Some Evidence for Unconscious Lie Detection

To maximize survival and reproductive success, primates evolved the tendency to tell lies and the ability to accurately detect them. Despite the obvious advantage of detecting lies accurately, conscious judgments of veracity are only slightly more accurate than chance. However, findings in forensic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2014-05, Vol.25 (5), p.1098-1105
Main Authors: Brinke, Leanne ten, Stimson, Dayna, Carney, Dana R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Architecture
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Consciousness
Deception
Emotions
Evolution
Female
Forensic psychology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Homo sapiens
Humans
Lie Detection - psychology
Lying
Male
Neuropsychology
Neuroscience
Personality psychology
Polygraphs
Primates
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social attribution, perception and cognition
Social cognition
Social evolution
Social Perception
Social psychology
Subliminal perception
Theft - psychology
Truth
Unconscious (Psychology)
Unconscious mind
Unconsciousness
Young Adult
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Summary:To maximize survival and reproductive success, primates evolved the tendency to tell lies and the ability to accurately detect them. Despite the obvious advantage of detecting lies accurately, conscious judgments of veracity are only slightly more accurate than chance. However, findings in forensic psychology, neuroscience, and primatology suggest that lies can be accurately detected when less-conscious mental processes (as opposed to more-conscious mental processes) are used. We predicted that observing someone tell a lie would automatically activate cognitive concepts associated with deception, and observing someone tell the truth would activate concepts associated with truth. In two experiments, we demonstrated that indirect measures of deception detection are significantly more accurate than direct measures. These findings provide a new lens through which to reconsider old questions and approach new investigations of human lie detection.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797614524421