We struggle to detect deception in strangers from "summary" of Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
The problem is that we think we can easily spot a lie. We believe that liars give themselves away with obvious, uncontrollable cues. We expect deception to be written all over a person's face. We think liars avert their gaze, fidget, and stammer. We think they get hostile. We think they repeat themselves. We think they excessively blink. We think they look up and to the right. We think they scrunch up their noses. We think they press their lips together. We think they shuffle their feet. We think they cover their mouths. We think they clear their throats. We think they touch their noses. We think they rub their eyes. We think they shift in their seats. We think they place objects between themselves and their interrogators. We think they swallow hard. We think they look down. We think they run their hands through their hair. We think they cross their arms. We think they shrug. The problem is that all of these supposed signs of deception are, in fact, just as likely to be signs of anxiety. And the problem with anxiety is that it distracts us. It makes it harder for us to pay attention. It causes us to miss the real signs of deceit. And the problem with the real signs of deceit is that they are far more subtle. They require close attention and careful interpretation. They are not always as obvious as we think they are. They are not always as easy to spot as we assume they will be. They do not always manifest themselves in the ways we expect them to. They do not always fit neatly into our preconceived notions of what a lie looks like. The problem is that we are too quick to judge. We are too quick to jump to conclusions. We are too quick to assume that we know the truth. We are too quick to believe that we are right. We are too quick to rely on our instincts. We are too quick to trust our intuitions. We are too quick to dismiss evidence that contradicts our beliefs. We are too quick to discount information that challenges our assumptions. We are too quick to overlook facts that do not align with our preconceptions. The problem is that we are not as good at detecting deception as we think we are. We are not as accurate as we believe ourselves to be. We are not as skilled as we imagine ourselves to be. We are not as infallible as we perceive ourselves to be. We are
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