthfully and when its used dishonestly. And I don’t believe that can be done, so I say its a worthless clue.  Forget about it!

Here is an example:  Today when reading the news about a family who is burying their lesbian daughter, her word choice “Honestly” stood out to me. Some people would automatically say she’s lying. But her you can see there is no motive for her lie here, and that she IS saying the truth.

What examples can you find of people saying the following when you know they are being honest?

To tell you the truth…
To be honest with you…
Believe me…
Trust me.
Honestly.

Are you up for the challenge?  Post your links below!

Also, do you know of a myth in deception that needs busting?  If so, let us know!

Deception Myths: Week One

/11 Comments/in , , , /by

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!