
Deception Tip 36:
Liars may pretend to have something in their eye and rub it with their hand or finger in an unconscious attempt to block unlikable stimuli.
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Podcast Transcript
Hello and welcome to the deception tips podcast where you will learn amazing cues to detect deceit that will help you read people like never before. Iโm your host Spencer Coffman, letโs get started.
Welcome to episode 36 of the deception tips podcast. Last week we talked about a cool thing, about mirror movements. Hopefully, youโve had a chance to observe or witness some of this in action.ย
I really hope that youโve taken a liking to it and practiced doing the experiment of getting other people to mirror your movements and see how that plays out.
If you havenโt taken advantage of that cool thought experiment or more than a thought experiment of this social experiment, then do so. Get out there and try it because, yeah sure, it may not work, or you may think that it is stupid, or you feel stupid. But itโll really show you how easy it is to get people to mirror your movements and how responsive people are to body language and how they really notice it even if it is unconscious.
It shows you that yes, 70 to, some people even say 90% of our communication is nonverbal. Therefore, try this out and make sure you understand that nonverbal communication is huge.ย
I mean, you already do understand that thatโs why youโve been listening to these podcasts. If youโre at episode 36 already then yeah, you definitely understand body language is a big part of life, but still, try it out.
We talked about how mirror movements are displayed on people who are usually truthful when they want to fit in or belong to a situation. They want to impress the interrogator or get in the good graces of the interrogator, they are going to mirror those movements because they want to be like that person, and they want to connect with that person.
That silently communicates a connection because people are the same and when weโre the same we automatically feel connected. The more we have in common with someone the more connected we are going to feel or are going to be. So, that is why those hand-to-face movements are typically mirrored in a conversation.
Now, when people donโt mirror those movements doesnโt necessarily mean that theyโre lying. They could be thinking about something else or maybe they donโt like you, who knows. However, typically when they arenโt going to mirror those movements it means that they may not be telling the truth.
This goes even further than lying and deceptive behaviors as weโve talked about the social experiments you can do. This could go off into larger arenas of actually getting people to copy your entire behaviors or mannerisms, and itโs something that youโve seen in meetings or in gatherings no doubt, in your old life. When you have some kind of a conversation with a few other people you can dictate and lead that conversation non-verbally.
So, if you choose to sit with your feet in the figure four position crossing a leg, pretty soon youโll notice other people might follow that suit. If you lean back or you fold your arms, other people might start holding their arms. Itโs something that you can control based on your body language. So, this is cool because if you know body language and know receptive poses, you can sit in a certain way like in the interested pose.
Where youโre leaning forward, youโre leaning on your toes, you have your elbows on your knees maybe, your head is in. You can sit like that and then if other people around you sit like that, now you know that theyโre engaged.ย
Or, if youโre thinking that this meeting is pointless, and you want other people to side with you, fold your arms, lean back, and turn towards the exit pretty soon other people might follow suit. Now they all think the meaning is pointless as well.
So, you can dictate conversations and dictate thoughts based on body language. If you put people in certain positions, they will also have a similar mentality as you. You can dictate that entire conversation without even saying a word. Therefore, body language is very important. It is essential that you know what you are communicating because if you donโt, you may be getting other people to believe things you do not want them to believe.
Today we are going to talk about a different sign of deception that is on the face. It can relate to the mirror movements in that it is a hand to face gesture, this is the gesture of rubbing the eyes. Liars, or not even liars but people in general, may rub their eyes for a variety of reasons.ย
The legitimate one is that they have something in their eye, that is a legitimate reason to rub your eye. Or like crying, which something is in your eye, itโs a tear, things like that.
When you rub your eyes, thereโs usually a reason for it of pacifying the distress thatโs being caused. Whether itโs crying or whether itโs a tear, whether you have an eyelash in your eye or something else in your eye, something like that, there is a legitimate reason.ย
However, liars or other people who may be being deceptive will often rub their eyes for a different reason and that is what the tip of the day is about or the tip of the week, this weekโs podcast episode.
So, here it is, deception tip number 36. Liars may pretend to have something in their eye and rub it with their hand or finger in an unconscious attempt to block unlikeable stimuli. Here it is again, liars may pretend to have something in their eye and rub it with their hand or finger in an unconscious attempt to block unlikable stimuli.
So, this is important, they may be rubbing their eye and now theyโre pretending to have something in their eye, so there really isnโt something there. This is simply a gesture to block out something, so they donโt have to see it. To show that they are uninterested in whatever is going on, theyโre going to rub their eye. It is conveying boredom, in a way to show people that they are tired of the situation and that they donโt really want to be involved anymore.
That it is something that hey, they donโt really care about, so they are going to rub their eye to not only block out whatever is being seen or whatever is being heard, but theyโre also going to block out anything from them, so theyโre taking away the field of vision even. This is important because in episode 20 we talked about eye contact and that people will have eye contact regularly when theyโre interested.
Well, when youโre rubbing your eye, youโre breaking that eye contact. So, that shows that youโre not interested, it shows that you donโt really care about the conversation. Especially when it is something that happens continually and when there really isnโt something in your eye.ย
So, weโre going to talk a lot more about this and a lot more about some of the reasons why people might rub their eye or how they would do it in conversation, coming up right after this.
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People may rub their eyes for a variety of reasons. However, when it is in deception or when it is in conversation and body language, the one that we are looking for is blocking the unlikable stimuli. Now, youโve no doubt done this before. You see somebody walk in front of you that you donโt really want to look at or like letโs say you donโt like.
People with tons of tattoos all over their face and someone with a bunch of tattoos on their face comes in you like whoa, dude, but the polite thing to do is to talk to him or acknowledge it or whatever and just move on.ย
However, since you might really be distraught or disgusted with that appearance, obviously, youโre not going to be like, whoa, I canโt even look at that and shut your eyes and turn away because that would be very insensitive and rude.
What you would probably do is put your hand up to one of your eyes and pretend you have something in your eye so that you can shut the other eye while you may be talking to that person or while you have to deal with that person. Because then you will not be seeing them, you will have blocked out those unlikable stimuli, but you will still have been polite about it and they wonโt even know what you were doing.
Unless they have, of course, studied body language and theyโre going to be like huh, that person doesnโt like to look at me, I wonder why? If they even get that far with thought. It doesnโt matter, the point being that there are a variety of ways that people can block out unlikable stimuli. Sometimes they may use a finger, they may pretend they have something in their eye like rubbing their eyelashes, they may even rub their eye, who knows.
The point with this is that anytime someone is putting their hand up to their eyes to kind of block something, if they donโt have something in their eye then that means that something is going on that they donโt like. This could be something that is in their field of vision that they see, and they donโt like that or keep in mind it could also be something that they are hearing.
That sounds a little bit goofy that well, why would they rub their eye if itโs something they hear that they donโt like. Well, sight and hearing go hand in hand when it comes to deception and body language. If someone hears something they donโt like, they may still rub their eye because theyโre still blocking some form of stimuli. If itโs something they hear, they could block their eye because plugging their ears isnโt really a social behavior that we can do.
So, they might block their eyes and just block out the personโs saying the information they donโt like. So, that way, theyโre not taking in all of the information, theyโre only taking in the audible information.ย
In addition, they may be blocking out the visual information with their hand because they donโt like to see that. That is stereotypical, that is the obvious one that hey if Iโm shutting my eyes because I donโt like some form of stimuli itโs probably some form of visual stimuli.
Keep in mind though it could be some form of audible stimuli. This is why once you see that, the first thing you may want to do is say, come from a voice of concern, โare you okay, is something in your eye? Let me see.โ If theyโre like, โno, no, Iโm goodโ or โyeah, okayโ, and then they let you look and continue, then youโll know all something really was in their eye.
Otherwise, they may say, โno, Iโm fine, I got itโ whatever, or โitโs nothingโ then maybe you know, okay, well then why were they rubbing their eyes? So, that gives you the opportunity to poke and prod for further signs of deception because this one is not a telltale hundred percent slam-dunk that they donโt like whatever theyโre seeing or hearing.
This is one that you can prod a little further on, โHey, are you alright? Let me see, is something in your eye?โ See what they say or what they do and based on that you can continue. You can also see if there are any other signs of deception around that, any other hand to face gestures, any other forms of blocking out the unlikeable stimuli, whether itโs audible or visual and you can determine where it comes from.
So, if they continually do it, then your next step is to find out well whatโs in their field of vision. Is there something they may not like or what was I saying? Is there something I said they donโt like or is there something else that theyโre hearing that they donโt like? Is there a child screaming? Is there an annoying beeping noise going on? It could be anything, it may not even be you, it may not be what youโre saying.
It could be that thereโs some kind of white noise in the background that has bothered them since day one of their life and theyโre hearing it and now they like, โah, this is just too much for me right now.โ Thatโs what theyโre blocking out. It might not even be what youโre saying, they could be very interested in what youโre saying.
So, this is why you need to take into consideration all of the factors around the environment and consider all the variables. If you see something, this is any sign of deception, if you see any type of blocking the external stimuli gestures, then you will want to definitely consider everything around. Whatโs going on around me, what are they seeing in the field of vision? What am I hearing? Because if Iโm hearing things, they might be hearing it.
Also, what might they be hearing and paying attention to that I donโt even hear, I made tune it out. Or, maybe they hear different frequencies than you do because you have some hearing damage.ย
There could be a variety of things, keep in mind all of those things. That is why it is essential for you before making any conclusion about whether or not that person is being deceptive, you need to look for other signs.
So, you see one sign of deception or one potential sign of deception, then you can prod your way a little further and see if there are other signs of deception relating to certain topics. Then youโll know that it was a deceptive behavior and not something else or not just something that they heard a beeping noise that they donโt like so theyโre blocking that out instead of something that is important or something that you are trying to convey to them.
Therefore, I know I say this a lot, guys, but really, look for patterns and clusters of behaviors. If it wasnโt important, I wouldnโt continually say it. In addition, if it wasnโt important there wouldnโt be a hundred and one podcast episodes on detecting deception. There wouldnโt be a hundred and one blog posts, there wouldnโt be a hundred and one deception tips videos, and there wouldnโt be books that Iโve written on it.
If it wasnโt important, I would not be dedicating all of this time to give you guys all of this information so that you can learn how to read people and detect deception. Therefore, it is important, to continue to learn about it, watch for those patterns and clusters of behavior and share that with other people.
I want to thank you for listening to the deception tips podcast. I hope that youโll share it with your friends, subscribe to the feed, take a look at the deception tips videos, and the deception tips blog, and check out the books I have available, and as always, tune in next week for a new deception tip.
Video Transcript
Hey guys, my name is Spencer Coffman, thank you for watching theย deception tips videos. Theyโre all about teaching you how to read people and detect deception so that you will be able to tell if someone is lying to you.
Today, we are going to talk about a cool sign of deception that is something that people do all the time. Itโs something thatโs so natural that itโs actually one of the harder signs to pick up when it comes to being deceptive, but the good thing is that you can look for patterns and clusters of behavior. So, if you see this sign happen with other signs, now you know it is part of a pattern or a cluster of behaviors and you know that that person could be lying.
However, if you only see it by itself then you know that thereโs another reason and as youโre going to find out in a few minutes that there could be a ton of other reasons that this sign happens. So, here it is, deception tip number 36. Liars may pretend to have something in their eye and rub it with their hand or finger in an unconscious attempt to block unlikeable stimuli.
Now, the key word here is โpretendโ, liars may pretend to have something in their eye, that means they donโt really have something in their eye. Another thing to note is, last time we talked about mirroring behaviors which are usually hand to face mirror behaviors. So, if I rub my eye like this, chances are whoever Iโm talking with, someone else, theyโre probably going to rub their eye as well, thatโs just part of natural human communication. You can check out that video if you havenโt seen it.
Otherwise, with typical eye movements, people only touch their eyes usually like if thereโs something in their eye. If they have an eyelash that got in the way, they may try to rub it out or if they got a speck of dust or if a bug flies in their eye theyโre going to be messing with their eyes because somethingโs irritating it. They canโt see, thereโs something wrong or if itโs really dark or if they just wake up, they got to rub the sleep out of their eyes, tons of reasons that people could be touching their eyes.
However, liars will pretend to touch their eyes for a valid reason, so theyโre not pretending to touch their eye, theyโre really touching their eye. Itโs just the reason behind it is pretend, itโs fake, so thatโs a lie in and of itself plus whatever theyโre lying about. So, itโs really a double lie, so now the unconscious is really trying to push out behaviors and really trying to get to the truth because itโs double.
Theyโre lying not only with whatever theyโre saying or whatever theyโre covering up. Theyโre faking the reason why theyโre touching their eye, so now thereโs going to be all kinds of stress and tension. So, there will be more than one behavior, so seeing a cluster or pattern when it comes to the sign, there definitely is going to be a pattern and a cluster of behaviors.
Keep in mind that people can touch their eyes for all kinds of different reasons and so you shouldnโt count a hundred percent on anytime someone touches their eye that theyโre lying. Now, I said to block out unlikable stimuli, this could be done very simply as in, they see something they donโt like, and they could just rub their eye, closing one eye and then the other eye is looking somewhere else so that whatever theyโre seeing over here theyโre not seeing anymore because they donโt like seeing it.
So, pay attention to that whenever thatโs happening, if theyโre shutting their eyes or if theyโre, in extreme cases, they may back up a little bit like, โwhoa, like thatโs kind of repulsiveโ or whatever. Itโs usually something they donโt like, they do not want to see it. In some extreme cases, you may even see disgust on their face, like a, โwhat in the world was thatโ type of a deal.
However, other times, it could go so far as they may even shut their eyes, they could turn their head away and look somewhere else because whatever theyโre seeing they donโt want to see. But in minor cases, where maybe theyโre speaking with someone and theyโre pretending to like whatever is going on and they really donโt, so now theyโre just touching their eye or theyโre blocking out that unlikeable stimuli.
One important thing which is going to add a lot of confusion or it just keeps going on itโs like on a second Monday they do this and if itโs a full moon you do that. No, this is if they are not liking a stimulus. Now, stimuli donโt need to be visual, so it could be something they hear that they donโt like, and they could block their eyes.
Why? Well, because whoever is saying that theyโre blocking out the visual of that person. Theyโre blocking that unlikeable stimulus from their eyes, but they still may be hearing it, they could just tune it out later. Theyโre not going to physically plug their ears when talking to someone because thatโs too rude. However, they could unconsciously block their eye and then within their head they could just ignore what someone is saying.
So, pay attention to that if someone blocks their eyes it could be because they are blocking out some unlikable stimuli. If you happen to get lucky and itโs one of those extreme cases where they turn their head away, close their eyes or something like that then you know for sure. Otherwise, pay attention to patterns and clusters of behavior when it comes to eye blocking stimuli.
If this is your first time watching these videos, I would love to have youย subscribe to the channel on YouTube. In addition, feel free to leave any comments or questions on there as well. Also, if youโd like some more information, weโveย got books,ย podcasts,ย blog posts, all available onย spencercoffman.comย that are 100% dedicated to teaching you exactly what everybody is really saying.
Until next time.