Being an effective and believable liar can be beneficial in a plethora of ways.
So, if you are not a natural then how can you learn to be a more effective liar especially in this day and age where technology is trying to thwart our every effort in duplicity?
Look no further. Scientific American has released 18 attributes of a successful liar.
According to a team of scientists led by Dutch psychologist Aldert Vrij, there are precise ingredients to a great liar. They delineate 18 traits to a super liar. Listed below are the top ten:
1. Manipulativeness: Liars are not fearful or anxious. They are scheming, relaxed and confident.
2. Acting: Good actors make good liars.
3. Expressiveness: Liars are seductive and their expressions distracting.
4. Physical attractiveness: Good-looking people are judged as more honest.
5. Natural performers: Good at convincingly adapting to abrupt changes in discourse.
6. Experience: Practice make perfect. Prior lying helps manage emotions such as guilt and fear.
7. Confidence: Believe and it shall be. Liars must have confidence.
8. Emotional camouflage: Liars mask emotions by feigning the opposite affect.
9. Eloquence: Eloquent speakers use word play to buy extra time to create plausible answers.
10. Well-preparedness: Liars minimize fabrication on the spot, which is more vulnerable to detection.
The researchers also point out that many of these qualities are inherent and cannot be fully learned (i.e. with ease of effort) if you will.
The full study, along with other studies on deception conducted by Vrij, can be found in the Open Access Journal of Forensic Psychology.