The Art of Discovering Truths in the Labyrinth of Lies
Someone can deceive you not only by lying but also by telling you truths.
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Since the beginning of humanity, the thin line between lies and truth has perpetually occupied the minds of people. From social interactions to the political arena, tracing the paths of lies, illuminating the truth, and avoiding deception have been subjects of interest through the ages. From Ancient Greece to Ancient China, humans have tried various methods to detect lies.
Some have made deductions about whether others are speaking truthfully or falsely by examining body language and facial expressions, while others, particularly those specialized in rhetoric, have analyzed the logical framework of a person’s words to uncover potential contradictions. There have even been those who sought divine assistance in detecting lies.
On the Trail of Lies: Seeking the Truth
After this brief introduction, I will take you to the first instance of deception or trickery, and you will find traces of this style of deception in many such instances. People may lie for many reasons, such as protecting themselves or their interests, gaining reputation in business, manipulating others, preventing the dissolution of a family, maintaining a patient’s morale, engaging in intelligence activities, avoiding imprisonment, or even becoming a ruler.
Looking at the dictionary definition of a lie, we find it described as “statements made with the intent to deceive or mislead.” Perhaps that’s why when we speak of lies, we typically understand them as the opposite of truth or reality. However, deceiving, tricking, or misleading is not as simple as just stating the opposite of black as white.
From this perspective, people can deceive not only with words but with their clothing, behaviors, and perhaps even with their gazes. For example, a foreign agent, a woman wanting to infiltrate the military personnel of a target country, might look or act as if she is in love with a soldier, thus deceiving him or even ‘lying’ with her eyes.
Or a greengrocer who displays fresh and appealing fruits at the front of the stall but places lower quality fruits on the side given to customers, deceives without saying a word because the fruit seen is not the same as the fruit received. Thus, some may present themselves as adherents of Atatürk by wearing an Atatürk badge, nationalist by sporting a crescent-shaped mustache, or religiously affiliated by wearing a robe and turban, and leverage these group identities to their advantage.
What if You Are Deceived by Truths?
When we consider concepts like deception, trickery, and manipulation, lies and truth, right and wrong can sometimes intertwine. It is easy to pick out dark-colored stones from rice, but extra attention is needed to spot stones that are the color and shape of the rice.
What I mean is, someone can deceive you not only by lying but also by telling you truths. For instance, during my time as a cell phone sales representative, a customer who wanted to buy an iPhone 5s came in. I told them we didn’t have it in stock and asked if they were considering another model. Just then, the regional sales manager, who occasionally came for inspections, intervened and showed an Android phone, saying, “I recommend this one. Its camera, memory, and battery features are better than those of the iPhone 5s. The iPhone has a bitten apple on it. It’s not even a whole apple.”
Although everything he said was technically true, he ultimately misled the customer. The Android phone’s camera megapixels or battery milliamp-hours might have been numerically higher than those of the iPhone 5s, but they were not necessarily of better quality.
Consider a country where the ruling party labels a bus fare increase in its own municipality as a “price update,” while calling similar increases in other municipalities a “huge hike,” or orchestrates news coverage to this effect, thus manipulating the public by telling them something technically true.
For example, a girl whose mother calls her while she is with her boyfriend and asks, “Are you with that boy again?” To which the girl replies, “Yes, I’m with him. Mom, hanging out with him isn’t my only activity, I have my own life.” While she is indeed with her boyfriend, her tone and manner suggest to her mother that she is not, thus misleading her with the truth.
The First Deception
If we say that the existence of lies or deception predates human history, we probably wouldn’t be lying. According to religious texts, the first act of deception was carried out by Satan before the first humans were sent to Earth. What did Satan say? “Your Lord has forbidden you this tree only to prevent you from becoming angels or immortal beings.” (Edip Yüksel Translation, Quran, Surah Al-A’raf, 20).
This initial deception offers us an important example for understanding one’s motivation and subconscious. Satan bases his statement on certain truths. For example, he doesn’t say, “If you approach this tree or eat from it, you’ll become rich, powerful, a king, or understand the communication of animals and plants.” The devil builds his rhetoric on the concepts of “being an angel or an eternal being.” This is because, according to many beliefs, there is eternal life in heaven. Since heaven was the homeland of Adam and Eve, it seems that if that tree had not been there as an element of trial, they too would have remained there eternally.
I don’t want to delve too much into this topic since it’s not my field, but the devil is deceiving using a truth or a concept related to truth here. Ultimately, it was in God’s knowledge that mankind would come to earth and be subjected to a test. Therefore, there needed to be an element of test for the two beings created in heaven to be sent to earth, and the devil seems to have based his deception on this thesis, which holds some truth.
Looking at Lie Detection or Deception Analysis Today
Methods of lie detection have evolved and changed over time. However, it is important to note that these developments are continuous and evolutionary.
From primitive observation-based methods to modern techniques, experts can now form opinions on truth and deception by analyzing voice characteristics such as tone, rhythm, and frequency, as well as brain imaging techniques that examine a person’s brain activity.
In an episode of “Lie to Me,” one notable lie detection scene involves an expert observing which words trigger certain micro-expressions on the suspect’s face to uncover the truth.
In another scene, an expert shakes hands with a suspect, shares significant information about a piece of evidence, and then shakes hands again before leaving. As they walk away, he tells his colleague that the suspect is the killer because his hand, warm during the first handshake, turned cold after hearing about the new evidence.
Another scene shows an FBI agent provoking a suspect’s wife by mentioning their murdered daughters, leading the wife to shoot her husband, thus revealing the truth. While these scenarios may sound fantastical in movies or books, how many of them can we actually use in real life with our bosses, friends, children, salespeople, or any other person we interact with?
It is said that people who lie tend to fidget with their rings. There might be some truth to it, but what if they don’t wear a ring? Or if it’s under the table, or if they are wearing gloves? From students to teachers, chefs to workers, military personnel to prosecutors, everyone actually needs a more applicable method.
Former FBI agent and Behavioral Analysis Professor John R. Schafer has named this method Psychological Story (or Narrative) Analysis. To apply this method, you don’t need any technological device or special knowledge. All you need is to focus on the words chosen by the person you are talking to.
In this series of articles, we will not only analyze lies or truths but also delve into the psychological reasons behind the statements, trying to uncover the background and motivation behind what is said to us.
