It’s difficult to know for certain whether someone is being honest with you unless you have amazing spider senses – which can be frustrating.

People don’t realise that they leave subtle clues when they’re trying to pull the wool over your eyes if you just look closely.

But apparently the signs you need to watch completely depend on the relationship you have with the person in question.

So if it’s a friend you think might be fibbing, then you need to look at different behaviours than you would of your partner, according to behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings.

Friend

Most people are familiar with their friend’s normal expressions, Jo told Femail .

What’s a dead giveaway when your pal’s aren’t telling the truth is their micro-expressions – so the subtle changes in their face.

For example, their nostrils may flare, they might blush, lick their lips or perhaps they’ll avoid direct eye contact. If you look a little closer, you should be able to spot if something’s up.

Colleague

Unless you’re good mates with your colleague, you probably won’t be as familiar with their facial expressions – so you’ll have to look elsewhere for clues.

Jo reckons the best way to tell when colleagues aren’t telling the truth is to check out their body language.

Watch out for unusual gestures you haven’t seen them do before – like using their hands and arms in a way that strikes you as odd.

She says it’s also worth noting how they are speaking. If their speech is a different pace or pitch than you recognise then there might be a reason for it.

Stranger

With a stranger, you won’t know anything about their typical body language or facial expressions so you’ll have much less to go on here.

Jo said to Femail that you can only really take into account what it is they’re saying.

So if somebody is giving an over-complicated explanation for something, repeating themselves or giving unnecessary detail then that’s a possible warning sign, apparently.

Lover

In theory it should be easiest to notice when the person closest to you is lying, but this isn’t always the case.

This is because we tend to trust our partners so implicitly that we can’t see the signs, Jo said.

What you need to look out for are changes in their behaviour, like increased secrecy, defensiveness or projecting on to you and accusing YOU of lying.

It’s these "clusters" of behaviour changes that will give them away.

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