TheTruthAboutLying （part 2）

So what are the tell-tale signs that give away a lie? In 1994, the psychologist Richard Wiseman devised a large-scale experiment on a TV programme called Tomorrow's World. As part of the experiment, viewers watched two interviews in which Wiseman asked a presenter in front of the cameras to describe his favourite film. In one interview, the presenter picked Some Like It Hot and he told the truth; in the other interview, he picked Gone with the Wind and lied. The viewers were then invited to make a choice - to telephone in to say which film he was lying about. More than 30,000 calls were received, but viewers were unable to tell the difference and the vote was a 50/50 split. In similar experiments, the results have been remarkably consistent - when it comes to lie detection, people might as well simply toss a coin. It doesn’t matter if you are male or female, young or old; very few people are able to detect deception.

Why is this? Professor Charles Bond from the Texas Christian University has conducted surveys into the sorts of behaviour people associate with lying. He has interviewed thousands of people from more than 60 countries, asking them to describe how they set about telling whether someone is lying. People’s answers are remarkably consistent. Almost everyone thinks liars tend to avert their gaze, nervously wave their hands around and shift about in their seats. There is, however, one small problem. Researchers have spent hour upon hour carefully comparing films of liars and truth-tellers. The results are clear. Liars do not necessarily look away from you; they do not appear nervous and move their hands around or shift about in their seats. People fail to detect lies because they are basing their opinions on behaviours that are not actually associated with deception.

谎言的真相(二)  你能看破谎言吗？

那么，揭穿谎言的迹象是什么呢? 1994年，心理学家理查德·怀斯曼(Richard Wiseman)在一个名为《明日世界》(Tomorrow's World)的电视节目中设计了一项大规模实验。 作为实验的一部分，观众观看了两个访谈，在访谈中，怀斯曼让主持人在摄像机前描述他最喜欢的电影。 在一次采访中，主持人选择了电影《热情似火》，他说了实话;在另一次采访中，他选择了电影《乱世佳人》并撒了谎。然后观众被邀请做出选择——打电话告知他在哪部电影上撒了谎。 该节目接到了3万多个电话，但观众们看不出有什么不同，投票结果是50对50。 在类似的实验中，结果是非常一致的——当涉及到测谎时，人们的准确率可能更像只是简单地扔硬币。无论你是男是女，年轻还是年老;很少有人能识破骗局。  

这是为什么呢?德克萨斯基督教大学的查尔斯·邦德教授对人们与说谎相关的行为进行了调查。 他采访了来自60多个国家的数千人，请他们描述如何判断一个人是否在说谎。 人们的回答非常一致。 几乎所有人都认为说谎者倾向于转移他们的目光，紧张地挥舞他们的手，在他们的座位上移动。 然而，有一个小问题。 研究人员花了好很长时间仔细比较说谎者和讲真话者的录像。结果很明显。 说谎者不一定会把目光从你身上移开;他们不显得紧张，也不动他们的手或在他们的座位上移动。 人们之所以无法察觉谎言，是因为他们把自己的观点建立在与欺骗无关的行为之上。