The effects of the coronavirus pandemic has caused a spike in stress for many people. Many people are reeling from the stress of closed schools, the economy, quarantine and now the possibility of a second wave of the virus. During stressful times, some people might act in unpredictable ways. This means that some people might have less patience, become more argumentative, withdraw from others or might tell lies. You might be wondering what type of lies someone would tell during this time and why. Lies about quarantining, staying away from crowds, wearing masks when they're not, not disclosing any symptoms of the coronavirus. Common reasons for lies are to avoid criticisms, judgments, confrontations and because they don't think it's your business.
If you catch someone in a lie, you might be wondering whether you should call them out. You have to decide whether it's worth it and what's your motive for doing so. If their decision doesn't impact your safety then you may not want to say anything.
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Let's say that you want to call them out on their lie because it's impacting your safety or someone else's. Your best bet is to take the emotion out of any discussion as it's natural to get upset when someone lies to you. One way to address the lie without being confrontational is to repeat their lie back to them. It would go like this - they say the lie, you pause, then you repeat their lie. What you're doing is highlighting their lie without saying it's a lie. And see what they do. They might do nothing or they might correct what they said. If you want to be more direct then give the person a way to save face. Direct confrontation will make someone feel defensive and they'll most likely either shut down or get confrontational. You can make a statement that you'd like clarity about something they said. Or, you might empathize with how they might be feeling. When you approach sensitive situations with empathy and without judgment then someone is more likely to tell the truth because they don't feel threatened.
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