NCJ Number
207163
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2004 Pages: 103-119
Editor(s)
Ron Blackburn
Date Published
February 2004
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study examined the differences in beliefs about deception between prison inmates, prison personnel, and students.
Abstract
In the legal field, the ability to accurately distinguish between truthful and deceptive statements is seen as important. This study focused on beliefs about deception held by 3 specific groups: prison inmates (n=107), prison personnel (n=103), and students (representing lay people) (n=116). The 326 study participants completed a survey questionnaire examining their beliefs about cues to deception, comparing their beliefs with each other in order to identify between group differences, matching their beliefs with findings from studies which investigated objective cues to deception, and examining the degree of within-group agreement about cues to deception. Based on previous research on deception detection, 11 items were identified and included in the questionnaire with participants indicating for each item their opinion on forced-choice answer scales with 4 alternatives. The 11 identified items included details, consistency, gaze behavior, body movements, pitch of voice, pauses, verbal versus nonverbal cues, planning deceit (verbal), planning deceit (nonverbal), telling story backwards, and mental effort. The study predicted that the beliefs held by prison inmates would be the most consistent with the general pattern found in studies examining objective cues to deception. In summary, differences in beliefs about deception between the groups were found on 6 of the 11 items. Comparing the beliefs with objective cues to deception, it seems as if the prison inmates had more insight into the psychology of deception than the other two groups. Studying these “real experts” has the potential to generate important knowledge about the dynamics of deception. References