Eyes don’t lie: reading people with eye movements
Your eyes will be positioned according to the thoughts that are in your head. By looking at your eyes, other people can often tell what you are thinking and if you are lying.
Professional poker players know that their eyes can give you away. Most professional gamers are very good at reading body language and they like to read it. They also often wear sunglasses, hats, and other accessories on their faces to hide their eyes.
The behavior of the eyes is quite predictable, someone will make eye contact with you and during the conversation they will take a moment to think. For this brief moment while accessing information in your brain, your eyes will move to a predictable position. Here’s what the different positions mean:
– Eyes in the upper right (first person in the upper left): when someone moves their eyes up and to the right, it means that they are accessing the visual part of their memory. In this person’s head, visualize objects, colors, movements, and other visual information that pertains to their conversation. If you want to see someone do this, a good question is “what color is your car?”
– Eyes to the middle right (1st person on the left) – Moving the eyes directly to the right is a sign that they are accessing the auditory part of their memory. The person could be remembering a song, the sound of a voice, or a particular noise. If you ask someone to think about the sound of their alarm clock, they should look to the right.
– Eyes down and to the right (1st person down to the left): someone who is talking to himself or thinking about what to say next will look down and to the right. Ask someone how a conversation went and they will look down and to the right.
– Eyes up and left (1st person top right) – Looking up and to the left allows someone to access the visual part of their imagination. This person is building an image in his head. If you ask someone to imagine a green sky with red clouds, they should look up and to the left.
– Eyes to the middle left (1st person to the right) – A person looking directly to the left is constructing sounds in his head. They may be imagining what an unheard voice sounds like or putting together a new melody. Have someone imagine the sound of a car horn underwater and probably look to the left.
– Eyes down and left (1st person bottom right) – When thinking about their feelings, someone will look down and to the left. Often when people say “I feel …” they look down and to the left, and you can tell that they are actually thinking about how they feel.
To detect someone who is lying, it is important to understand how their eyes move normally and then to notice when their behavior changes. For example, your friend tells you about his recent vacation and looks up as he describes the hotel and the places he visited. Suddenly his eyes move to the upper left and he tells you about this girl he met while he was there. It is very likely that he is lying about the girl.
Many people have gotten good at lying by learning to mask the signs of a lie. If you watch their eyes, they will likely maintain eye contact while lying or will turn away from you. Again, notice how they were moving when they were telling the truth and then compare them to when you think they are lying.
Knowing how people’s eyes read can be a huge advantage when communicating in person. You will instantly know when someone is lying and you will be able to catch them before they get away from you.
