Simple Ways to Spot a Liar识别说谎者的简单方法

Lying is a daily part of life， but how can you identify the liars around you？ A psychology professor outlines the top tips.

谎言是日常生活的一部分，但怎样才能识别出身边的说谎者呢？一位心理学教授概述了最重要的技巧。

Whether it’s an innocent white lie， or a deep dark secret years in the making， lying is very much woven into the fabric of society.

无论是无辜的善意谎言，还是酝酿多年的幽暗秘密，谎言在社会中无孔不入。

But， when you’re not dealing with an obvious deception， filled with plot holes and bizarre twists， how can you tell someone is lying？ The answer lies in psychology.

但是，当你面对的并非充满情节漏洞和离奇曲折的明显欺骗时，你怎么能确定一个人在说谎呢？答案在于心理学。

We spoke to Richard Wiseman， a professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire， for an episode of the podcast Instant Genius1. He gave us insights into how to better understand a liar.

在播客《即时天才》的一集中，我们采访了赫特福德大学教授理查德·怀斯曼，他的研究领域是公众对心理学的理解。他给我们提供了关于如何更好地理解说谎者的洞见。

Are there any tells that can help us identify when someone is telling us a lie？

有什么线索可以帮我们识别出一个人在说谎？

I did an experiment with the BBC where we would interview politicians on the radio. Some would lie and some would tell the truth with audiences phoning in to say who’s lying. Unsurprisingly， no politicians wanted to do it.

我在BBC广播节目里做过一个实验，打算由电台采访政界人士。一些政界人士会说谎，另一些则会说真话，而听众会打电话来辨别谁在说谎。不出所料，没有政界人士愿意参与。

We got in contact with a big political interviewer of the time and he agreed to do it instead.

我们联系了当时做政治访谈的一位名人，他同意来做这一试验。

I interviewed him twice， each time about his favourite film. Once he lied to me， once he told the truth. We put them out live on TV. We ended up with about 30，000 calls and what we saw was that the public did the same on television as they do in the lab experiments， which is they were roughly 50/50. In other words， as a group， they couldn’t tell when he was lying.

我采访了他两次，每次都是关于他最喜欢的电影。其中一次他说的是谎话，另一次说的是真话。这两次访谈在电视上进行现场直播。我们最终接到了约3万个电话。我们看到，公众在电视上与在实验室里的表现一样——猜对和猜错的人基本上各占一半。换句话说，总体上无法识别出他什么时候在说谎。

We also ran the transcript in a newspaper and put the audio on the radio. When we stripped away the visual cues， you suddenly saw this big increase in people’s lie detecting ability.

我们也在报纸上刊印了文字记录，并以广播形式播放了节目内容。剥除视觉线索后，你会突然发现，人们的测谎能力大幅提高。

The visual cues are highly controllable. How we gesture， smile and look， that’s under our control. When you get to the words we say and how we say them， it’s not really something we think about very much. And that’s where the good cues sit.

视觉线索是高度可控的。我们的手势、笑容和表情都在自己掌控之中。但当你关注我们说了什么和我们的说话方式时，你会发现，事实上，这些并不是我们会深思熟虑的方面。而这就是好的线索所在。

Once you focus on audio cues， you become a better lie detector.

一旦你专注于听觉线索，就会成为一个更好的谎言识别者。

A popular example is that if you’re lying you look up and to the right， is there any truth in this？

一个广为流传的例子说，当你说谎时，会抬眼向右看。这符合事实吗？

We’ve looked into that. It is one of the most popular myths out there. I know people that have based big decisions on this belief， it’s quite worrying.

我们已经对此进行了研究。这是最流行的迷思之一。我知道有些人基于这一信念作出重大决定，这非常令人担忧。

Part of this is that we’re trying to cut down on faces coming into our heads because faces take up a lot of processing power. If you’re trying to remember something， often you look away but is absolutely seen across the world as a sign of deception.

望向他处的部分原因是我们在试图减少进入我们大脑的面孔，因为面孔占据大量的大脑处理能力。如果你正试图想起某件事，常常会把目光移开，但这举动在全世界的人眼中，完全是一种骗人的表现。

Is it the case？ We tested this and found there’s no indication at all that the eye movements relate to whether someone is lying.

真的是这样吗？我们对此进行了测试，发现没有任何迹象表明眼球运动与一个人是否在说谎相关。

Are people able to hide their body language tells when lying？

人们说谎时能够隐藏自己的肢体语言线索吗？

Some people can， but most people absolutely can’t. What you tend to look for in lie detection work is a deviation away from the person’s norm.

有些人可以，但大多数人绝对做不到。在测谎工作中，你要寻找的是人的表现与其常态的偏差。

If someone scratches their nose， it could be a sign of them lying， or perfectly normal behaviour. It’s no use to look at one piece of action and decide they’re lying because they looked away， maybe they do that all the time.

如果一个人摸鼻子，这可能是说谎的表现，但也可能是完全正常的行为。仅看一个动作，比如移开目光，就判断是在说谎，这是没有用的——也许人家总是做这个动作。

In lie detection work， we establish a baseline and then you’re looking for certain signals away from that baseline. And those signals tend to be verbal.

在测谎工作中，我们首先确立一个基线，然后寻找偏离该基线的某些信号。这些信号往往存在于言辞之中。

You’re looking for the hesitations， bigger distancing between the end of the question and the beginning of the answer as they think through the lie. You’re looking for a dropping away of detail.

要注意被测者是否犹豫不决，即听完问题较长时间才作答，似乎在考虑如何撒谎。要看对方有无在不经意间漏掉细节。

You’re looking for dropping of me， my and I， those sorts of words. Because lying is cognitively difficult.

要注意言语中me、my和I这类词的缺失——因为说谎时会出现认知困难。

In a lie， you have to think through what the person knows， what’s going to fit in with my story， what have I said already and all those things tax the person’s mind.

人要说谎，就得考虑对方知道什么，哪些与自己编的故事相符，自己之前说过什么。所有这些思考会让一个人费尽脑筋。

Can you become a good liar？

你能成为一个说谎高手吗？

From a psychology perspective， there’s this sort of arousal theory.

从心理学视角来看，有这样一种唤起理论。

This is the idea that when we lie to somebody， we feel guilty and therefore will start to sweat and move around， things that people who are physiologically active do.

这一理论认为，当我们对人说谎时，我们会感到内疚，因此会开始出汗并四处走动——这是生理活跃的人会有的表现。

However， if you told this lie quite a few times or you don’t really care very much about lying， or even if you’re lying for some greater good， you might not feel that same guilt.

然而，如果这个谎言你已经讲过很多次，或者你并不那么在意说谎，甚或你说谎是出于好意，那么你也许并不会有这种愧疚感。

It is also important to remember that lots of lies are in that category， explosive lies are only a very small part of lying.

同样重要的是，要记住，许多谎言都属于这一类。爆炸性谎言只占谎言的很小一部分。

Most of the time lying bonds us together. You meet somebody in the street and tell them it is great to see them. Maybe that is true， but it might equally be a lie to spare2 their feelings.

大多数情况下，谎言把我们联结在一起。你在街上遇到一个人，对他说你很高兴看到他——这也许是真的，但同样可能是为了照顾他的感受而说的谎话。

Lying bonds us together as much as pushes us apart. If you don’t feel stressed when you lie， you’re not going to show any of those signals.

谎言将我们联结在一起，也让我们分离。如果你说谎时没有感觉到压力，就不会表现出任何说谎迹象。

From a cognitive perspective， lying is cognitively difficult. If you’ve told that story many， many times and you’re a well-rehearsed liar， you’re not going to have those cognitive signals. In fact， you may even end up believing the lie yourself because you’ve told it so many times.

从认知角度来看，说谎是有认知难度的。如果一个谎言你已经讲过很多很多遍，谎言也是精心排练好的，那么你就不会有那些认知困难迹象。事实上，你最终甚至可能自己也相信了这个谎言，因为你已经说过那么多次了。

How reliable is a lie detector in testing a lie？

测谎仪测谎有多可靠？

It is a sophisticated piece of equipment that tells how physiologically active a person is. It will tell you how much they’re sweating， heart rate， breathing rate and so on.

测谎仪是一种精密设备，可以测出一个人的生理活跃度。它会告诉你被测人的出汗量、心率、呼吸频率等等。

The question is， is all of this reliably linked to lying？ That’s quite a contentious topic. And again， it would depend on the situation.

问题是，这些指标是否与说谎有可靠的相关性？这是一个相当有争议的话题。同样，这要取决于具体情况。

Not surprisingly， if you start putting all these monitors on and you’ve got a big machine with lots of lights， even someone who isn’t lying can get nervous.

毫不奇怪，如果开始给你装上所有这些监测器，并准备了一台带有大量指示灯的大型机器，即使是没有说谎的人也可能会感到紧张。

Equally， some liars have told a story so many times or don’t feel guilty about lying， and therefore are not going to show those signals. So my own perspective is that they are not especially reliable.

同样，一些说谎者已经把同一个故事讲了很多遍，或者并不因说谎而感到愧疚，因此不会表现出这些迹象。所以，我个人的观点是，测谎仪并不是特别可靠。

They might give you some insight， but they certainly should be taken with a pinch of salt3.

它们可能会给你一些启示，但我们当然应该对它们持保留态度。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 BBC《科学焦点》（Science Focus）杂志主办的高级讲习播客节目。

2 spare不伤害。

3 take sth with a pinch of salt不完全相信，半信半疑。