Useful and Credible -, July 18, 2012

'Spy the Lie' provides insights from highly experienced practitioners of deception detection. Readers will not only learn useful perspectives on detecting deception, but to also be aware that lie detection is usually not easy and requires an open mind and strategy.The primary obstacles that gets in the way of detecting deception are the belief that people will not lie to you, along with a bias that people are innocent until proven guilty and being uncomfortable judging others. The authors begin by suggesting one look for deceptive behavior within five seconds of a question, as well as for a cluster of such behaviors - a single 'suspicious' behavior may mean nothing.Most of 'Spy the Lie' is taken up with specific suggestions on what to look for. For example, failure to understand a simple question is a deceptive behavior. Another - deceptive persons sometimes respond to an allegation with a truthful statement that casts him/her in a very favorable light such as...

This book's authors have many years of experience interviewing CIA assets, CIA employees, and a variety of ordinary people in non-CIA settings. Their specialty is in determining when someone is lying. And they are good at it. This skill in detecting deception has done a lot of good, helping their clients make better decisions about hiring the right new employee, trusting the right baby sitter, and prosecuting the person who really "did it." Sometimes the skills bring pain, making clear that the waiting doctor's politeness covers bad news or that a spouse isn't really joking about "her boyfriend." Still, it's better to know, isn't it?Detecting deception isn't magic and it isn't infallible. But it is possible to become better at it than most of us are now. The book identifies several barriers to accurately detecting deception. We expect most people to tell the truth, we ask the wrong questions, and we look for the wrong "tells" in other people's behavior. And we try...

It was an interesting read, with real life examples. However, I was hoping for a little more. Good advice about interviewing included when to pursue details of an admission vs. inviting additional or deeper admissions/information first; and recognizing and setting aside our own biases when presented with convincing statements, like "I love my child. I could never hurt him!" I was happily surprised by the direct, but non-blaming approach recommended by the authors in an effort to reach the ultimate goal of getting (more) information. All in all, I would recommend this book for someone who is interested in a light read with good information. Just don't expect any real neat tricks or sure-fire way to detect lies.