Top 10 Body Language Signs That Someone is Being Dishonest

It's hard to tell when someone is lying. It's human nature to believe that what someone is saying is true, and it's hard not to just take their word for it.

While you can sometimes decipher their level of honesty from tone of voice, it's very difficult and can be inaccurate. So, we now turn to body language as a lie detector.

These ten easy-to-read signs are usually an indication that someone is being dishonest or doesn't feel comfortable around you. Enjoy!

1. Staring

   

   Staring is a huge sign that someone might be dishonest or wants to not look suspicious. For some reason, your body reverts to this sign every time you're confronted with something.

   If someone is staring at you almost creepily, it's likely they're not telling the truth or they're uncomfortable with what they're saying to you.

2. Blinking more often

   Another big sign that someone's lying to you is if they're blinking more often. This is another important sign, and it's easy to spot.

   Lying is really stressful, especially during one-on-one situations. Under stress, the eye blink rate increases, so since lying is stressful, they'll be blinking a lot unless they're staring.

3. Dilated pupils

   

   You see, when your brain is working hard, it causes your pupils to dilate, which basically means they expand. You need your brain to work very hard when telling a lie, and unconsciously this causes your pupils to become dilated.

   This method doesn't always work, however, because in dark rooms your pupils dilate automatically, and their brain could be working hard for a different reason and by default have their pupils dilated.

4. Avoiding eye contact

   I know that I listed staring as one, but this is also a sign. They both signify lying. Avoiding eye contact is one of the most common and obvious ways people, especially young kids or those who feel intimidated by the person talking to them, lie. They'll look away to avoid the stress of maintaining eye contact while lying.

   For some reason, I can lie while looking straight in the face! Meanwhile, my friend sweats, smiles, hands shake, and avoids eye contact.

   So, both eye contact and avoiding it can be signs of dishonesty?

5. Adjusting clothing

   People will feel self-conscious when lying, which means they may do things their body does while self-conscious, such as playing with their hair, scratching more, and, the biggest one, adjusting clothing.

   This could simply be tugging on the side of a sweater to literally rearranging their entire clothing.

   What? That's not true... *adjusts clothing*

6. Smiling with only the mouth, not the eyes

   Smiles make you want to believe someone and think they're genuine. However, there are 19 types of smiles, and only 6 of them are for happiness.

   The way to tell these apart is by looking at the eyes. It's sometimes clear by how the eyes are crinkling and all of that. If it seems that their eyes are cold, distant, or uncomfortable, it's possible they're lying.

7. Crossed arms

   The reason why people sometimes tend to do this while lying is because they want to sit behind barriers self-consciously while being confronted or saying something untrue. This can sometimes mean going behind a computer, a stack of books, or whatever's available.

   When there isn't anything, which is often the case, they cross their arms to make a barrier. That's why crossed arms can mean you're lying.

8. Heart beating faster

9. Sending conflicting signals

   Conflicting signals could occur when someone is so worried and frantic under the stress of lying that they start talking more frantically. In some cases, their gestures could literally cancel each other out, like pointing left and right at the same time or something confusing like that.

10. Holding body rigid

    This means being really tight while they speak, instinctively closing up because they aren't being honest. Under stress, they close up and become rigid.

The Newcomers
11. ?

    Excessive scratching

12. ?

    Chewing on nails

The Contenders

13. Face touching

14. Excessive sweating

    Mom: Did you eat all the cookies out of the jar?

    Me: *sweats profusely*

15. Chuckling

    A little giggle makes you sound very guilty, which makes it almost obvious that you're not telling the truth.

    Extremely obvious, but easier to avoid.

16. Slight delay in speech-body alignment

    A slight delay in speech-body alignment is also common. An example of this is when someone says something that requires them to point in a specific direction for emphasis but points a second or two after they should have.

17. Restless legs

18. Speaking in a rush

    Also extremely obvious, but easy to avoid as well.

19. Pushing up glasses

20. Improvising details