The Bad Liar Signal
You want a client who lies badly — the holes in the story are where the conscience is.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 78%
Malik assesses two separate things: whether the person is lying, and how good they are at it. Counterintuitively, she wants a bad liar. A bad liar has holes in the story precisely because parts of them feel badly about lying — that residual conscience shows up as empathy and connection, which is what a jury responds to. A good liar is a proven, practised liar; someone who can rattle off a falsehood with total eye contact and no discomfort is signalling something far worse than the crime under investigation. The physical tells — hair-touching, sitting back, gaze direction — matter because they break connection with the very people who will decide the outcome.
Origin
Malik developed the read across her crisis practice, where every client will eventually be assessed by an investigator, a judge or a jury. She cites the body-language work of Mark Bowden as a reference point for the physical signals.
Core principles
- 01A fluent liar is a practised liar, and a practised liar is a warning sign — not an asset.
- 02Holes in a lie are evidence of conscience: parts of the person feel badly about it.
- 03A bad liar generates empathy and connection with the people deciding their fate.
- 04Physical tells — playing with hair, sitting back, looking up or down — break connection with the audience.
- 05Fluency plus total eye contact plus zero discomfort is a sociopathy signal, not a competence signal.
How to run it
- 1
Separate the two questions
Ask both 'are they lying?' and 'how good are they at lying?' These are independent assessments and the second is the more diagnostic one.
- 2
Read the holes as conscience
When a story has gaps and inconsistencies, interpret it as parts of the person feeling badly about the lie — a signal of intact conscience, not just poor execution.
Watch out This is a signal, not proof. It never replaces documentary verification.
- 3
Watch the body, not the words
Track the physical signals — playing with hair, sitting back, looking up or down. These break the connection with whoever is deciding the outcome.
- 4
Test for empathy and connection
Assess whether this person can generate empathy and hold connection when speaking, because that is what determines how they land on the stand.
Pro tip If the presentation is badly off, consider whether something cognitive is in play before writing them off as arrogant.
- 5
Treat fluency under pressure as a red flag
If someone can rattle off a lie while fully connected and looking you in the eye, escalate your concern rather than your confidence.
Watch out Malik's read: that combination generally indicates a sociopath. Adjust your engagement decision accordingly.
In the wild
One client was, in Malik's words, the greatest guy ever — insanely brilliant with an IQ through the roof — but when he spoke he sounded like the biggest punk in the world. Rather than assume arrogance, she sent him to a psychiatrist friend because she suspected something was cognitively off. He was diagnosed with Asperger's.
→ The team gained information that let them account for his presentation rather than let it read as callousness in front of decision-makers.
Common mistakes
Reading confidence as credibility
In high-stakes assessment, seamless delivery of a false story means the person has practised deception. That is a stronger warning than the underlying facts.
Reading poor presentation as bad character
Malik's Asperger's client seemed like a jerk but was not. Check for a cognitive explanation before concluding on character.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone who has to judge character under pressure — investigators, advisors, negotiators, hiring managers.
Not ideal for
Casual settings, or as a standalone lie-detection method without corroborating evidence.
From the transcript
“i never want somebody to be a good liar if you're a good liar means you're a proven liar it means you're a practice liar…”
“if you're a bad liar you have holes because the reason why your holes in your lying scheme is because there's parts of you that…”
“if you just get up and you're able to just rattle one off and you're looking at somebody and you're completely connected there's something else…”
“if you are a bad liar people are going to have a lot more empathy for you when you're on the stand”
From the episode
Stephynie Malik: Spin It - Get Out of a Crisis
Stephynie Malik