Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, that is, talking without saying a

word. On the other hand, non-verbal communication includes body movements, posture, gestures,
facial expressions and eye movements. According to the social anthropologist, Edward T. Hall, in a
normal conversation between two parties, he discovered that approximately 35% of interactions is
actually expressed through words, while 65% of it is conveyed through body language. In modern
society, more and more liars exist. According to James Patterson, the writer of The Day America
Told the Truth, discovered that 91% among the two thousand Americans that he interviewed lies
regularly both work and home. Based on research by Robert Feldman, in any given conversation, an
average of two to three lies occurs every ten minutes. So, why do people lie? It is because they want
to avoid punishment, protect themselves, look good and gain socially. Therefore, by understanding
body language, individuals able to know attitude, feelings, and emotion of a person.

Gestures are the most reliable clue to detect lies because many liars could not control over
them since they are used to it during childhood. Firstly these gestures will become a habit, and as
time goes by, it will slowly become natural response to the liars. Hence, gestures can be considered
as one of the most important things to the liars. Mouth covering gesture is one of the most common
lying gestures. For example, covering mouth using hands is an immediate reaction to individual
who lies. Another lying gesture will be nose-touching. Based on the extensive analysis of Bill
Clintons testimony by American neurologist Alan Hirsch and psychiatrist Charles Wolf, they
noticed before Bill Clinton answering question, he gave a split-second frown and showed nose
touching gesture for a grand total of 26 times once every four minutes. However, when Bill Clinton
is trying his best to clarify and explain to the grand jury that he does not have any relationship with
Monica Lewinsky, he seldom do such gesture.

On the other hand, rubbing itchy nose is also one of the most common lying gesture. The
purpose liars use this gesture is to isolate repetitive gesture such as the mouth-covering and the

nose-touching gestures. Besides, a person tends to rub their eyes when they lie. The act rubbing eye
is likely to happen, so that liars can avoid looking at the persons face who is being lied to.
Moreover, another clue is when someone scratches his neck. For instance, when individual says
something like, I know how you feel, in fact they dont know if they scratch their neck. Gestures
give many clues for lie detection, therefore every gesture has to be observed carefully.

Lie detection can be observed through facial expressions as well, that is, facial flushing. For
example, all of the experts agree that if someone you are talking to have his face flushing, this
indicates that the person is lying. Furthermore, when a person is going through long periods of
lying, he tends to act oddly. The person will begin yawning and increase his number of gulps of
saliva, that is usually seen from an enlarged Adams apple of a man. Moreover, according to
research by Professor Paul Ekman, who helped the scientists to distinguish between genuine and
fake smiles by using Facial Action Coding System, showed that people deliberately lie, tend to
smile less than they usually do. He believes this because liars realize that most people associate
smiling with lying so they intentionally decrease their smiles. Thus, this concludes that when
someone lies, he smiles less or not at all, regardless of culture. However, when an individual lies,
his fake smile appears stronger on left side of the face than the right side. Not only that, checking
for sweat of a person is another clue through body language. Liars tend to sweat more. This is
caused by fear and anxiety.

Eye contact is the most common way that enables us to identify whether person is lying or
not. The eyes are also known as the windows to the soul, even if they dont reveal the soul, the
eyes are thought to be the best predictor to guess the feelings of someone. As we all know, if
someone lies, the person used to look somewhere else, but if he is staring down, this means that he
is trying his best to lie. Generally, when a person is lying, his blinking rate will likely to increase
dramatically. In addition, liars always dart their eyes from side to side, so that they can avoid others

suspect. Through a persons posture, a persons body will become unnatural stiff and awkward
when he lies. This happens due to muscle tension.

The points mentioned above are lie detection through body language, anyhow we need to
take cultural influences into consideration. According to the early studies by Watson and Graves,
they have shown differences in gazing behavior, body orientation, and touching behavior among
individuals of different cultures. For example, in the United States and Canada, thumbs up gesture
means everything is ok, but in Germany and certain parts of South America, the OK sign means
obscene. Another example is, in America culture, eye contact plays important role in gaining a
persons attention, conveying interest, showing respect, and so forth. However, in many Middle
Eastern cultures, eye contact between the same genders reveals the symbol of trust and sincerity,
while in Muslim cultures, eye contact between opposite genders is considered inappropriate. In
Asian, African, and Latin American cultures eye contact is a symbol challenge, while Japanese
tend to consider eye contact as sign of uncomfortable.

In conclusion, many experts have proved that lies can be detected through body language.
Although cultural differences exist, somehow body language serves as the guidelines for observing
someones behaviors, interpreting peoples mindset, and detecting lies. Last but not least, body
language is not 100% accurate but reliable. By understanding body language, whatever liars do will
automatically come into picture.