The language of lying — Noah Zandan

说谎时的措辞-诺亚·赞德

翻译人员: Justine Bai 校对人员: Qiwen Lu

“抱歉，我的电话没电了。”

"Sorry, my phone died."

"It's nothing. I'm fine."

“没什么，我很好。”

"These allegations are completely unfounded."

以上这些都毫无根据。

"The company was not aware of any wrongdoing."

“本公司对此事故并不知情。”

我爱你。

"I love you."

We hear anywhere from 10 to 200 lies a day,

我们每天能听见100到200个谎言，

and we spent much of our history coming up with ways to detect them,

又花了很长时间来辨别它们。

from medieval torture devices to polygraphs,

从中世纪的刑具到测谎仪，

blood-pressure and breathing monitors, voice-stress analyzers,

血压、呼吸频率、语音应力分析仪、

eye trackers, infrared brain scanners,

眼动仪、红外大脑扫描仪，

and even the 400-pound electroencephalogram.

甚至还有重达400磅 用来测脑电图的机器。

But although such tools have worked under certain circumstances,

这些工具在某些情况下能够起作用，

most can be fooled with enough preparation,

但准备充分还是能骗过其中大多数，

and none are considered reliable enough to even be admissible in court.

并且它们都没有可靠到能被法庭接受。

But, what if the problem is not with the techniques,

但如果问题不在技术上，

but the underlying assumption that lying spurs physiological changes?

而在说谎会引发生理变化 这一假设上呢？

What if we took a more direct approach,

如果我们更直接，

using communication science to analyze the lies themselves?

运用传播学分析谎言本身呢？

从心理学角度，

On a psychological level, we lie partly to paint a better picture of ourselves,

说谎部分是因为想营造更好的自己，

connecting our fantasies to the person we wish we were

让我们成为自己幻想中的样子，

rather than the person we are.

而不是本来的模样。

But while our brain is busy dreaming, it's letting plenty of signals slip by.

在我们的大脑忙着做梦时，

会有一些电流划过。

Our conscious mind only controls about 5% of our cognitive function,

意识只能控制5%的认知功能，

including communication,

包括交流，

while the other 95% occurs beyond our awareness,

剩下的95%都不被我们察觉。

and according to the literature on reality monitoring,

根据对文学创作时大脑的现实监控，

stories based on imagined experiences

基于想象的故事同

are qualitatively different from those based on real experiences.

基于真实经历的故事有很大不同。

This suggests that creating a false story about a personal topic takes work

这表明编一个和本人相关的故事很费劲，

and results in a different pattern of language use.

并使用了不同的语言模式。

A technology known as linguistic text analysis

语言文本分析

has helped to identify four such common patterns

让我们识别出潜意识欺骗中

in the subconscious language of deception.

四种常见的模式。

一 说谎者在撒谎时很少提及自己，

First, liars reference themselves less, when making deceptive statements.

更多是描写或谈论他人，

They write or talk more about others, often using the third person

经常使用第三人称，

to distance and disassociate themselves from their lie,

使自己远离所编的谎话，

which sounds more false:

这听起来更像假的了。

"Absolutely no party took place at this house,"

“这房子里绝对没开过party。”

or "I didn't host a party here."

“我可没在这儿办party。”

Second, liars tend to be more negative,

二 说谎者总会否定，

because on a subconscious level, they feel guilty about lying.

因为潜意识里，他们对谎言感到羞愧。

For example, a liar might say something like,

比如，说谎者可能会说：

"Sorry, my stupid phone battery died. I hate that thing."

“抱歉，我手机没电了，烦死了。”

Third, liars typically explain events in simple terms

三 说谎者会在描述时非常简略。

since our brains struggle to build a complex lie.

因为我们的大脑正纠结着编一个复杂的谎，

Judgment and evaluation

判断和评估

are complex things for our brains to compute.

对大脑来说是复杂运算。

As a U.S. President once famously insisted:

就像一位美国总统曾说的那样：

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

“我没有同那个女人发生性关系。”

And finally, even though liars keep descriptions simple,

最后 虽然说谎者试图简略描绘，

they tend to use longer and more convoluted sentence structure,

但他们常用长且复杂的句式，

inserting unnecessary words

加入不必要的词语，

and irrelevant but factual sounding details in order to pad the lie.

不相关但冠冕堂皇的细节来补充谎言。

Another President confronted with a scandal proclaimed:

另一位总统在否认丑闻时宣称：

"I can say, categorically, that this investigation indicates

“我可以明确地讲，这项调查表明

that no one on the White House staff,

没有任何白宫工作人员

no one in this administration presently employed

或是政府官员

was involved in this very bizarre incident."

涉及这一荒唐的事件。“

Let's apply linguistic analysis to some famous examples.

我们在用语言分析看看其他著名案例。

Take seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

来看看七届环法冠军兰斯·阿姆斯特朗。

When comparing a 2005 interview,

在2005年的采访中，

in which he had denied taking performance-enhancing drugs

他否认服用兴奋剂。

to a 2013 interview, in which he admitted it,

在2013年的采访中他承认这一点时，

his use of personal pronouns increased by nearly 3/4.

3/4的话都使用了人称代词。

Note the contrast between the following two quotes.

注意比较下面这两句话。

First: "Okay, you know, a guy in a French, in a Parisian laboratory

第一句 “好吧 ，一个法国人

在巴黎的实验室公开了你的样本，

opens up your sample, you know, Jean-Francis so-and-so, and he tests it.

是叫让 - 弗朗西斯吧，他做了测试。

And then you get a phone call from a newspaper that says:

然后你接到一家报社的电话说：

'We found you to be positive six times for EPO."

我们发现你尿检四次都是阳性。”

Second: "I lost myself in all of that.

第二句 “我在那时失控了。

I'm sure there would be other people that couldn't handle it,

我确信会有其他人控制不住。

but I certainly couldn't handle it,

我当时肯定是没控制住。

and I was used to controlling everything in my life.

我以前一直能掌控生活中的一切，

I controlled every outcome in my life."

掌控所有结果。”

In his denial, Armstrong described a hypothetical situation

否认时，阿姆斯特朗描述了一个假定的场景，

focused on someone else,

集中在别人身上，

removing himself from the situation entirely.

从整个场景中移除了自己。

In his admission, he owns his statements,

承认时，他有了自己的立场，

delving into his personal emotions and motivations.

发掘内心的情感和动机。

But the use of personal pronouns is just one indicator of deception.

但是，人称的使用也可能代表欺骗。

Let's look at another example from former Senator

让我们来看看另一个例子，

and U.S. Presidential candidate John Edwards:

来自美国总统候选人约翰·爱德华兹。

“我只知道那个明显是孩子父亲的人曾公开表明

"I only know that the apparent father has said publicly

that he is the father of the baby.

自己是孩子的父亲。

I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description

我未涉及任何欺骗活动

that requested, agreed to, or supported payments of any kind

或是要求、同意、支持给

to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby."

那个女人或孩子父亲一笔钱。”

Not only is that a pretty long-winded way to say, "The baby isn't mine,"

这算是“这孩子不是我的”的超长表达法。

but Edwards never calls the other parties by name,

爱德华兹从来没用名字称呼所涉及的人物，

instead saying "that baby," "the woman," and "the apparent father."

而是说“那孩子”“那个女人”“那个父亲”。

Now let's see what he had to say when later admitting paternity:

现在我们看看他在承认自己身份时说的话：

"I am Quinn's father.

“我是奎恩的爸爸。

I will do everything in my power to provide her

我会竭尽全力给予她

with the love and support she deserves."

应得的爱和支持。”

这段话简短明了。

The statement is short and direct,

calling the child by name and addressing his role in her life.

称呼孩子的名字，加入了他在她生命中的角色。

So how can you apply these lie-spotting techniques to your life?

现在你在生活中该如何运用这项技能侦破谎言呢？

First, remember that many of the lies we encounter on a daily basis

记住我们日常听到的谎话大多

远没有上面那些例子严肃，

are far less serious that these examples, and may even be harmless.

有些甚至是无害的。

But it's still worthwhile to be aware of telltale clues,

但依然值得发现谎言的苗头。

like minimal self-references, negative language,

比如一些小的自我引用消极的话语，

simple explanations and convoluted phrasing.

简单的解释和令人费解的措辞。

It just might help you avoid an overvalued stock,

这也许会避免你高估一支股票，

an ineffective product, or even a terrible relationship.

一个没什么用处的产品，

或是一段糟糕的感情。