Happy Halloween all!
While some folks spend Halloween baking sweet treats for the neighborhood kids or decorating their houses for haunted mischief-making, the TeachStreet gang couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate this holiday dedicated to trickery than learning how to lie (better).
Ok, so we didn’t really learn how to lie. Some of us are already pretty good at that. 
However, we DID learn how to become human lie detectors. Marcus Mann, an FBI-trained criminal justice specialist, stopped by our offices today to share some trade secrets that we’re already finding quite useful.
Like many of the teachers we’ve met, Marcus has both a full time job (he’s Director of Employee Development at Lease Crutcher Lewis) and he also teaches part time. In the past, Marcus has taught quarter-long classes on criminal investigation at the UW, Shoreline Community College and Highline Community Colleges. Currently, he teaches a suite of unique 3-hour-long classes at DiscoverU with intruiging titles like: How to Become a Human Lie Detector, How to Become a Private I, Find Anything on Anyone. Marcus also spends a good bit of time doing private workshops with companies on similar topics, as well as training management how to react to stressful situations at work (like a fatality at a construction site). Marcus has been an instructor (both full time and part time) for the past 21 years, putting to good use the skills he learned while running the Washington State Police Academy, as a Hostage Negotiations Team leader and during his multi-decade career as public safety officer in Seattle.
Some of the TeachStreet team hangs out with Marcus Mann (back row, center) at our offices in Seattle, WA.
During our hour-long training session, Marcus gave us a crash course in how to determine if the folks around you are lying. You’ll have to take his class to get all the details, but won’t leave you hanging. In the spirit of learning new things, here are a few tidbits to whet your appetite.
Lies: Some of the different reasons that we lie are…
- Poor boundaries (You don’t want to disappoint someone, so you lie a little bit – “Yeah, I really love that shirt on you.”)
- Fear of rejection (“Sure boss, I’d love to join you for a round of golf. I’ve been wanting to do that for years.”)
- Control (“No Mom, that’s oregano… geeze!”)
Damn Lies: Some of the different types of lies we tell are…
- Lies of Omission (#1 type of lying!)
- Lie of omission: “Sorry, I’m late honey. I stopped at the store on my way home.”
- The full truth: “Sorry, I’m late honey. I stopped at the store on my way home, and then swung by the casino for a quick game of blackjack.”
- Fabrication
- True story: In middle school, I had a friend who said she had a pool in her backyard and we should come over and go swimming. Jack pot! We arrived, swimsuits in hand and as it turns out, there was no pool. Um… awkward.
- Additional fabrication: Ok, so this actually happened to my sister. But it’s a better story when told first person, no?
- Minimizing and Maximizing:
- “When I heard about it, I was flabbergasted, shocked, overwhelmed…”
Statistics
- 90% of all statements we make are truthful.
- While at first, we thought 90% sounded reassuring, after thinking about it, we realized that meant that in a ten minute conversation with your partner, friend or co-worker, usually there will be at least one minute of lying. Maybe it’s just a little fib, but nonetheless…
- Most people don’t lie directly; in fact lies of omission are the most common types of lies.
- Most people can’t lie without detectable responses. This could be anything from changing your patterns of speech to physical cues like sweating or evasive body language (shrugging).
- The only folks who can consistently lie without detectable responses are pathological liars. We recommend you stay away from them.
As far as learning how to tell if people are lying, look for things like:
- Equivocation (“I think I sort of saw someone coming out of that building late last night”)
- Extraneous information (Q: “Did you rob that bank?” A: “You’d have to be crazy to try to pull something like that off”)
- or Non-normal physical actions (covering your face or mouth, rubbing hands together etc.). And this is just the tip of the iceberg…
For more info, we highly recommended taking a class with Marcus if you’re in the Seattle area. You can contact him at upattitute (at) msn (dot) com. He’s a hoot and someone who really gets a kick out of teaching. One quote from our session that summed up Marcus’s approach to teaching is, “I’m on true north when I teach.” Quite true, Marcus… quite true indeed.
—-
Bonus Round: Marcus is also a popular author with two books under his belt (“I had to drive, I was too drunk to walk” and “Anti-Terrorism Risk Assesments“) and a third coming out in January (we’ll let you know when it hits the shelves).
His newest book is based around his experiences as a police officer and things people say to get out of tickets. (He’ll soon be offering courses on the same topic.) We got a sneak peek into Marcus’s suggestions, and as it turns out… sometimes being honest (“Sorry Officer. You’re right, I WAS speeding) actually works! (Let us know how it goes if you have the opportunity to try that one out.) After meeting such a great teacher, we’re all really excited to get back to building a site that works for people like Marcus! (Truth or lie? You decide… )
That’s all for now folks. I leave you with a Halloween-oriented video that might tempt some of you to learn more about composting.