Who Told You That? Uncovering the Source of Believed Cues to Deception

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Many beliefs about deceptive communication – like liars avoid eye contact – are popular but inaccurate. To better understand the transmission of both accurate and false cues to deception, we examined the perceived source of deception beliefs. Two exploratory studies revealed six categories of belief sources such as observed behavior, mass media, and social networks, derived from 19 categories of deception beliefs. Reported beliefs loaded onto three primary factors suggesting a simpler schema for detecting deception. Both studies revealed that most people recalled learning about cues to deception from observing others’ behavior, however, inaccurate beliefs were more likely to be perpetuated by credible sources.