This book taught me how to spot a lie. Knowing the truth enables better decision making.
Use open ended questions. Doing so allows the other person to share their story and set themself up to be contradicted later.
Provide minimal input initially and stay quiet about evidence of truth for as long as possible. Take advantage of the fact that the other person is not aware of what you know. Withhold your proof of their lie until they are trapped into telling the truth.
It is important to identify when the other person is vomiting details about their story but then struggle to answer your questions.
Always confront the expected liar sooner than later so that they are caught off guard and have less time to prepare their story.
If they act evasive towards simple questions (yes/no) then they are likely trying to buy time. If they repeat the question back to you or give you a long extensive response for a simple straight forward question, that is an indication of lying.
Increasing cognitive load can help trap liars. Asking random questions is a good technique. A person telling the truth will be comfortable saying "i don't know" while a liar stutters/rushes
When you confront a lie, the liar will be emotional and an honest person will be confused/repeat their story.
If two people are collaborating on a lie then they typically don't elaborate on each others stories. This is because they do want their to be holes in their story. Truth tellers do not think about that and are not afraid to elaborate on each others stories.
Start each confrontation conversation by thanking the person for how honest they usually are. Calling people honest either causes a confession or makes discrepancies between the desire to tell the truth and their fabricated story more obvious.
When interacting with a liar, before confronting them, state something you both know is untrue (a white lie) and observe their baseline behavior towards lying.
Give them the opportunity to lie about something else you already know to be true. Use this to understand their baseline behavior around the opportunity to lie.
Ask random unexpected questions and make them go on a tangent so they get caught up with tons of details. Then repeat an inconsequential part of the story back to them with an extra piece you added or incorrect details and observe reactions. Stiffness and awkwardness are signs of lying.
Allude to consequences of being found lying and look for emotions.
After increasing cognitive load, ask about emotions. Ask questions like "How did it feel to {x}?" A truth teller wont hesitate to express emotions. Analyze if these emotions match the narrative. Liars are less emotional during the lie.
Due to cognitive overload techniques emotions often leak through non-verbals. Identify pre-existing body language patterns and then look for disruptions of these patterns.
Never dismiss your intuition.
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