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sources. ill this case it is not their intention to tell lies. Ekman (1999) excludes in this
definition a pathological liar who lies compulsively without intending to do so.
A second characteristic ofa liar is that he does not inform his audience about his
intention to mislead, like Uri Geller who did not tell his audience that his tricks were
magic. Sometimes a lie is implied in the framing of the situation as in the expression
"let the buyer beware", which means what is on offer may not be what it is supposed to
be. Sometimes even ifit is suspected that lies are being told it may be improper to ask.
Ekman (1999) does not consider false statements as lies, but also if a person
withholds or conceals information purposely, then he is considered as lying. This can
be the case in a negotiation situation when a negotiator does not reveal that he does not
have decision-making powers. To Ekman (1999) concealment or falsification is two
techniques used by liars to mislead their targets. Another technique of misleading the
target is by telling the truth in such a way that it seems to mean the opposite ofwhat it
means, like a man replying to his wife's question about the women he may have met on
his business trip. He may say he slept with a different woman every night, and maybe
with two women on certain days.
Another technique is telling half a truth, like saying a person is nice instead of
saying you are in love with him. Yet another technique is what Ekman (1999) calls
"incorrect inference dodge" where you may, for example, sing praises about someone's
attire when you actually do not like it. When there is notification given about an
intention not to reveal information, that is secrecy. Sometimes the deceiver can mislead
himself but not realise it, or not know why he is deceiving himself e.g. when a motorist
is aware of a mechanical problem in his car, but because he does not have enough
money for repairs he tells himself that after all it is not such a major problem.
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