Free Quirkology by Richard Wiseman

Wind, Sir Robin only once mentions how the film makes him feel (“Very moving . . . ” ), compared to the several references to his feelings when he talks about Some Like It Hot (“It gets funnier every time that I see it . . . ”; “There are all sorts of bits . . . I love . . . ” ; “[Curtis is] so pretty . . . so witty . . . ” ).
     
    Then there is the issue of forgetting. Imagine someone asking you a series of questions about what you did last week. It is probable that you wouldn’t be able to remember many of the trivial details and, being the honest person you are, would admit to your memory lapse. Liars tend not to do this. When it comes to relatively unimportant information, they seem to develop super-powered memories and often recall the smallest of details. In contrast, truth-tellers know that they have forgotten certain details and are happy to admit it. Sir Robin’s interviews illustrate the point. There is only one instance when he admits that he cannot remember a detail, and it is when he tells us the truth about not being able to recall the first time he saw his favorite film, Some Like It Hot.
     
    Research has yet to confirm exactly why body language is often so misleading and the language of lying so revealing. One theory is that because eye contact and hand movements are easy to control, liars can use these signals to convey whatever impressions they want. In contrast, trying to control the words we use, and the way we say them, is much harder; for this reason, a person’s use of language becomes a far more reliable guide to the truth.
     
    Whatever the theory, the simple fact is that the real clues to deceit are in the words that people use. So do people become much better lie detectors when they listen to a liar, or even just read the transcript of a liar’s comments? I have to own up to a little falsehood of my own. I didn’t tell you the whole truth about the experiment with Sir Robin. Like all good deceivers, I didn’t actually lie to you, I just left out some important information.
     

LESLIE NIELSEN, KETCHUP, AND SOUR CREAM
     
    The television experiment was just one small part of a much bigger study. On the same day the BBC program was aired, we also played just the soundtrack of the two interviews on a national radio station. Roger Highfield, the science editor, also arranged for the transcripts to be printed in the Daily Telegraph. Each time, listeners and readers were asked to guess which interview they thought contained the lies and to register their opinions by telephoning one of two numbers. Thousands of people were kind enough to participate. Although the lie-detecting abilities of the television viewers were no better than chance, the newspaper readers were correct 64 percent of the time, and the radio listeners scored an impressive 73 percent accuracy rate. When it comes to detecting lies, people are better off listening than looking.
     
    The experiment with Sir Robin is far from being the only study to illustrate that people’s lie-detecting abilities are increased by encouraging them to listen rather than to look. One of the more unusual pieces of research in the area was done by Glenn Littlepage and Tony Pineault from Middle Tennessee State University. 16 These researchers carried out their study using one of the best-known, and longest-running, game shows on American television. To Tell the Truth involved three contestants each claiming to be the same person. This trio was interrogated by four celebrity panelists who tried their best to uncover who was genuine and who was bluffing. After they had made their decisions, the host asked the truth-teller to stand up and reveal all. This show became a part of American popular culture, and it formed the basis for the opening sequence of the film Catch Me If You Can.
     
    Littlepage and Pineault taped various editions of the show. In one of the episodes, three women claimed they were experts on the Middle Ages; in another,