Maria Hartwig

The Detection of Deception in Forensic Contexts: Practitioners' beliefs about deception

The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of research on beliefs about deception – especially practitioners beliefs. Specifically, we will outline which beliefs on deception professionals hold and compare these with what is known about actual (objective) differences between liars and truth-tellers. Then we will discuss how these beliefs have arisen, why they survive, how they spread, and to what they might lead. Finally, we will suggest how one might come to terms with misconceptions and false beliefs. In the present chapter we define belief as a (strong or weak) feeling or conviction that something is true or real. The beliefs that a person holds, irrespective of whether these are correct or not, are often reflected in his or her behavioural disposition (Eichenbaum and Bodkin, 2000). Since beliefs often guide action, it is important to study peoples beliefs about deception in order to learn more about why people fail and succeed in their endeavour to catch lies. In the deception literature, there are an abundance of studies on deception detection accuracy. Many studies report low accuracy in human lie detection (Kraut, 1980; Vrij, 2000). The most commonly given reason for the low accuracy is that there is a mismatch between what actually is indicative of deception and what people believe is indicative of deception (Vrij, 2000). Beliefs about deception How does one find out peoples beliefs about deception?

The Need for a Positive Psychological Approach and Collaborative Effort for Improving Practice in the Interrogation Room

The White Paper suggests important reforms that will reduce the likelihood of false confessions resulting from police interrogation. The research underlying these suggested reforms has yielded significant advances in our understanding of factors associated with false confessions. As we move forward, we encourage the development of empirically based approaches that provide a viable alternative to current practice. In doing so, we suggest that researchers pursue a positive psychological approach that involves partnering with practitioners to systematically develop interrogative methods that are shown to be more diagnostic. By taking such an approach, we believe that the recommendations offered in the current White Paper can be supplemented by methods that carry the support of both scientific and law enforcement communities.

Detecting Lies in the Financial Industry: A Survey of Investment Professionals' Beliefs

Research suggests that interpersonal deception is a common phenomenon in many settings. However, to date no research has examined lying and lie detection in the financial industry. This paper presents an empirical examination of investment professionals beliefs about deception. We obtained survey data from 607 CFA Institute charter holders across the world. Three aspects of deception were included in the survey. First, respondents beliefs about the behavioral characteristics of lying were examined. Second, perceptions of the prevalence of lies in professional and everyday life were mapped. Third, respondents were asked to estimate their ability to distinguish between lies and truths. The results showed that respondents subscribed to common misconceptions about deceptive behavior, in particular the beliefs that liars are gaze aversive and fidgety. Respondents believed that lying occurs on a daily basis, and that their accuracy in detecting lies exceeds 65%. Previous research suggests that this estimate may be overconfident. Implications of these results and directions for future research on deception in the financial industry are discussed.

Investment Professionals' Ability to Detect Deception: Accuracy, Bias and Metacognitive Realism

ABSTRACT In the first empirical study on the topic, the authors examined the ability of investment professionals to distinguish between truthful and deceptive statements. A random sample of 154 investment professionals made judgments about a series of truthful and deceptive statements, some of which involved financial fraud. Investment professionals lie detection accuracy was poor; participants performed no better than would be expected by chance. Accuracy in identifying lies about financial fraud was especially poor. Further, participants displayed poor metacognitive realism when assessing their own performance. The theoretical and practical implications for lie detection in the financial industry are discussed.