There aren’t two magic questions that can reliably unmask a liar. People can appear nervous while telling the truth, and confident people can lie convincingly. Research on lie detection generally finds that relying on body language, eye contact, or a person’s demeanor is unreliable.
If you’re trying to assess whether someone is being truthful, two useful questions are:
“Can you walk me through exactly what happened, in your own words?”
“What evidence or details could I check to verify that?”
Then pay attention to specific, independently verifiable inconsistencies, rather than whether they avoid eye contact, fidget, or seem nervous.
A good rule: look for evidence, not “tells.”
