NCJ Number
136232
Journal
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1991) Pages: 169-184
Date Published
1991
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Differences in nonverbal behavioral patterns between white and black subjects in a simulated police interview setting were examined.
Abstract
One group of participants were asked to tell the truth, and the other group was asked to deceive the officer. Major differences between this study and other deception studies were the distinction between nonverbal behavior displayed during listening and during speaking and the inclusion of black subjects. The results suggest four differences between those who deceive and those who tell the truth. Deception was accompanied by more "ah" filled pauses, faster speech, less self-touching of the body, and fewer non-indicative hand and arm movements. These results generally support the findings that deception is associated with changes in vocal characteristics and in hand and arm movements. However, this study shows that differences in arm and hand movements occurred exclusively during periods of listening. Furthermore, the findings showed that blacks looked less frequently at their discussion partner, smiled and laughed more, made more speech disturbances, spoke slower, made higher pitched exclamatory remarks, and were livelier in their trunk movements and hand and arm gestures than whites. 1 table and 48 references