Liespotting - could be useful for people here.

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I can't tell when someone is lying. I only go by logic and facts. Plus I give people a benefit of a doubt because sometimes people have warped point of views or are delusional or have their own perspective on a situation. Sometimes people are given the wrong facts or are lied to themselves so they repeat the lie.

I can tell if someone lies when there are contradictions like someone says they are 21 and then a year later they say they are 36 or they say they have a twin brother and then all of a sudden they do not anymore and they say they never had one to begin with. I could definitely tell my first ex was a liar because of these sort of contradictions. Like he told me for him to remember to do things, he has to do them over and over 30 days straight. Then months later he said he didn't need a job coach and he can remember things fine at work when he is taught them. But how is having to do it 30 days straight doing fine at work? he even denied he ever told me he had to do things 30 days straight for it to stick in his brain.

If I see other contradictions like new facts someone added or they changed their IQ number, I give them a benefit of a doubt. I just think they found out their correct IQ score or they found some new information, my mother on the other hand contradicts herself about her pregnancies and I figure she just has a poor memory and can't remember the exact facts. same as when people say how old they were when something happened and then all of a sudden they change their age to a year younger or older when it happened so that tells me they may not remember how old they really were when it happened. I also figure people may have had more than one reason for something and they aren't required to say all their reasons right? But people get defensive anyway when you call them out on it by asking because you are confused and you want an explanation. I guess they would rather have you assume they were lying.


I can't tell with body language or tone of voice or with pauses.

Dang! I must be giving a lot of false positives. I think I do almost all of those behaviors (like fidgeting, not putting enough emotion into my voice), but I'm almost always telling the truth. The times when I "lie" are when I accidentally say something that isn't true, based on incorrect or flawed knowledge. They are not intentional.

Edit: As for how to tell if someone is lying to me or not, I usually can't tell. Hearing statistics about how often people lie to one another is a bit scary to me.

It's easy for me to spot liars; they're the ones who suddenly act like my best and most trusted friends, and then try to convince me to buy something I don't need, or to do something that would benefit only them.

They also tend to talk too fast, as if rushing through a prepared and rehearsed script. If I ask a question, they pause for a few seconds and then repeat, word-for-word, something that they've already said.

Liars also seem to not fully understand what they are telling me, and often use words that mean the exact opposite of what they're trying to convince me of.

(I must be tired ... prepositions appear that I'm ending sentences with.)

Otherwise, most people who know me will at least try to get their facts straight because they know that I will try to verify what they are saying.

(Yes, I have trust issues ... likely from having been raised by an alcoholic.)