EFFECTS OF LEVEL OF SOCIALIZATION ON ELECTRODERMAL DETECTION OF DECEPTION

• NCJ Number: 68324
• Journal: Polygraph Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (1979) Pages: 161-172
• Author(s): W M WAID; M T ORNE; S K WILSON
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 12 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Institute for Experimental Psychiatry
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: PRESENTED AT MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH, SAN DIEGO (CA), 1976, AND THE EASTERN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, BOSTON (MA), 1977. REPRINTED FROM PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, V 16 (1979), P 15-22.

Annotation

THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL DETECTION OF DECEPTION DEPENDS UPON THE SUBJECTS GIVING LARGER AUTONOMIC RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR DECEPTION THAN TO APPROPRIATE CONTROL QUESTIONS.

Abstract

FIFTEEN COLLEGE STUDENTS ATTEMPTED TO DECEIVE A PROFESSIONAL POLYGRAPH EXAMINER, WHILE 15 OTHERS WHO HAD NOTHING TO HIDE ALSO SUBMITTED TO THE EXAMINATION. THE EXAMINER WAS BLIND AS TO WHETHER EACH SUBJECT WAS DECEPTIVE OR TRUTHFUL. THE EXAMINATION CONSISTED OF A ONE HOUR PRE-TEST IN WHICH BOTH 'GUILTY' AND 'INNOCENT' SUBJECTS PERFORMED TIMED INTERPOLATED TASKS, AND 'GUILTY' SUBJECTS WERE DRILLED IN THEIR 'GUILTY KNOWLEDGE.' THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY A POLYGRAPH-MONITORED GUILTY PERSON TEST; A PEAK OF TENSION TEST; THE GUILTY KNOWLEDGE TEST; AND A STARTLE STIMULUS TEST. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLYGRAPH EXAM, EACH PARTICIPANT COMPLETED THE SOCIALIZATION SCALE (SCALE VII) OF THE CALIFORNIA PSYCHOLOGICAL INVENTORY (CPI) USING THE SKIN CONDUCTANCE RESPONSE (SCR), SIGNIFICANT DISCRIMINATION WAS MADE BETWEEN DECEPTIVE AND TRUTHFUL SUBJECTS WITH BOTH 'GUILTY PERSON' AND 'GUILTY KNOWLEDGE' POLYGRAPH TESTS. ON BOTH TYPES OF TEST, HOWEVER, SUBJECTS WHO WERE NOT DETECTED WERE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS SOCIALIZED (SCALE VII, CPI) THAN THOSE WHO WERE DETECTED. THIS REDUCED SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DETECTION WAS MEDIATED BY A REDUCED SCR TO DECEPTION AMONG LOW-SOCIALIZATION SUBJECTS. AMONG INNOCENT SUBJECTS THE HIGHLY SOCIALIZED WERE MORE RESPONSIVE ELECTRODERMALLY THROUGHOUT THE TEST, LEADING SOME OF THEM TO BE MISCLASSIFIED AS DECEPTIVE ON AT LEAST ONE TEST. IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESULTS FOR BOTH DETECTION OF DECEPTION AND THE CONSTRUCT OF SOCIALIZATION ARE DISCUSSED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED).