Lie Detecting 101: A Comprehensive Course in Spotting Lies and Detecting Deceit

Description

Lying is a normal part of human communication and is sometimes necessary to protect someone's feelings, but there are also malicious lies meant to deceive, cheat, and defraud. You can't always rely on what comes out of someone's mouth. It doesn't take mind reading superpowers to be able to tell when someone is lying--but it does take special skills and a little practice. In Lie Detecting 101 , international expert in undercover operations Dr. David Craig provides readers with an easy-to-follow guide on applying lie-detection skills to your everyday life. From the simple skills of bargaining, making a purchase, or dealing with children, to the more serious business of negotiating a contract or identifying infidelity, Craig delivers simple but effective tips and techniques we can all use to see behind the façade and get to the truth. Lie Detecting 101 is the culmination of over twenty years of practical criminology and hundreds of hours of academic research. Split into three parts, the book looks at understanding lies and how to detect lies, and includes an easy reference section that summarizes all the main points. With full-color photographs and practical examples, Lie Detecting 101 provides anyone with the tools to be a human lie detector. The mystery of what a person is really thinking is finally unlocked in this fascinating and informative book. Review: Lie Detecting Techniques Taught by an Expert - How many of us have ever had to determine whether or not someone was lying? In everyday life, we deal with coworkers, children, salesmen, neighbors. There are occupations (police, teachers, etc.) who may have to converse with potential liars on a daily basis. Possessing a system that can help you separate lies from the truth would be invaluable, and that is what Dr. David Craig offers with this book. Dr. Craig has over 20 years of criminological experience and has dedicated the same amount of time to researching deception and deception detection. One couldn't ask for a better trainer. The book is laid out in an easy-to-understand manner. Part One deals with understanding lies, providing background explaining why people lie and how often. Part Two contains the meat of the book, and goes into great detail how a person can detect lies. Rather than rely solely on descriptions, Dr. Craig has included numerous colored pictures of postures and facial expressions that depict exactly what he is talking about. I enjoyed many of the author's explanations enlightening. For instance, Dr. Craig describes the brain as divvying up $100 to fund the different processes that go on when someone lies. Most of it (he used $40) is used cognitively, as liars must come up with statements that are believable. If we question a liar, that liar must reprocess and come up with more lies based on the initial statements. This means more of that $100 must be diverted to thinking about what to say. In normal terms, as the brain needs to concentrate on new lies that mesh with the old one, the liar loses control over some of the automatic mechanisms of his body and signs of lying emerge -- breaking eye contact, covering the face, defensive postures, and so on. The last part of the book contain a number of resources: summaries of information from the chapters, a reference list of lying signs, a lying signs image reference guide, and handy hints sections for parents, teachers, and recruiters. Finally, Dr. Craig has included an impressive list of reference material to help back up his book. Throughout, the author cautions readers that hardly anyone can detect 100% of all the lies someone may tell, but with practice should be able to notice 70-80%. I have read other books on detecting lies, but never one that was as helpful and as easy to read as this one. Highly recommend to anyone who would like to increase their skills on detecting lies. Review: Great book - This is a great book and super easy to read. It is very informative but not complicated. I like that the end of each chapter has a summary much like a text book - but soo much easier to read.