How to spot liar: FBI and CIA methods you can use on you partner

Why people lie: the intelligence services’ perspective

According to former CIA agent Michael Floyd, the root of any lie is an attempt to avoid unpleasant consequences. Motivation may vary: from an innocent desire to embellish reality to serious attempts to conceal financial fraud or infidelity.

When reputation or freedom is at stake, deception mechanisms become more sophisticated, but at the same time more noticeable to a trained eye.

How to spot a liar: numbers and myths

Behavioral science specialist Gordon Wright notes that the average person’s accuracy in detecting lies is about 54% — only slightly better than random guessing. This low rate is linked to belief in popular myths.

However, intelligence agents emphasize that they do not look for a single “magic” sign of lying; they look for a cluster of signals. This principle should also be used in everyday life — you should not conclude from one suspicious moment, but rather observe a pattern of behavior.

Common mistakes:

Avoiding eye contact. In fact, professional liars often look directly into your eyes, trying to control your reaction and appear максимально convincing.

Shifty eyes. Science does not confirm that the direction of gaze clearly indicates fabrication.

Key signs of deception: what to pay attention to

First, you need to understand how a person behaves in a normal state — how they gesture, how often they blink, how they speak. Only by knowing the baseline behavior can you notice deviations. It is the deviation from baseline that signals something is wrong, not nervousness or gaze avoidance on their own.

Moreover, people are different: for some, frequent blinking or avoiding eye contact may be normal. Some people’s hands tremble almost always, and during stress, even more.

Fake facial expressions

Psychology professor Leanne ten Brinke explains that genuine joy activates the muscles around the eyes, creating crow’s feet. With a fake smile, only the corners of the mouth move, while the eyes remain cold.

Cognitive load

Lying requires enormous mental effort. A person must invent a logical story, avoid getting confused in details, and monitor the other person’s reaction. Because of this, liars often make long pauses, speak uncertainly, or provide minimal information.

Excessive details

Liars tend to overload their stories with unnecessary details or, conversely, give very short answers (to sound convincing and avoid contradictions).

Evasion and topic shifting

Instead of giving a direct answer, a deceptive person may start discussing unrelated things to buy time.

Excessive assurances

Phrases like “I swear,” “Honestly,” or “Believe me” are verbal noise meant to fill the gap left by a lack of facts.

CIA methodology: 9 keys to the truth

Michael Floyd highlights nine areas that form the basis of exposing a liar:

Nonverbal signals: involuntary face touching, covering the mouth, or sudden coughing. This is a self-soothing response when the brain feels discomfort from lying, and the body reacts.

Freezing: a person suddenly stops moving. Natural gestures disappear. This is a defensive reaction — “don’t move so you won’t be detected.”

Time manipulation: repeating your question (“You’re asking if I took that money?”) to gain time to invent a version.

Aggression: attacking the interlocutor and trying to make you feel guilty for “distrust.”

Convincing statements: instead of facts, the person tries to create an idealized version of events where “it simply couldn’t have been otherwise.”

Context control: if a person in financial trouble insists they do not need money, this is a serious reason for analysis.

Facial expressions: if a partner slightly raises one corner of the lips during a conversation, they may feel superior to you or show contempt. This sign often appears when a person says something insincere. If the eyebrows are raised while the eyes are slightly narrowed, it may be fear disguised as surprise. Genuine surprise opens the eyes wide.

Body orientation: the body turns away from you while answering. Even if the face is directed at you, the feet or torso turning toward the exit can signal an unconscious desire to leave.

Self-distancing: liars tend to avoid the pronoun “I” at key moments. Instead of “I didn’t do it,” they may say “that didn’t happen” or “it wasn’t like that.” This is psychological distancing from the lie.

Checking for inconsistencies

One of the most effective FBI methods is to return to the topic later. Liars are often revealed by inconsistencies and contradictions between different versions of their story. A truthful person tends to tell the same story over time — details may vary, but the core remains consistent.

A liar, on the other hand, builds a construction — and over time, that construction starts to crack.

What to do

If something seems suspicious, do not react immediately. Return to the topic a few days later using different wording and compare the answers.

Interesting facts about lying

• On average, a person lies 1–2 times a day.
• Women statistically detect deception better due to higher emotional sensitivity.
• Lying activates brain areas associated with creativity — essentially, a liar becomes a “screenwriter” in real time.
• Even modern lie detectors do not provide a 100% guarantee, as they measure stress rather than the fact of deception itself.