The question you need to ask to find out if someone is lying & it works instantly

The Sun

17-07-2025

A BEHAVIORAL expert has revealed techniques he uses to see whether someone is lying - and the question to ask to spot a liar.
Chase Hughes, who served in the US Navy for two decades, is the founder and CEO of Applied Behavior Research and the author of the three-year #1 bestselling book on persuasion, influence and behaviour profiling, The Ellipsis Manual.
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He is also a founding member of The Behavior Panel, a YouTube channel with over one million subscribers.
The expert recently appeared on the Robert Breedlove podcast to discuss behavioural topics, such as how to read people, and how to protect yourself from being manipulated.
Another topic he discussed was about the questions he uses to spot whether someone is lying.
Revealing how he would approach questioning someone he suspected of doing something, the guru explained that he would use a technique known as a ''bait question''.
A bait question uses hypothetical information to elicit a cue as to whether a person is being deceptive.
Chase explained: ''Let's say that you snuck three doors down to one of your neighbours' houses and kicked their trash can over.
''And it's a big deal, and you get called in, but you know you're going to deny it, right?
''And you and I sit down, and I say, 'Hey man. Look, is there any reason at all that anybody would say that they saw you walking in that area or that it might show up on a camera or something?', because you don't have all the cameras clocked, but I never told you that I did have that, or that somebody did say those things.''
According to Chase, those who are innocent will immediately deny it.
But, he added: ''If you're guilty, now your anxiety is really high because I haven't told you what I know yet and we're only one question in.
I married my partner after 90 days & he cheated on me straight away - I didn't realise he had so many red flags
''And you might say, 'Well yes, I walked by', so you're either like, 'Yes, I was there', or 'No, I wasn't'.''
He explained that the second the person being questioned says no, they ''don't know whether or not I'm about to flip something on the table and show you a video or bring in witnesses that said that you were there, like eight of them''.
Chase continued: ''Your brain is in high anxiety mode. But it's only in anxiety mode if you're guilty. So an innocent person would be like, "no, absolutely not," and there's no anxiety spike at all.''
Four red flags your partner is cheating
Private Investigator Aaron Bond from BondRees revealed four warning signs your partner might be cheating.
They start to take their phone everywhere with them
In close relationships, it's normal to know each other's passwords and use each other's phones, if their phone habits change then they may be hiding something.
Aaron says: "If your partner starts changing their passwords, starts taking their phone everywhere with them, even around the house or they become defensive when you ask to use their phone it could be a sign of them not being faithful."
"You should also look at how they place their phone down when not in use. If they face the phone with the screen facing down, then they could be hiding something."
They start telling you less about their day
When partners cheat they can start to avoid you, this could be down to them feeling guilty or because it makes it easier for them to lie to you.
"If you feel like your partner has suddenly begun to avoid you and they don't want to do things with you any more or they stop telling you about their day then this is another red flag."
"Partners often avoid their spouses or tell them less about their day because cheating can be tough, remembering all of your lies is impossible and it's an easy way to get caught out," says Aaron.
Their libido changes
Your partner's libido can change for a range of reasons so it may not be a sure sign of cheating but it can be a red flag according to Aaron.
Aaron says: "Cheaters often have less sex at home because they are cheating, but on occasions, they may also have more sex at home, this is because they feel guilty and use this increase in sex to hide their cheating. You may also find that your partner will start to introduce new things into your sex life that weren't there before."
They become negative towards you
Cheaters know that cheating is wrong and to them, it will feel good, this can cause tension and anxiety within themselves which they will need to justify.
"To get rid of the tension they feel inside they will try to convince themselves that you are the problem and they will become critical of you out of nowhere. Maybe you haven't walked the dog that day, put the dishes away or read a book to your children before bedtime. A small problem like this can now feel like a big deal and if you experience this your partner could be cheating," warns Aaron.
However, it's crucial to emphasise that some scientific literature suggests that the use of bait questions can lead to memory distortion in some people, making them believe that non-existent evidence exists, and so the use of this method is not endorsed by all experts in the field.
Those who do implement the method, according to Chase, would then move on to what is known as a ''punishment question''.
This type of question is used to assess whether a person is being truthful about whether they did something, and to gauge their feelings about the behaviour or crime in question.
Chase explained: ''The punishment question is essentially - and I'm really breaking it down to the bare bones - is like, 'We're working really hard to find out who's behind this. I'm, curious, what do you think should happen to the person that did this?'.''
He wet on: ''And that works so powerfully, especially on sex crimes and people who've committed sex crimes - what do you think should happen to the person who did this? You're going to hear answers that soften to a crazy degree [from guilty people].''
According to the behavioural expert, a person who is guilty might say something along the lines of: ''Someone who does something like this is sick, so they need mental counselling, they don't need to go to jail, they need to get repaired because they're broken, they need counselling.''