Truth Tellers Research Articles

Verbal Veracity Indicators and the Efficacy of Countermeasures in Three Non-WEIRD Populations

Practitioners ask whether verbal veracity cues are (i) diagnostic across populations and (i) resistant to countermeasures. We examined this by merging the three datasets reported by Vrij, Leal et al. (2020, 2022).Participants from Lebanon (n = 187), Mexico (n = 205) and South-Korea (n = 239) discussed a city-trip they had made (truth tellers, n = 328) or made up a story (lie tellers, n = 303) about such a trip. Some participants (n = 325) were informed about the relation between deception and complications, common knowledge details and self-handicapping strategies (informed participants), whereas others were not (uninformed participants). The dependent variables were total details, complications, common knowledge details, self-handicapping strategies and plausibility.All five variables discriminated truth tellers from lie tellers, but particularly complications and plausibility. These cues were diagnostic veracity indicators across different populations and remained diagnostic when we compared informed lie tellers with uninformed truth tellers.

L’ago della discordia. Scienza, politica e contestazione nel dibattito pubblico

According to the prevalent reading, we are today witnessing an epistemological conflict that takes the form of a war on science, which is nurtured by disinformation and instrumentalised by populist parties. The aim of this article is to contribute to a more complex reading of the phenomenon, over and above the science vs. anti-science dichotomy. As a result of the entry of science – and scientists – into public debate and public interaction between experts and non-experts we witness the overcoming of the perception of science as a monolith, which is followed by the tendency to overcome a deferential attitude towards scientific expertise. The legitimate exercise of criticism and skepticism towards institutions, however, often ends up conforming to a Manichean vision, which distinguishes good and bad, friend and foe, truth tellers and liars. The unconditional faith in institutions, demanded by technocrats, is overturned by an unconditional mistrust, which does not allow for open claims and compromises. Not denying the centrality of the epistemic dimension of conflict, our hypothesis is that conflicts over science are in fact also – and above all – conflicts of a political nature, that is, conflicts that do not usually have science and technology per se as their object, but rather political decisions on scientific-technical and health-related issues. This suggests, implicitly, that the application of a technology by the market may be more accepted, and thus that the market enjoys greater legitimacy than politics, because the market promises, in the abstract, freedom of choice. The contrast between technocracy and populism, between a policy reduced to conforming to scientific knowledge whose limits and ambiguities are downplayed – or not recognized – and a policy that rejects the role of experts – highlights a generalised distrust of democratic politics. The public sphere, as a place of deliberation and democratic management of complexity and plurality, is thus reduced to the clash between irreconcilable visions.

Eliciting Veracity Differences Through a General Memory Recall Test

A preferred strategy amongst lie tellers is to keep their stories simple. In the present experiment we examined a possible way lie tellers could use to achieve this: Pretending to have a general poor memory. We gave participants the opportunity to reveal this poor memory in a general memory recall test. Participants first saw a video-recorded secret meeting and were led to believe that they would be interviewed about this video. Participants were instructed to recall it either truthfully [truth tellers] or deliberately distort some facts [lie tellers] and were given time to prepare themselves for the forthcoming interview. In the interview we showed participants a video [labelled tricks video] to test their general memory. We asked them to report this tricks video in as much detail and as accurately as possible. We finished the interview after this recall and never asked them to recall the secret meeting video. Half of the participants were asked to sketch while recalling the tricks video. Sketching is known to facilitate recall. As predicted, those who thought they had to lie about the secret meeting video performed worse in recalling the tricks video than those who thought they had to tell the truth about the secret meeting video, particularly in the sketching condition.

Verbal Cues to Deceit when Lying through Omitting Information: Examining the Effect of a Model Statement Interview Protocol

Background/objectives: Practitioners frequently inform us that lying through omitting information is relevant to them, yet this topic has been largely ignored by verbal lie detection researchers. Method: In the present experiment participants watched a video recording of a secret meeting between three people. Truth tellers were instructed to recall the meeting truthfully, and lie tellers were instructed to pretend that one person (John) was not there. Participants were or were not exposed to a Model Statement during the interview. The dependent variables were ‘total details’ and ‘complications’. Results: Truth tellers reported more complications than lie tellers but lie tellers reported more details than truth tellers. The Model Statement resulted in more complications and details being reported. The Veracity x Model Statement interaction effect was not significant. In terms of self-reported strategies, the main veracity difference was that truth tellers were more inclined to ‘be detailed” than lie tellers. Discussion: We discuss the atypical finding (most details reported by lie tellers) and ideas for future research.

The role of individual features of memory and impulsiveness in telling a true or false story in a realistic, clear, and reconstructible way.

The aim of the present study was to explore whether there was an interaction effect between such personal aspects and veracity on realism, clarity, and reconstructability of the story. A total of 158 participants took part in the experiment and were asked to tell a truth and a lie during an interview (veracity condition). They filled in a questionnaire measuring their metamemory performance and their level of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity. A k-means cluster analysis on metamemory and impulsivity was conducted, and three clusters were obtained: controlled-memory inefficient, controlled-memory efficient, and impulsive-average memory. The results showed that participants scored higher on all three reality monitoring criteria when telling the truth than when lying. Further, a cluster membership by veracity interaction for realism was also significant, but when telling the truth, there was no difference between clusters in terms of realism used in the explanation. Follow-up analyses showed that, when lying, the level of realism in the story was significantly higher for people belonging to the cluster "impulsive-average memory" than for people belonging to the cluster "controlled-memory efficient", a result that seems to indicate that people with good memory and can control dysfunctional impulsivity have more difficulties when lying. Research has shown that realism, clarity, and reconstructability of the story, all part of reality monitoring, can be useful to assess veracity. Generally, truth tellers obtain higher scores on all three variables than liars, but there is some variability across individuals owing to their personal characteristics. Metamemory and impulsivity also play a role in deception. From the implications of the results, the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also provided.

A new kind of personal politics: on the populism of Trump and Sanders

ABSTRACT While most studies of contemporary populism see it as a reaction to economic and cultural change that appeals to solidarities based on nation, race, or class, this essay argues that the American populism embodied by Trump and Sanders must be viewed through a new register. The political culture of the U.S. has been dramatically transformed in recent years, and Trump’s and Sanders’s versions of populism reflects these changes. Given the prominence of neoliberalism, Trump and Sanders redefine the classic populist distinction between the virtuous people and the corrupt elite in a more individualistic idiom. They effectively incorporate elements of a bellicose and social media driven political culture into their populist appeal, proving to be successful populist performers in a new media landscape. As shared American religious and political traditions of solidarity decline, they invoke individualistic cultural traditions of entrepreneurship, authenticity, and aestheticism, portraying themselves as rebels against conventional politics and political truth tellers. They demonstrate that politics may become even more about the person and less about policy, and that criteria of authenticity, of encouraging social and cultural divisions rather than trying to bridge them, and saying what one thinks no matter the consequences, may mark the successful politician moving forward.

Interviewing to detect omission lies

AbstractInterviewees sometimes deliberately omit reporting some information. Such omission lies differ from other lies because all the information interviewees present may be entirely truthful. Truth tellers and lie tellers carried out a mission. Truth tellers reported the entire mission truthfully. Lie tellers were also entirely truthful but left out one element of the mission. In truth tellers' statements, only the parts that lie tellers were also asked to recall were analysed. Interviews were carried out via the Cognitive Credibility Assessment, Reality Interview, or standard interview protocol. Dependent variables were the details, complications and verifiable sources interviewees reported. A questionnaire measured three deception strategies: ‘Tell it all’, ‘keep it simple’ or ‘paying attention to demeanour’. Lie tellers reported fewer details, complications and verifiable sources than truth tellers and reporting these variables was negatively correlated with the ‘keep it simple’ and ‘demeanour’ strategies. The type of interview protocol did not affect the results.

BECOMING A RACE CONSCIOUS LEADER

AbstractThe author notes that “Race Conscious Leadership is your invitation to unravel the racial narratives you didn’t choose, but for which you are now responsible.” She explains that it is “the practice of cultivating an ongoing, nuanced awareness of racial history, racial identity, and racial justice in one’s organizational life.” In a graphic Figure, she presents “The Insight‐Action Axis for Effective Race Conscious Leadership.” This depicts, for instance, in her words “A culture of the past (low in insight, low in action), A culture of learning (high in insight, low in action).” In further definitions, she says that “Cultures of learning are marked by acquiring information, finding stories, and sharing ideas.” Also: “Cultures of the future are environments where race conscious leaders are committed to expanding their insights and engaging in meaningful actions.” She also outlines 10 habits of race conscious leaders. Some are in her words: #1. Race conscious leaders are peacemakers, not peacekeepers. #2. Race conscious leaders make themselves accountable. #3. Race conscious leaders think collectively and individually. #4. Race conscious leaders are relentlessly self‐aware. #5. Race conscious leaders are truth tellers. #6. Race conscious leaders filter their decisions through the lens of equity and justice.

The Model Sketch for Enhancing Lie Detection and Eliciting Information.

Background: Sketching while narrating is an effective interview technique for eliciting information and cues to deceit. The current research examined the effects of introducing a Model Sketch in investigative interviews andis pre-registered on https://osf.io/kz9mc (accessed on 18 January 2022). Methods: Participants (N = 163) completed a mock mission and were asked to tell the truth or to lie about it in an interview. In Phase 1 of the interview, participants provided either a free recall (control condition), sketched and narrated with exposure to a Model Sketch (Model Sketch-present condition), or sketched and narrated without exposure to a Model Sketch (Model Sketch-absent condition). In Phase 2, all participants provided a free recall without sketching. Results: Truth tellers reported significantly more information than lie tellers. The Model Sketch elicited more location details than a Free recall in Phase 1 and more veracity differences than the other Modality conditions in Phase 2. Conclusion: The Model Sketch seems to enhance the elicitation of information and to have carryover veracity effects in a follow-up free recall.

Sketching routes to elicit information and cues to deceit

AbstractSketching while narrating involves describing an event while sketching on a blank paper (self‐generated sketch) or on a printed map. We compared the effects of self‐generated sketches and printed maps on information elicitation and lie detection. Participants (N = 211) carried out a mock mission and were instructed to tell the truth or to lie about it in an online interview. In the first phase of the interview, all participants provided a free recall. In the second phase, participants provided another free recall or verbally described the mission while sketching on a blank paper or on a printed map. Truth tellers provided richer accounts than lie tellers. Larger effect sizes emerged for the self‐generated sketch condition than for the printed map and free recall conditions. This suggests that self‐generated sketches are more effective lie detection tools when information on routes and locations is sought.

The Effect of Using Countermeasures in Interpreter-Absent and Interpreter-Present Interviews

Background: In two experiments we examined whether lie tellers, after reading articles about the Model Statement interview tool and/or about the verbal cues complications, common knowledge details and self-handicapping strategies, can successfully use countermeasures by adjusting their statements so that they sound like truth tellers. We also examined whether the presence of an interpreter affect these results. Method: In both experiments, truth tellers discussed a trip they had made; lie tellers fabricated a story. Participants were of Lebanese, Mexican and South-Korean origin. Prior to the interview participants in Experiment 1 did or did not receive information about (i) the working of the Model Statement tool and (ii) three types of verbal detail: complications, common knowledge details and self-handicapping strategies. In Experiment 2 the Model Statement Pre-Information factor was replaced by the presence/absence of an interpreter. Results/Conclusions: We found no evidence that lie tellers adjusted their responses after being informed about the Model Statement and / or the types of detail we examined.

Actions speak louder than words: The Devil's Advocate questioning protocol in opinions about protester actions

SummaryThe Devil's Advocate protocol has been developed to assist making veracity assessments when someone discusses their opinion. The present experiment focused on protester actions rather than controversial issues and also included an adapted version of the Verifiability Approach. Participants told the truth or lied about protester actions and the participants' answers to the eliciting opinion and Devil's Advocate questions were compared. The Devil's Advocate approach predicts the difference in answers (residue scores) to be more pronounced in truth tellers than in lie tellers in terms of quantity of the answers (number of words, details and arguments) and quality of the answers (plausibility, immediacy and clarity). The hypothesis was supported but only in terms of quality: Truth tellers' answers sounded more plausible and immediate and somewhat clearer than lie tellers' answers. Truth tellers also reported more digital verifiable sources than lie tellers.

Testimonies of affect: Native American women’s histories of violence on California’s Pacific North Coast

ABSTRACT From the 1850s and into the 1880s, the Native American nations of the Pacific northwestern coast of California had been wracked by violence perpetrated by settler vigilantes and military forces. Girls and young women, sought for both sexual and domestic labour, were disproportionately represented among the survivors. Decades later, during the 1920s and 1930s, some of those now elderly women delivered their testimonies. Their accounts continue to reverberate in the present day, even as they remain on the periphery of historical consciousness. This article considers the gendered nature of these deeply affective and traumatic accounts, that continues to shape their silencing and their re-telling. It focuses on the transmission of these accounts to, and through, white women. Such consideration suggests that in persisting in recounting these histories of settler atrocities to settler women, Native American women survivors mobilised the politics of affect to advocate for contemporary Native American rights; and asserted their agency as history makers and truth tellers in their own right.

Applying the asymmetric information management technique to insurance claims

AbstractThis study investigates the Asymmetric Information Management (AIM) technique's ability to detect fraudulent insurance claims submitted online. The AIM instructions inform claimants that, inter alia, more detailed statements are easier to accurately classify as genuine or fabricated. To test this, truth tellers (n = 55) provided an honest statement about a lost or stolen item, while liars (n = 53) provided a false claim. All claimants were randomly assigned to either receive the control or AIM instructions. We found that truth tellers provided more information in the AIM condition (compared to the control condition), and discriminant analysis classificatory performance was improved slightly. Unfortunately, the AIM instructions had little effect on the amount of information liars provided. Thus, the AIM technique is useful for supporting truth tellers to be more detailed, but more work needs to be conducted to assess why liars in this study did not adapt a withholding strategy.

Presenting the consequences of feigning: Does it diminish symptom overendorsement? An analog study

Feigning causes personal and societal consequences, in both civil and criminal context. We investigated whether presenting the consequences of feigning can diminish symptom endorsement in feigned Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We randomly allocated non-native English speaking undergraduates (N = 145) to five conditions: 1) Truth tellers (n = 31), 2) Civil context feigners (n = 27), 3) Civil context warned feigners (n = 26), 4) Criminal context feigners (n = 29), and 5) Criminal context warned feigners (n = 32). All feigning groups received a vignette depicting a situation in which claiming PTSD would be beneficial. One vignette referred to the personal injury claim, whereas the second was about the aggravated assault charges. Additionally, one feigning group from each setting received information about the consequences of feigning (i.e., warned feigners). After receiving the instructions, all participants were administered the Self-Report Symptom Inventory (SRSI), a measure of symptom endorsement. Truth tellers endorsed fewer symptoms than all feigning groups, which mostly did not differ. Yet, criminal warned feigners (59%) were significantly less frequently detected on the SRSI as overreporters than other feigning groups (86.2%–89%). Hence, emphasizing the negative consequences of overreporting may diminish symptom endorsement, but only in high-stake situations. The implications and limitations (e.g., online measure administration) of this work are discussed.

Review: To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America, by Felicia Angeja Viator

Review: <i>To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America</i>, by Felicia Angeja Viator

Detecting deception using comparable truth baselines

ABSTRACT Baselining – comparing the statements of interest to a known truthful statement by the same individual – has been suggested to improve lie detection accuracy. A potential downside of baselining is that it might influence the characteristics of a subsequent statement, as was shown in previous studies. In our first experiment we examined this claim but found no evidence that a truthful baseline influenced the characteristics of a subsequent statement. Next, we investigated whether using a truthful baseline statement as a within-subject comparison would improve lie detection performance by investigating verbal cues (Experiment 1) and intuitive judgements of human judges (Experiment 2). Our exploratory analyses showed that truth tellers included more auditory and temporal details in their target statement than in their baseline than liars. Observers did not identify this verbal pattern. Exposure to a truthful baseline statement resulted in a lower truth accuracy but no difference in lie accuracy.

Mapping Details to Elicit Information and Cues to Deceit: The Effects of Map Richness1

Background:Investigators often use maps in forensic interviews to verify a route that was taken by a suspect to obtain additional information, and to assess credibility.Method:We examined the effects of the level of map richness on the elicitation of information and cues to deceit. A total of 112 participants completed a mock secret mission and were asked to tell the truth (to a friendly agent) or to lie (to a hostile agent) about it in an interview. In phase 1 of the interview, all participants provided a verbal free recall of the mission. In phase 2, half of the participants were given a detailed map that included all street names and landmarks of the city where they completed the mission (zoomed in to 80%), and the other half were given a less detailed map that included the names of only major streets and landmarks (zoomed in to 60%). All participants were asked to verbally describe the mission and the route taken while sketching on the map.Results:Compared to lie tellers, truth tellers provided more location, action, temporal, and object details and complications in phase 1, and new person, location, action, and object details and complications in phase 2. Map richness did not have an effect on the amount of information elicited and had an equal effect on truth tellers and lie tellers.Conclusions:This initial experiment in this research area suggests that investigators do not have to worry about the exact level of map detailedness when introducing maps in interviews.

OPTIMIZED ACTION UNITS FEATURES FOR EFFICIENT DESIGN OF DECEPTION DETECTION SYSTEM

Deception detection is becoming an interesting filed in different areas related to security, criminal investigation, law enforcement and terrorism detection. Recently non-verbal features have become essential features for deception detection process. One of the most important kind of these features is facial expression. The importance of these expressions come from the idea that Human face contain different expressions each of which is directly related to a certain state. In this research paper, facial expressions' data are collected for 102 participants (25 women and 77 men) as video clips. There are 504 clips for lie response and 384 for truth response (total 888 video clips). Facial expressions in a form of Action Units (AUs) are extracted for each frame with video clip. The AUs are encoded based on Facial Action Coding System (FACS) which are 18 AUs. These are: AU 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28 and 45. Based on the collected data, only six AUs are the most effective and have a direct impact on the discrimination process between liar and truth teller. These AUs are AU 6, 7, 10, 12, 14 and 28

Combining the model statement and the sketching while narrating interview techniques to elicit information and detect lies in multiple interviews

AbstractThe current experiment examined the effects of combining two interview techniques on information elicitation and lie detection in multiple interviews. Participants were interviewed online over three weeks. Two‐thirds of the participants (n = 114) were presented with the model statement (MS) interview technique in Interview 1 and were asked to sketch and narrate in Interview 2 (MS‐Sketch condition) or vice versa (Sketch‐MS condition). In Interview 3, all participants provided a free recall. The remaining one‐third of participants (n = 61) provided only a free recall in the three interviews. Truth tellers reported more information than lie tellers in all three interviews. In Interview 2, the Sketch‐MS condition elicited more new information and cues to deceit than the other conditions. The results imply that veracity effects are consistent across multiple interviews and the MS is effective for eliciting information and cues to deceit when preceded by an initial recall.