Myth 25.

Myth

“I always know when a victim is lying.”

Fact

Research has shown that a coin flip is better at detecting lies than humans. You can put a caption of “haha look at how obvious it is they’re lying” on anything and people will agree.

In fact, it is often more accurate to rely on a coin flip to detect lies. Most of us can detect lies at a no greater level than pure chance (ie: 50/50). Studies have been done on videotapes of people lying and people telling the truth to police, psychiatrists, federal US judges, secret service agents, polygraphers, and college students. Who was able to tell if they were witnesses deception? The findings are stark:

  • Only US secret service agents scored above chance (64%);
  • Canadian Federal Parole Officers scored below chance (40.4%) as did forensic psychologists and psychiatrists (46.7%); and
  • Police Officers were only able to detect lying at level of chance.