Forensic Psychology

Question 1

What are the 3 approaches to detecting deception?

Answer 1

1. Behavioural markers (non-verbal)
   Body language
   Commonly reported signs of nervousness include gaze aversion and increased body movements
2. Speech analysis (verbal)
   Reduced detail in speech content
   Errors in speech content (contradicting themselves etc)
3. Physiological markers

Question 2

How good are normal people at detecting deception?

Answer 2

Not very well. Marginally better than chance

Only 57%

Question 3

How good are police, customs officers etc at detecting deception?

Answer 3

56%

No better than ordinary people

Question 4

How well do secret service agents do at detecting deception?

Answer 4

64%

Question 5

How well do CIA agents go at detecting deception?

Answer 5

74%

Even the best spies aren’t the best at detecting.

Question 6

Why no better for professionals?

Answer 6

Due to person detecting being passive with a lack of interaction (this isn’t the case)

Stakes aren’t high enough - no reasons for the suspects to be nervous if the lies don’t matter to them.

Relying on the wrong cues.
Or giving incorrect explanation for behaviours. Eg. Lying or worried about proving innocence

There are no definite signs of lying!!!!

Question 7

What happens to emotions when lying?

Answer 7

Higher voice pitch

Micro-expressions: tiny giveaways in facial expressions

Question 8

What is the cognitive effects when lying?

Answer 8

More errors made -(Lying is mentally harder so need to keep track)
Less detail in what is being said as well as more structure.

Question 9

Explain attempted behaviour control

Answer 9

People are more rigid and have less expression in an attempt to counteract nervous behaviour.

Question 10

Can lie detecting be improved by training people to look for specific markers?

Answer 10

By being trained to ignore gaze aversion, monitor pauses and errors and looking for foot and leg movements etc.

Small improvement of 4%

Question 11

How can active interviewing techniques be used to improve lie detection?

Answer 11

Active interactions have been shown to be effective.

1. Increase cognitive load
2. Strategic use of information- can reveal information at various times during the interview

Question 12

What is thought to be the non-verbal signs of lying?

Answer 12

Signs of nervousness
Gaze aversion
Increased body movements
Fidgeting

Question 13

What is thought to be the verbal signs of lying?

Answer 13

Reduced detail in speech content

Errors in speech

Question 14

What are some ways to increase cognitive load?

Answer 14

Reverse order: when someone isn’t relying on genuine memories, this is difficult

Maintain eye contact: telling them they have to maintain eye contact

Increase the amount of information generated: increase the amount of info expected. Give an example from other witness in unrelated case

Different reporting modes: getting them to tell the story in drawings

Question 15

What does increasing ones cognitive load lead to?

Answer 15

Increased frequency of errors and pauses

Better lie detection

Question 16

What are some drawbacks to increasing cognitive load?

Answer 16

May increase the amount of inaccurate information generated by truth tellers during interview.

Especially when memory is poor

Effectiveness may depend on working memory capacity of the person being interviewed (ineffective for high wmc liars and problematic for low wmc truth tellers)

Question 17

Unanticipated questions?

Answer 17

Liars prepare well for interviews - this benefit is reduced for unanticipated questions

Increases errors and lie detection

Question 18

Why do people think they are worse liars that they actually are? (Reading)

Answer 18

They overestimate the extent to which their own thoughts, emotions and other mental states are transparent to others

Illusion of transparency

Also easier to detect serious lies and these serious lies are more likely to come to mind instead of the little with lies that have been told

Question 19

What is the ostrich effect? (Reading)

Answer 19

Lies remain unnoticed because people do not attempt to detect them because they do not want to know the truth.

Why?
Lie may be more pleasant than the truth
Fear the consequences of the truth
They don’t know what to do with the truth

Question 20

SUE technique?

Answer 20

Strategic use of evidence technique.
When investigators possess critical and possibly incriminating background information they can exploit these differential truth tellers and liars strategies by introducing the evidence during the interview in a strategic manner

Question 21

What difference did they find between truth tellers and liars with the SUE technique

Answer 21

Truth tellers: forthcoming

Liars: avoidant

Question 22

How much better at detecting lies were those with SUE training?

Answer 22

85% vs. 56%