Lesson 2: Lie Detection and Credibility Assessment

Question 1

Low-Stakes/White Lies

Answer 1

A harmless or trivial lie, especially one told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings; the consequences would be minor if the lie was exposed

Question 2

High-Stakes Lies

Answer 2

A serious lie; the consequences would be severe if the lie was exposed

Question 3

Reasons for Lying

Answer 3

There are 3 main reasons for why people lie:

1. For the benefit of others: these are lies that are told so that they won’t hurt another person’s feelings
2. To gain advantage or to avoid costs: these lies enable the liar to improve their situation or avoid punishment
3. For materialistic or psychological reasons: these are lies that are told to gain money or prestige or to gain a psychological edge

Question 4

Polygraph Technique

Answer 4

When a person is lying, they will feel nervous and their body will show physiological signs of their anxiety when answering questions.

The polygraph is a device for measuring a person’s autonomic nervous system responses.

It includes a measurement strap that is placed around the upper chest and abdomen to assess a person’s breathing rate.

Electrodes are placed on a person’s fingertips to measure how much they are sweating.

Heart rate is measured by a blood pressure cuff attached to the person’s arm.

Polygraph tests can be used for a variety of reasons.

They can be used by police to interrogate a suspect.

The police may ask a suspect to take a polygraph test to help solve their case.

They can also be used to screen potential job interview candidates.

Question 5

Comparison Question Test

Answer 5

This is a type of polygraph test that includes irrelevant questions that are unrelated to the crime, relevant questions concerning the crime being investigated (e.g., Did you stab Sarah on the night of January 5th?) and comparison questions concerning the person’s honesty and past history prior to the event being investigated (e.g., During the first 20 years of your life, did you ever do anything illegal?).

This is the most common type of test used in polygraph testing in North America.

Polygraph testers compare people’s responses on the relevant and comparison questions to determine if a person is lying or telling the truth.

The logic behind this sort of testing is that guilty people will react physiologically to the relevant questions because they are familiar with the event they are being asked about. But, that innocent people will physiologically react more strongly to comparison questions about their general past history than the relevant questions. Since innocent people did not commit the crime, they will know they are telling the truth and not react physiologically to these questions

Question 6

Concealed Information Test

Answer 6

This is a type of polygraph test that is designed to determine if the person knows details about a crime that has been committed. Suspects are asked questions about a crime to find out if they know information about the crime that only the offender would know. The CIT is in Multiple Choice format and includes 1 answer that only the person who committed the crime would know is accurate. For example:

Did you rob the bank with a:

1. Knife
2. Handgun
3. Taser
4. Semi-automatic weapon?

Let’s say that the robbery was committed with a handgun. A guilty suspect would physiologically react to option (b) whereas an innocent person would not react to any of the options. As your reading this week points out, this type of testing is not used very frequently in North America.

Question 7

Genuine Facial Expression

Answer 7

The emotion that we feel matches the emotion on our face

Question 8

Simulated Facial Expression

Answer 8

We “fake” an emotional expression on our face in the absence of that emotion

Question 9

Masked Facial Expression

Answer 9

We pretend to feel a different emotion than we truly feel

Question 10

Neutralized Facial Expression

Answer 10

We inhibit our true emotion and appear to be feeling no emotion at all

Question 11

Inhibition Hypothesis

Answer 11

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Question 12

Micro-expressions

Answer 12

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Question 13

Emotional Leakage

Answer 13

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Question 14

Cognitive Load Theory

Answer 14

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Question 15

Multiple Cue Approach to Lie Detection

Answer 15

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Question 16

Deception Disorder - Factitious Disorder

Answer 16

A disorder in which the person’s physical and psychological symptoms are intentionally produced and are adopted for no external rewards

Question 17

Deception Disorder - Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

Answer 17

A rare factitious disorder in which person intentionally produces an illness in his or her child

Question 18

1. Telling someone that you are busy because you don’t feel like seeing them is an example of a __________ lie.

Question 1 options:

a) High stakes
b) Low stakes
c) Blue
d) Serious

Answer 18

Low stakes

Question 19

2. Tony is brought in for questioning about a robbery that took place at his neighbour’s house. Tony saw 2 men leaving his neighbour’s place the day of the robbery but these men are known in the neighbourhood for being violent. Tony tells the cops he didn’t see anything because he is worried the men will beat him up if they find out that he snitched to the cops. In this example, what is Tony’s motivation for lying?

Question 2 options:

a) For materialistic or psychological reasons
b) For the benefit of others
c) To gain advantage or to avoid costs
d) None of the above

Answer 19

To gain advantage or to avoid costs

Question 20

3. The polygraph machine measures people’s autonomic nervous system responses.

Question 3 options:
True/False

Answer 20

True

Question 21

4. Let’s say that you are invited to a party and you don’t really want to attend. But, your friend pressures you to go. When you arrive you smile at the host and thank them for inviting you (even though you aren’t feeling happy and wish you were back at home watching TV). In this example your facial expression would be:

Question 4 options:

a) Genuine
b) Simulated
c) Masked
d) Neutralized

Answer 21

Simulated

Question 22

5. Mark reported his wife Shelley missing 2 days ago. Detective Shaw is questioning Mark about his wife’s activities the day before she went missing. He asks Mark if he had taken out any life insurance on his wife. For a split second, Mark looks happy when asked this, then he covers this brief flicker of happiness with concern. What is this an example of?

Question 5 options:

a) Emotional leakage
b) Neutralized emotion
c) Cognitive load
d) Simulated emotion

Answer 22

Emotional leakage

Question 23

6. Researchers have found that when a suspect is lying their blink rate might increase or decrease from baseline.

Question 6 options:
True/False

Answer 23

True

Question 24

7. Who was best at detecting deception in Ekman and Maureen O’Sullivan’s study?

Question 7 options:

a) Police officers
b) Psychiatrists
c) U.S. Secret Service agents
d) College students

Answer 24

U.S. Secret Service agents

Question 25

8. The people who were good at detecting deception in Ekman and Maureen O’Sullivan’s study, paid attention to __________________to determine whether the person was lying.

Question 8 options:

a) verbal cues
b) nonverbal cues
c) explicit cues
d) speech cues

Answer 25

Nonverbal cues

Question 26

9. What is the relationship between confidence and accuracy in lie detection?

Question 9 options:

a) Confidence is a reliable indicator of accuracy
b) Confidence and accuracy are strongly linked
c) Confidence and accuracy are sometimes linked
d) Confidence is not a reliable indicator of accuracy

Answer 26

Confidence and accuracy are sometimes linked

Question 27

10. In their study entitled, “Being Sane in Insane Places”, what did the researchers find with respect to people’s perceptions of these sane individuals admitted to psychiatric hospitals?

Question 10 options:

a) The doctors could tell immediately that the pseudo-patients were sane
b) The other patients could tell immediately that the pseudo-patients were sane
c) Both the doctors and the patients could tell immediately that the pseudo-patients were sane
d) Both the doctors and the patients thought the pseudo-patients were insane

Answer 27

The other patients could tell immediately that the pseudo-patients were sane