A few can catch a liar

Research suggests that most people cannot tell from demeanor when others ar e Eying. Such poor performance is typical not only of laypeople bur also of most professionals concerned with lying. In this study, three professional groups with special interest or skill in deception, two law-enforcement gr oups and a select group of clinical psychologists, obtained high accuracy i n judging videotapes of people who were lying or telling the truth about th eir opinions. These findings strengthen earlier evidence that some professi onal lie catchers are highly accurate, and that behavioral clues to lying a re detectable in real time. This study also provides the first evidence tha t some psychologists can achieve high accuracy in catching lies.