NCJ Number
226400
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 14 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2009 Pages: 171-182
Date Published
February 2009
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study examined the relationship between psychopathy and deception using indirect measures of deception detection.
Abstract
Consistent with past research, deception detection accuracy was found to be no better than chance and indirect measures did not distinguish true and fabricated stories. Psychopathy was negatively related to successful deception and credibility. Thinking hard was identified as an indirect measure of deceit related to psychopathic traits. The results suggest that indirect measures of deception detection may be less useful in offender samples. In addition, the findings were consistent with the general inability of psychopathic offenders to demonstrate superior deception skills in empirical studies. In examining past research, it was found likely that a combination of factors were important in detecting deceit, including the attributes used to distinguish truths and lies as well as personality characteristics of the liar. This study sought to investigate two factors that might influence deception detection accuracy, the use of indirect measures of deception and psychopathic traits in the deceiver. Watching video clips of offenders telling true and fabricated stories about crime, undergraduate student participants attempted to detect deception. Table and references