The ability to detect deceit generalizes across different types of high-stake lies.

Abstract

The authors investigated whether accuracy in identifying deception from demeanor in high-stake lies is specific to those lies or generalizes to other high-stake lies. In Experiment 1, 48 observers judged whether 2 different groups of men were telling lies about a mock theft (crime scenario) or about their opinion (opinion scenario). The authors found that observers' accuracy in judging deception in the crime scenario was positively correlated with their accuracy in judging deception in the opinion scenario. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1, as well as P. Ekman and M. O'Sullivan's (1991) finding of a positive correlation between the ability to detect deceit and the ability to identify micromomentary facial expressions of emotion. These results show that the ability to detect high-stake lies generalizes across high-stake situations and is most likely due to the presence of emotional clues that betray deception in high-stake lies.

Cites (40)

1. Facial action coding system
   Ekman, Paul, Friesen, Wallace V. · 2019 · PsycTESTS Dataset
2. Unmasking the face
   Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen · 1975
3. Self-monitoring of expressive behavior.
   Snyder, Mark · 1974 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
4. Nonverbal Leakage and Clues to Deception †
   Ekman, Paul, Friesen, Wallace V. · 1969 · Psychiatry
5. Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage
   Paul Ekman · 1985
6. The Duchenne smile: Emotional expression and brain physiology: II.
   Ekman, Paul, Davidson, Richard J., Friesen, Wallace V. · 1990 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
7. Verbal and Nonverbal Communication of Deception
   Zuckerman, Miron, DePaulo, Bella M., Rosenthal, Robert · 1981 · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
8. Voluntary Facial Action Generates Emotion‐Specific Autonomic Nervous System Activity
   Levenson, Robert W., Ekman, Paul, Friesen, Wallace V. · 1990 · Psychophysiology
9. Strong evidence for universals in facial expressions: A reply to Russell's mistaken critique.
   Ekman, Paul · 1994 · Psychological Bulletin
10. Lying in everyday life.
    Bella M. DePaulo, Deborah A. Kashy, Susan E. Kirkendol, Melissa M. Wyer, Jennifer A. Epstein · 1996 · PubMed

Show all 40 references

Cited by (9)

1. CASME II: An Improved Spontaneous Micro-Expression Database and the Baseline Evaluation
   Yan, Wen-Jing, Li, Xiaobai, Wang, Su-Jing, Zhao, Guoying, Liu, Yong-Jin, Chen, Yu-Hsin, Fu, Xiaolan · 2014 · PLoS ONE
2. Darwin, Deception, and Facial Expression
   EKMAN, PAUL · 2003 · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
3. Human facial expressions as adaptations: Evolutionary questions in facial expression research
   Schmidt, Karen L., Cohn, Jeffrey F. · 2001 · American Journal of Physical Anthropology
4. Pitfalls and Opportunities in Nonverbal and Verbal Lie Detection
   Vrij, Aldert, Granhag, Pär Anders, Porter, Stephen · 2010 · Psychological Science in the Public Interest
5. On Lying and Being Lied To: A Linguistic Analysis of Deception in Computer-Mediated Communication
   Hancock, Jeffrey T., Curry, Lauren E., Goorha, Saurabh, Woodworth, Michael · 2007 · Discourse Processes

See all 403