It is terrible to discover someone has lied to you. Yet life teaches us that liars are good at it, so what are we to do?

This fascinating study, described in a full, free text article from Current Directions in Psychological Science explains how we may improve our odds when liars send their words into our worlds.

Patients also lie to doctors because they feel embarrassed, can’t face the problem or are not ready to follow through on a care plan. Some fudge. Some just lie all of the way. Doctors are not fooled, or not much. Lying to doctors, however, mainly hurts you or those who love you. It is a different class of lying than this article discusses.

Read on about how to outsmart the liars you may meet on any day.

Citation: Current Directions in Psychological Science, Outsmarting the Liars: Toward a Cognitive Lie Detection Approach

Current Directions in Psychological Science, February 2011; vol. 20, 1: pp. 28-32.