第2144期:Why it's hard to spot a liar

Squirming in their seat, glancing around the room and never looking you in the eye. We think we know when someone is lying to us, but do we really? 在座位上蠕动，环视房间，却从不看你的眼睛。 我们认为我们知道有人在对我们撒谎，但我们真的知道吗？ A study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Review showed that people's ability to tell if someone is lying to them is little better than 50%. Interestingly, other research suggests that we are actually quite good at unconsciously spotting liars, but our conscious thoughts overrule this. Forensic Scientist R. Edward Geiselman points out that training in recognising liars doesn't always help, saying "quick, inadequate training sessions lead people to over-analyse and to do worse than if they go with their gut reactions". 发表在《人格与社会心理学评论》上的一项研究表明，人们判断某人是否对他们撒谎的能力仅略高于 50%。 有趣的是，其他研究表明，我们实际上很擅长无意识地识别说谎者，但我们的有意识思维却推翻了这一点。 法医科学家 R. Edward Geiselman 指出，识别说谎者的培训并不总是有帮助，他说，“快速、不充分的培训课程会导致人们过度分析，结果比跟随直觉反应更糟糕”。 One reason for this may be 'truth bias'. Experts have suggested that we are usually biased to believe that people are telling us the truth, at least in most contexts. Another reason that might make us bad at identifying liars is that there are a number of myths around body language and lying. Many of us believe that liars are unlikely to look us in the eye or will fidget in their seat. However, this isn't necessarily the case. Professor of psychology Kevin Colwell suggests that liars often work hard to disguise these behaviours. It may be that not looking away, or sitting more still than usual, are actually the giveaways that someone is not telling the truth. 造成这种情况的原因之一可能是“真相偏见”。 专家表示，我们通常会偏向于相信人们告诉我们的是事实，至少在大多数情况下是这样。 另一个可能让我们不擅长识别说谎者的原因是，关于肢体语言和谎言存在着许多误区。 我们中的许多人都认为，说谎者不太可能直视我们的眼睛，也不会在座位上坐立不安。 然而，情况并非一定如此。 心理学教授凯文·科尔韦尔表示，说谎者常常努力掩饰这些行为。 没有移开视线，或者比平时更安静地坐着，实际上可能表明某人没有说实话。 To see how someone's behaviour really changes as they lie, many experts recommend observing people talking about things known to be true. This allows us to establish a baseline of their normal behaviours while speaking. Any differences to this baseline behaviour could show that someone is lying. This is why it's much harder to lie to people who know us well. 为了了解某人在撒谎时行为有何变化，许多专家建议观察人们谈论已知的真实事情。 这使我们能够建立他们说话时正常行为的基线。 与此基线行为的任何差异都可能表明有人在撒谎。 这就是为什么对熟悉我们的人撒谎要困难得多。 As liars may be working hard to conceal their behaviours, some psychologists have suggested increasing the effort needed for this by asking them to tell their story backwards. When faced with this increased cognitive load, any behavioural tell-tale signs are magnified.由于说谎者可能会努力隐藏自己的行为，一些心理学家建议通过要求他们倒着讲述自己的故事来加大这方面的努力。 当面对这种增加的认知负荷时，任何行为迹象都会被放大。 It can be hard to spot liars. We are likely to trust people, and behaviours can be hidden, but if we know someone well, and if someone is working too hard to stick to their story, it's possible to see through people who are not telling the truth. 很难发现说谎者。 我们可能会信任别人，行为也可能会被隐藏，但如果我们很了解某人，并且如果某人非常努力地坚持自己的故事，就有可能识破那些没有说实话的人。词汇表squirm 扭来扭去glance 扫视look someone in the eye 直视某人的眼睛，与某人坦诚相视unconsciously 无意识地spot 看出，发现conscious 有意识的over-analyse 过度分析gut reaction 直觉，本能反应truth bias “取真偏好”，人们更倾向于相信他人所言为真的现象biased 偏向的，倾向于fidget 动来动去disguise 掩饰giveaway 让（某人）露马脚的事情behaviour 行为establish 确立，建立baseline 基准，基线conceal 隐藏，掩盖cognitive load 认知负荷behavioural 行为上的tell-tale sign 暴露隐藏行为的迹象，端倪stick to 坚持see through 看穿，识破