BBC Learnings · Section 9

Can you spot a lie

In this programme, we're talking about biscuits. Really?

Level: B2 · 118 sentences

Transcript

  1. In this programme, we're talking about biscuits.
  2. Really?
  3. That's not what I was told.
  4. Oh, hold on.
  5. You're lying. Yes, you're right, Sam.
  6. I am lying simply to demonstrate
  7. our topic – lying and how to detect it.
  8. You detected my lie very easily, Sam.
  9. I could tell from the smirk
  10. on your face that you were telling a fib.
  11. That's the word for a small, inoffensive lie.
  12. To be honest, talking about lie detecting
  13. will be much more interesting than biscuits.
  14. But first, let's start with a question for you to answer.
  15. A competition is held in Cumbria in the UK
  16. every year to find and award the title
  17. of the biggest liar in the world.
  18. But which type of people are not allowed to take part?
  19. a farmers, b lawyers, or c estate agents.
  20. What do you think, Sam?
  21. Well, I'd be lying if I said I knew,
  22. but based on personal experience, I'd say estate agents.
  23. They'd find it too easy.
  24. Ah well, that's your opinion, but I'll let you know
  25. if you're right at the end of the programme.
  26. So, lying is something I'm sure a lot
  27. of us do – sometimes to avoid trouble,
  28. sometimes to cheat people, or sometimes just to impress someone.
  29. Did you know I can speak seven languages, Sam?
  30. That's just a barefaced lie, Rob.
  31. But I can see how easy lying can be.
  32. And that's what neuroscientist Sophie Scott thinks.
  33. Here she is on BBC Radio 4's Seriously podcast,
  34. explaining how we sometimes lie just to be nice.
  35. Often what we mean by lying is someone
  36. setting out to deceive us with their words or their actions
  37. but actually normal conversation probably can only happen
  38. because we don't actually say all the time exactly
  39. what we really think and what we really mean.
  40. And that kind of cooperation is at the heart I think
  41. of a lot of social interactions for humans
  42. and I think that's one of the strong pushes to make
  43. conversation polite and therefore frequently not actually truthful.
  44. So Sophie mentions two types of lying.
  45. There's the one where we try to deceive someone.
  46. So that's trying to hide something
  47. by tricking someone to gain an advantage.
  48. That's like you getting me to pay £10
  49. for a cinema ticket when actually there were only £5.
  50. That's just dishonest.
  51. But there are also what we like to call white lies –
  52. small lies we tell to avoid obsessing someone.
  53. Those are lies that aren't intended to give you an advantage.
  54. Yes, Sophie Scott says we use them
  55. in normal conversation when we don't say what we really mean.
  56. So we want to make conversation polite
  57. because we want to cooperate with each other.
  58. She says cooperation is at the heart.
  59. Something that's at the heart is the most important or essential part.
  60. Now, telling lies is one thing,
  61. but how do you know if we're being lied to?
  62. Sometimes there are telltale signs,
  63. such as someone's face turning red or someone shuffling their feet.
  64. But if you really want to know if someone is lying,
  65. maybe we should listen to Richard Wiseman,
  66. a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire.
  67. Here he is speaking on the Seriously podcast.
  68. Liars in general say less.
  69. They tend to have a longer what's called response latency,
  70. which is the time between the end
  71. of the question and the beginning of the answer.
  72. And there also tends to be an emotional distance in the lie.
  73. So the words me, my, I,
  74. all those things tend to drop away in lies.
  75. And it's much, much harder for lies to control
  76. what they're saying and how they're saying it.
  77. So focus your attention there.
  78. You become a better lie detector.
  79. Some good advice from Richard Wiseman.
  80. So to detect lies, we need
  81. to listen out for the response latency,
  82. a term used in psychology to describe
  83. the time taken between a stimulus
  84. or question and a response to it.
  85. The bigger the gap, the more chance
  86. there is that someone is lying.
  87. Is that a good summary, Sam?
  88. Sort of, Rob.
  89. Richard also suggests we focus on, or concentrate on, what and how people are saying things to.
  90. There's probably more to it than just that.
  91. Well, now you know how to detect my lies, Sam.
  92. Maybe honesty is the best policy, as they say.
  93. So I'm now going to give you an honest
  94. answer to the question I asked earlier.
  95. A competition is held in Cumbria
  96. in the UK every year to award the title
  97. of the biggest liar in the world.
  98. But which type of people are not allowed to take part?
  99. A. Farmers, B. Lawyers or C. Estate agents?
  100. I guessed c estate agents.
  101. And you are wrong, I'm afraid.
  102. Lawyers as well as politicians are not allowed to enter the competition.
  103. It's claimed they are judged to be too skilled at telling porkies.
  104. Porkies is an informal word for pork
  105. pies and that rhymes with lies.
  106. Fascinating stuff, Rob. And that's no lie.
  107. But now shall we recap some of the vocabulary we've heard today?
  108. Yeah, why not?
  109. A fib is a small, inoffensive lie.
  110. A white lie is also a small lie told to avoid upsetting someone.
  111. When you deceive someone, you try to hide something
  112. by tricking them to gain an advantage.
  113. When something is at the heart of something,
  114. it is the most important or essential part of it.
  115. And we heard about response latency,
  116. a term used in psychology to describe
  117. the time taken between a stimulus
  118. or question and a response to it.