Tell-Tale Signs of Big Fat Liars

November 2015. How to recognize the tell-tale signs of big fat liars? Whether it's a new boyfriend, an incompetent boss or the 2016 Presidential election, wouldn't it be helpful to be able to recognize when someone is lying to you? Experts separate lairs into four columns: Occasional, Frequent, Habitual and Compulsive.

Before you label a person with one of the four types of lies, it's also smart to recognize the little white lie from the big fat lie.

According to experts, there are seven types:

1. Error or mistake. The person believes they are being truthful, but what they are saying is not true.

2. Omission or leaving out relevant information is easier and least risky. It doesn’t involve inventing any stories. It's passive lying.

3. Restructuring or distorting the context. Saying something in sarcasm, changing the characters or the altering the scene.

4. Denial or refusing to acknowledge a truth. The extent of denial can be quite large — they may be lying only to you just this one time or they may be lying to themselves.

5. Minimization or reducing the effects of a mistake, a fault, or a judgment call.

6. Exaggeration facts,

7. Deliberately inventing a false story.

The one person who is most vulnerable is the voter who refuses to acknowledge that their candidate is a liar. That's dangerous because it puts the liar into office and your life is directly impacted. Do not allow a compulsive liar to influence your vote.

Tell-Tale Signs of Big Fat Liars

Here are a few tell-tale signs that might help you recognize the person who is truthful from the one who lies:

1. Dodges the Questions
It's called, the pivot. It's the most common technique for career politicians. This happens when liars dodge the question by "pivoting" to an answer on the same subject. It sounds like an answer, but it does not answer the actual question asked.

Todd Rogers, a behavioral psychologist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government conducted a study on why typical viewers don't notice. Rogers concluded "that people [that's you] are capable of detecting dodges only if lies are so different, it's noticable. They don't seem capable of detecting the subtle dodge.

Rogers believes this is because people [that's you] have limited attention and when watching debates — for example, they [that's you again] "spend their attention on social evaluation." Do we like this person? Do we trust this person? Many people don't generally monitor content.

This, Rogers believes, is why politicians get away with dodging questions as much as 70 percent of the time.

A good example of "pivoting" is when Hillary Clinton spent five hours not-answering questions during the Congressional Investigation interviews on Benghazi.

The rest of the 11 hours, Democrats on the committee pivoted even more away from the truth. Read more about this here.

When faced with a pivot, viewers identified the pivot 88 percent of the time when they could see the question written down — as compared to 39 percent when it wasn't. Read more here.

Watch out for presidential candidates and practiced politicians who "pivot" their answers and never give you a straight answer. Don't just watch debates, for example. Listen. Write down the moderators question on a tablet. Listen for the answer.

2. Completely Different Question
Robert MacNamara epitomized career politicians when he said, 'Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked.' You can probably recognize the lie if you think about it. The person answers a completely different question with a perfectly plausible response.

When Marco Rubio was asked about his wrongful use of the GOP credit card for personal purchases, he responded with an indignate claim that it was "his card," and said, "I paid the personal charges."

The facts are that AmEx card had his name on it, but Molly Faust, a spokeswoman for American Express explained, that Rubio would not have been liable for any charges, which means that he responded to a different question. He also didn't explain how he paid the $65,000± charges on his salary. 

3. Evades the Question with a Long Answer
Liars try to take control by "talking a lot" to prevent more questions. Sometimes, they get angry and play 'hurt.' Use put-down language, such as 'Actually...' or 'As a matter of fact...'

Barack Obama is a master at the long answer. This is a form of evading the question. It's a type of pivot. By the time the person is done, you've forgotten the question and end up praising the "canned answer" you were spoon fed.

There are many more signs. Read more about this here.

4. Changes the Question Altogether
Another form of this technique is to change the question itself. The liar tells the questioner they have asked the wrong thing. They then state what that question should be (and then answer that question).

5. Answers a Similar but Different Question
This technique moves the audience's attention away from the original question by using what is called a 'transitional device'.

The transition words are inserted before their response. See if you recognize hearing these transitions from politicians:

a) That’s a good question, and what we do need to ask is whether people really understand what is going on...

b) I’m glad you asked that because there's another point that needs bringing up...

Note how the transition devices are friendly and offer praise to the questioner. This helps to make what you say more acceptable and also more difficult for them to challenge.

6. Silence
One of the easiest ways to avoid the question is to stare back at the questioner or audience. This is not easy to, but when the liar becomes good at it, it makes the other person uncomfortable.

7. Saying NO
A straightforward refusal is simply to say no. It's a form of lying by omission.

a) I'm not going to answer that.

b) I'm sorry, I'm not going to answer that.

8. Ignoring the Question
A simple way of not answering is to act as if no question was asked and continuing the conversation by talking about something else.

Research has shown that liars will be trusted by voters [that's you] when they pivot, change or answer similar question, or transition to a completely different question. Stop letting liars fool you. Give them your NO VOTE. Read more here.

9. Compulsive Lying
Most people have difficulty believing someone they admire is lying. In everyday life, it may not matter, but when savvy voters vote for the next president — who will impact their life, safety, security and happiness — it definitely does matter.

A compulsive liar is defined as someone who lies out of habit. These people have an addiction to lying, and they simply cannot stop. Telling the truth feels awkward and uncomfortable — while lying feels right.

Compulsive lying is seldom one time or one thing. Listen and watch both for clusters of behaviors and synchronization of behaviors with what is being said.

According to Medical Daily, a compulsive liar, also known as a pathological liar, doesn’t crop up out of nowhere like a tumor.

Compulsive lying is usually thought to develop in early childhood, due to being placed in an environment where lying was necessary. Lying isn't about intelligence. Both smart and not-so-smart people lie. Lying is learned behavior.

Somewhere along the line, and then for multiple years thereafter, it's learned, reinforced and becomes natural. It often stems from a difficult upbringing — not necessarily a violent one, but poor, fatherless, even lonely.

"Almost everyone has encountered a pathological liar: The type of person who in one conversation claims to have dined with the Queen of England, danced back-up for Madonna, and dived with great white sharks."

Some call Hillary Clinton a pathological liar. Her ability to pivot, distract and transition is so well learned, it looks natural. Read more about this here.

What is the Difference Between a Sociopath, Pathological, Chronic, and Habitual Liar?

According to Truth About Deception, a sociopath is typically defined as someone who lies incessantly to get their way and does so with little concern for others. The sociopath is manipulative and cunning. Sociopaths are often charming and charismatic.

The terms Pathological Liar, Habitual Liar and Chronic Liar are often used to refer to a Compulsive Liar.

Body Language

There is body language associated with lying. People feel stressed for a range of reasons. Liars often worry about being caught or feel guilty or tense. He or she speaks in a higher pitched voice (as vocal cords tighten).

Liars who go "off script" often make speech errors, move jerkily, swallow more, (as adrenaline creates saliva). They clear their throat (as saliva dries up); do not 'remember' what they say happened, say things which are inconsistent, say nothing or 'don't remember' and make up stuff.

There will always be naysayers, doubters and deniers, but pray every day that good people will prevail. You, the good and wise will save America from another deceitful President.

Every single American citizen must take off their blinders and think. Think straight. Think about tomorrow. Life and death.

Voters have to recognize the tell-tale signs of big fat liars. Reject lies. Reject the liars. Reject the platitudes of political parties. Embrace truth. Your life, American life, liberty, safety and security depends on your vote.

You must decide whether it's worth the risk to give them the benefit of the doubt. You must decide what the truth is, and what the lie is. Do not take anything for granted. Don't follow what someone else says. Find out for yourself.