April Newsletter: A liar caught out, storytelling, embedded confessions and rowdy road.
Here’s your monthly roundup of all things involving truth and deception in words.
To TikTok first. A woman called Julia Reel put up a clip telling the story of how she was manhandled out of a Chicago venue. The venue hit back with receipts in the form on CCTV showing Julian being quietly escorted out. You can watch both Julia’s video and the venue’s rebuttal here - https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeP2kPxw/
We can pretty much guarantee that what Julia says in her clip is deception - are there any tells? Yes! She tells the story in present tense, not what you’d expect when hearing about the past.
Another way of detecting someone’s deception is to look at how closely an answer given matches the question asked. If you ask “how much were those shoes” and the reply is “not expensive” then you can see the proper answer to the question (the price of the shows) isn’t there. So what do you think is going on in this video?
https://twitter.com/thesun/status/1771071814644515271?s=46&t=TxFXYSYU1yTTUXgVIOxSnA
Is someone telling you what happened or are they telling you a story? One way of detecting that is the use of the words “and then”. “And then” can be used to hide events - for example “I was just telling him I’d like him to spend less on shoes and then he started ranting and raving at me”. In that case you can bet something happened during the “and then” and it’s being hidden.
This video has plenty of “and then”, it features a women who has been found guilty of killing her son and her interactions with the police.
Another tell to look for is the embedded confession. No explanation needed here, the Behaviour Panel lay it out wonderfully
https://www.facebook.com/reel/324949586828824
Finally, one of the best ways to find deception is to find the truth! There’s a great example of that in this article: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ive-never-any-trouble-here-28917445
The article contains four residents of a street which saw a violent disturbance. In their quotes all four attempt to give the impression that it’s a quiet street, but they can help but let the truth come out.
One said “I’ve never had a problem. Saying that, they do come out when it’s sunny.” Who is they? The no problem people? Bonus points if you spotted she used the word “never”.
Another said “There’s normally not that much trouble, but I’ve got a thick front door and a dog. It’s normally quiet.” He qualifies his statement with “normally” (twice) and “that much”, therefore although it’s normally quiet it’s not always. Plus, given he has a thick front door, how does he know?!
The other neighbours were similarly qualified, saying “It’s normally the other end of the street that is a bit noisier” and “It’s usually alright”.
Is there anything else you spotted? Let us know in the comments or by replying to this email.