Spy the Lie Quotes

“Human behavior isn’t necessarily logical, nor does it necessarily conform to our expectations. What each of us thinks of as logical is a reflection of our own beliefs, and of our own moral compass.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: How to spot deception the CIA way

“Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers. —Bernard Haisch”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: How to spot deception the CIA way

“All the lies that have ever been told or ever will be told fall into three categories, or strategies: lies of commission, lies of omission, and lies of influence.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished. —Daniel W. Davenport There”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers. Bernard Haisch”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“Truth only reveals itself when one gives up all preconceived ideas. —Japanese proverb”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: How to spot deception the CIA way

“Now, here’s the thing about polygraph examinations. Just as there’s no such thing as a human lie detector, neither is there any such thing as a mechanical lie detector. A polygraph machine doesn’t detect lies. It detects physiological changes that occur in a person’s body in response to a stimulus, the stimulus being a question posed by the polygraph examiner. Whether or not the anxiety associated with those changes is indicative of deception is an open question that must be answered by the analytical and human interaction skills of the polygraph examiner. The”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“Phil was interviewing a foreign agent who had been suspected of engaging in activity that was harmful to U.S. interests. When Phil posed the “Did you do it?” question, the agent held his finger up and looked him straight in the eye. “You know,” the agent said, “I could have you killed.” Apparently, he didn’t like Phil’s question. “I’m sure you could,” Phil said. And he went right back to the question. We’ll explain why in chapter 6.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“We’re certainly not at all suspicious of someone who’s just a nice person. But if, in response to a question, a person suddenly increases the level of nicety, that’s significant. Perhaps the person says, “Yes, ma’am” in that particular response, but at no other time in the interview. Or a compliment might be injected during the response: “That’s a great tie, by the way.” The idea here is that the more we like someone, the more we’re inclined to believe him and to shy away from confrontation. The person is using politeness as a means of promoting his likability.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“There's only a casual relationship between human behavior and logic.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“In order to determine whether a person is being untruthful, we need to look and listen for the first deceptive behavior to occur within the first five seconds after that stimulus is delivered.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: How to spot deception the CIA way

“The strategic principle is that if you want to know if someone is lying, you need to ignore, and thereby not process, truthful behavior.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: How to spot deception the CIA way

“experience has shown that if we can identify the first deceptive behavior within that first five seconds, we can reasonably conclude that the behavior is directly associated with the stimulus.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“strategic principle is that if you want to know if someone is lying, you need to ignore, and thereby not process, truthful behavior.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“La gente no se cree las mentiras porque tenga que hacerlo, sino porque quiere. Malcolm Muggeridge”
― HOUSTON PHILIP, Descubre la Mentira

“A polygraph machine doesn’t detect lies. It detects physiological changes that occur in a person’s body in response to a stimulus, the stimulus being a question posed by the polygraph examiner. Whether or not the anxiety associated with those changes is indicative of deception is an open question that must be answered by the analytical and human interaction skills of the polygraph examiner. The pens on a polygraph chart record four physiological responses to the stimulus. There are two respiratory tracings, one cardiovascular activity tracing, and one galvanic skin response tracing, which records changes in skin moisture.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“A polygraph machine doesn’t detect lies. It detects physiological changes that occur in a person’s body in response to a stimulus, the stimulus being a question posed by the polygraph examiner. Whether or not the anxiety associated with those changes is indicative of deception is an open question that must be answered by the analytical and human interaction skills of the polygraph examiner.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“Не можна приписувати поведінці значущість, якщо не знаєте її причин.”
― Філіп Г'юстон, Майкл Флойд, Сьюзен Карнісеро, Дон Теннант, Анатомія брехні

“Люди вірять у неправду не тому, що мусять, а тому, що хочуть.
Малколм Маггерідж”
― Філіп Г'юстон, Майкл Флойд, Сьюзен Карнісеро, Дон Теннант, Анатомія брехні

“Людська поведінка не завжди логічна.”
― Філіп Г'юстон, Майкл Флойд, Сьюзен Карнісеро, Дон Теннант, Анатомія брехні

“The trick is to train our brains to go into what we call “L-squared mode”—we have to tell it to look and listen simultaneously. We have to say, “Brain, for the next few seconds, you’re going to process in both the visual and auditory channels what’s being communicated to me.” Your brain will not like you for this. In fact, your brain will win the argument. After a period of time, your brain will say, “I’ve had enough,” and it will default you to one or the other. But with practice, in those few moments following the stimulus you’ll be able to condition your brain to go into L-squared mode.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“Let’s consider those deceptive behaviors. At any given moment in time, as human beings we tend to be either visually dominant or auditorily dominant—we’re either more aware of and processing what we’re seeing, or more aware of and processing what we’re hearing. The problem with that goes back to what we said about communication being both verbal and nonverbal in nature, which means that deceptive behavior can come in either or both forms. How do we capture both at the same time? The”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“In order to determine whether a person is being untruthful, we need to look and listen for the first deceptive behavior to occur within the first five seconds after that stimulus is delivered. To understand why we set that span at five seconds and not, say, thirty seconds or sixty seconds, consider the fact that data from stenographers tells us that on average, we speak at a rate of 125 to 150 words per minute. Cognitive research, meanwhile, suggests that we think at least ten times faster than we speak. What that tells us is the further in time we get away from the stimulus, the higher the likelihood that the brain has gone on to thinking about something else. Our experience has shown that if we can identify the first deceptive behavior within that first five seconds, we can reasonably conclude that the behavior is directly associated with the stimulus. Let”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“We’ll delve into that seemingly paradoxical principle in the next chapter. For”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“The pens on a polygraph chart record four physiological responses to the stimulus. There are two respiratory tracings, one cardiovascular activity tracing, and one galvanic skin response tracing, which records changes in skin moisture. The polygraph examiner will make precise annotations on the chart to indicate the points at which he begins and finishes asking a question, and the point at which the examinee provides his “yes” or “no” response. At”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“There was nothing accidental about the creation of the methodology we use to detect deception. If there was any serendipity involved, it lay in the fact that when Phil joined the CIA in 1978, he was assigned to the Office of Security.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers. —Bernard Haisch There”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“Phil once interviewed a foreign asset who had recently been recruited by the Agency, an erudite man with a Ph.D. and a strong background in academia.”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“What each of us thinks of as logical is a reflection of our own beliefs, and of our own moral compass. A psychologist at the Agency hammered into us the fact that there’s only a casual relationship between human behavior and logic. And we’ve found that to absolutely be the case. Susan”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

“OUR INESCAPABLE BIASES. Although the word tends to have a negative connotation, “bias” is a simple fact of life, and it’s not necessarily negative at all. We all have biases. If we have a favorite sports team, that’s one of our biases. If we’re not completely neutral about something, we’re necessarily biased for or against it. The problem is that our biases have a huge impact on whether or not we believe someone. We don’t have the luxury of checking our biases at the door when, for example, we need to interview a person. So we need some means of managing our biases so we don’t even have to think about them during the interview. Suppose”
― Philip Houston, Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception