Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage

I write this for two reasons. Firstly, to critique some of the lower graded reviews, not for the purpose of debasing them but to inform them. And second, to speak to the layperson about interpersonal communications.As any individual who has worked within or studied psychology would tell, causality treads along a thin line. Ekman notes, astutely, that there exists no one invariable indication of deceit. Instead, deciphering the likelihood of deception's occurrence need be done cumulatively. In other words, by tallying the indicators we seek to be more founded and closer to certainty, prior to making an accusation. This is so because research into confirmatory bias has shown that once we've become convicted in our beliefs, no matter what those beliefs may be, distancing from them to at least consider an alternative, becomes extremely difficult if not nearly impossible. This results in the proverbial, false-positive. There must always be room for doubt; room for the .01% possibility that we might be misguided. Certainty becomes foolishness, otherwise. Indeed, it seems to be human nature to seek affirmation. But the individual, who expects to read this book and take from it a surefire method of detecting deception, would be reading it for the wrong reason. To do so requires the utmost of critical thinking. And Ekman promotes this cautionary tell eloquently.When talking to someone who, for example, we are unsure of the plausibility of their accounts, to test it we must work deductively. Via an exclusionary line of reasoning, one seeks to locate the more possible explanation by weeding out the lesser. This book, in my opinion, was written to make the reader think and to challenge any preexisting notions one might have about what denotes lying. It was meant to reform our mentality in approach to being more observant and cognizant of just how multifaceted lies often are. Uprooting a lie is difficult. And if we go about it haphazardly, we run the risk of throwing our observations askew; making them mean something they do not. Outside of being clairvoyant--hopefully you do not think that you are--we can never know why, because the reasons why are wholly subjective. Short of eliciting a confession of sorts, I mean to say, we cannot know precisely why someone might be lying, or if they truly are. And to hastily jump to the conclusion lying has taken place, then all else that person we suspect of lying may say, would, to us, be tainted, whether they are being truthful or not.I highly recommend this book, highly. It was well composed and cited some prominent historical examples, detailing how some of the most incisive people in human existence have been fooled and lied on the grandest of stages. As a guidebook for exploring the realm of deception, there can be none better than this book. I can only look forward to Ekman publishing some more of this type of splendid material.

Bought this as a birthday present for my dad after we watched Lie To Me. It's great to read the book that inspired the show and there's a lot of good information in it too! Highly recommend! But use the information at your own peril because sometimes you may not actually want to know what other people are really feeling.

[This review pertains to the 1985 edition.]Ekman's "Telling Lies" is an intellectual landmark. Anyone writing about deceit and emotions must address Ekman's observations, just as a writer on gravity must mention Galileo.The book recounts facts. Ekman ventures on theory no more than absolutely necessary. In this sense, "Telling Lies" endures. New information and new theories could debunk Ekman only by finding his experiments irreproducible or by finding contradictions in their implications.The downside is that some parts of the book are truly dull reading. The chapters begin with interest, but several of them steer into a sea of detail I wearied of navigating. In three chapters, I skipped over large portions to the last few paragraphs and then on to the next chapter. I found the historical examples in international diplomacy quite interesting. For me the best chapter in the book was the Epilogue.People with acute interest in distinguishing truth from falsehood will get some use from "Telling Lies".

We live in a world of emotions, and as much as we'd love to understand them all, Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage by Paul Ekman tells us that it's never fully possible to know, but gives us just what the title promises. The only way this book will be the magic answer to telling lies from truth is properly applying thorough science to the facts presented within it.I honestly looked into this book due to my appreciation of the television show based on Paul Ekman's findings, but the methods for reading body language and looking for micro-expressions are just as sound in text as they are in hour-long episodes. Anyone can learn the clues to deception leakage, the difference between falsifying and concealment, and what a flash of a scowl means before a smile. What the book preaches more than the basics of the science is how to apply it carefully, and that is the most important lesson it teaches. In a way, Dr. Lightman from the television series is an extreme example of the applied methods, going big with himself to get a real reaction instead of letting natural situations over a long period of time bring about the same results.There are very few to no situations where, from a single glance, a person can assess the situation as a whole from one shoulder shrug or micro-expression. Everything is a clue, and only piecing together the clues with logical analysis and further investigation reveal the truth behind the situation. Most of the time, one will never apply this science to daily interactions with the people in one's life, and that thought's encouraged within the book. Becoming a human lie detector and attacking all signs of deceit is not part of good investigation. The most important aspect I took from the book is knowing the science in case there's a need for it in your life, such as a major business deal or buying a used car. Don't scrutinize every aspect of life, because there's a reason lies exist.

Psykologin bakom lögner

Se você entende inglês e gosta da psicologia da mentira, esse livro é pra você, é bastante interessante o jeito que o Paul Ekman explica como mentimos e porque mentimos, sem falar em quão prático esse livro é para o nosso dia a dia.

Excelente para quem gosta do tema

A+

Personalmente sono molto incuriosita dalle ricerche di Ekman e questo è uno dei suoi libri che più preferisco. Lo studio che dedica ad ogni sua ricerca, la dedizione e sua la passione si rispecchiano nei suoi libri. Lettura mediamente facile, richiede una minima base di conoscenza dei suoi studi per comprenderne alcuni esempi, anche se si concentra particolarmente su situazioni della vita quotidiana. Consigliato a tutti!