Michael Woodworth

On Lying and Being Lied To: A Linguistic Analysis of Deception in Computer-Mediated Communication

This study investigated changes in both the liars and the conversational partners linguistic style across truthful and deceptive dyadic communication in a synchronous text-based setting. An analysis of 242 transcripts revealed that liars produced more words, more sense-based words (e.g., seeing, touching), and used fewer self-oriented but more other-oriented pronouns when lying than when telling the truth. In addition, motivated liars avoided causal terms when lying, whereas unmotivated liars tended to increase their use of negations. Conversational partners also changed their behavior during deceptive conversations, despite being blind to the deception manipulation. Partners asked more questions with shorter sentences when they were being deceived, and matched the liars linguistic style along several dimensions. The linguistic patterns in both the liar and the partners language use were not related to deception detection, suggesting that partners were unable to use this linguistic information to improve their deception detection accuracy.

Characteristics of sexual homicides committed by psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders

In this study, the relationship between psychopathy and the perpetration of sexual homicide was investigated. The official file descriptions of sexual homicides committed by 18 psychopathic and 20 nonpsychopathic Canadian offenders were coded (by coders unaware of Psychopathy Checklist—Revised [PCL—R] scores) for characteristics of the victim, victim/perpetrator relationship, and evidence of gratuitous and sadistic violent behavior. Results indicated that most (84.7%) of the sexual murderers scored in the moderate to high range on the PCL—R. The majority of victims (66.67%) were female strangers, with no apparent influence of psychopathy on victim choice. Homicides committed by psychopathic offenders (using a PCL—R cut-off of 30) contained a significantly higher level of both gratuitous and sadistic violence than nonpsychopathic offenders. Most (82.4%) of the psychopaths exhibited some degree of sadistic behavior in their homicides compared to 52.6% of the nonpsychopaths. Implications for homicide investigations are discussed.

Automated Linguistic Analysis of Deceptive and Truthful Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

The present study investigates changes in both the senders and the targets linguistic style across truthful and deceptive dyadic communication in a synchronous text-based setting. A computer-based analysis of 242 transcripts revealed that senders produced more words overall, decreased their use of self-oriented pronouns but increased other-oriented pronouns, and used more sense-based descriptions (e.g., seeing, touching) when lying than when telling the truth. In addition, motivated senders avoided causal terms during deception, while unmotivated senders relied more heavily on simple negations. Receivers used more words when being deceived, but they also asked more questions and used shorter sentences when being lied to than when being told the truth, especially when the sender was unmotivated. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for linguistic style matching and interpersonal deception theory.

Halfe the world knowes not how the other halfe lies: Investigation of verbal and non-verbal signs of deception exhibited by criminal offenders and non-offenders

Purpose. This study examined the verbal and non-verbal behaviours exhibited by criminal offender and non-offender participants while they related planned truthful and deceptive accounts about emotional autobiographical events.Methods. In a 2 × 2 (participant group × veracity) quasi-experimental design, offenders (N = 27) and university students (N = 38) provided videotaped accounts of four autobiographical emotional events: two honest and two fabricated (counterbalanced). Patterns of behaviour exhibited during the truthful and the deceptive accounts were then compared.Results. In general, offenders and non-offenders showed similar patterns of deceptive behaviour. Deceptive accounts by both groups contained fewer details than honest accounts. Deception was associated with an increase in illustrator usage and self-manipulations; however, univariate analyses indicated only that offenders exhibited significantly more self-manipulations when lying. A significant interaction emerged in which offenders showed a reduction in smiles when lying about the emotional events, while students showed no difference.Conclusions. Offenders and students showed similar patterns of lying on most cues. However, unlike non-offenders, offenders smiled less and showed an increase in self-manipulations when lying. We theorize that offenders may have been aware that smiling and laughing are negatively related to perceived credibility in the speaker and used self-manipulations to distract listeners from the content of their lies. Language: en

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration … or is it? An investigation of the impact of motivation and feedback on deception detection

Purpose. Although most people perform around the level of chance in making credibility judgments, some researchers have hypothesized that high motivation and the provision of accurate feedback could lead to a higher accuracy rate. This study examined the influence of these factors on judgment accuracy and whether any improvement following feedback was related to social facilitation, a gradual incorporation of successful assessment strategies, or a re-evaluation of ‘tunnel vision’ decision-making. Methods. Participants (N = 151) were randomly assigned to conditions according to motivation level (high/low) and feedback (accurate, inaccurate or none). They then judged the credibility of 12 videotaped speakers either lying or telling the truth about a personal experience. Results. Highly motivated observers performed less accurately (M = 46.0%), but more confidently, than those in the low-motivation condition (M = 60.0%). Although there was no main effect of feedback, the provision of any feedback (accurate or inaccurate) served to diminish the motivational impairment effect. Further, high motivation was associated with a relatively low ‘hit’ rate and high ‘false-alarm’ rate. This suggested that in the absence of feedback the judgments of highly motivated participants were made through tunnel vision. Conclusions. The results suggest that it is important for lie-catchers to monitor their motivation level to ensure that over-enthusiasm is not clouding their judgments. It may be useful for professionals engaged in deception detection to regularly discuss their judgments with colleagues as a form of feedback in order to re-evaluate their own decision-making strategies.

Warrants and deception in computer mediated communication

This article explores the operation of warrants, connections between online and real-world identities, on deceptive behavior in computer-mediated communication. A survey of 132 participants assessed three types of warrants (the use of a real name, a photo, and the presence of real-world acquaintances) in five different media: IM, Forums, Chat, Social Networking Sites (SNS) and Email. The effect of warrants on lies about demographic information (e.g., age, gender, education, etc.), ones interests (e.g., religion, music preferences, etc.), and the seriousness of lies was assessed. Overall, deception was observed most frequently in Chat and least often in SNS and Email. The relationship between warrants and deception was negative and linear, with warrants suppressing the frequency and seriousness of deception regardless of medium, although real-world acquaintances were especially powerful in constraining deception in SNS and emails.

Do You See What I See? The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Student and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Perceptions of Violent Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Relationships

ABSTRACT Forty-one men and 67 women undergraduate students, as well as 35 men and 27 women Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers, rated the abusiveness of intimate partner violence (IPV) vignettes portraying each possible gender combination of victim and perpetrator (Harris & Cook, 1994). Rating differences according to victim and perpetrator gender, occupation (student or RCMP officer), and participant gender were anticipated. Analyses found that student and RCMP ratings of abuse severity were both highest for the male-female scenario. However, the RCMP considered the female-male, male-male, and female-female scenarios to be more abusive than did the students. Our findings suggest that, while the RCMP appeared to be more sensitive to male and same-sex victims than students, both groups remain somewhat biased.

Partners in Crime A Comparison of Individual and Multi-perpetrator Homicides

Little is known about the characteristics of homicides committed by more than one perpetrator. This study examined the crime, victim, and perpetrator characteristics of individual homicides (n = 84) versus multi-perpetrator homicides (n = 40), according to official file information from two Canadian federal penitentiaries. Compared to multiple perpetrators, individual perpetrators were more likely to be older and to target female victims, and their homicides were more likely to contain reactive, sexual, and sadistic elements. Multi-perpetrator homicides tended to involve younger offenders, male victims, and instrumental motives. Psychopathic offenders were likely to act alone in committing sexual homicides and to involve an accomplice in other types of murders, but they typically committed gratuitous violence against women regardless of whether they acted alone or with a co-perpetrator. The findings indicate that individual and multi-perpetrator homicides have distinctive dynamics and can be differentiated during investigations.

A comparison of memory for homicide, non-homicidal violence, and positive life experiences

Defendants commonly claim amnesia for their criminal actions especially in cases involving extreme violence. While some claims are malingered or result from physiological factors, other cases may represent genuine partial or complete amnesia resulting from the psychological distress and/or extreme emotion associated with the perpetration of the crime. Fifty Canadian homicide offenders described their memories of their homicide, a non-homicide violent offense, and their most positive adulthood life experience. Self-reported and objective measures of memories for these events revealed that homicides were recalled with the greatest level of detail and sensory information. Although dissociative tendencies were associated with a self-reported memory loss, objective measures of memory quality did not reflect this perceived impairment, suggesting a failure of meta-memory. Recollections of positive life events were superior to those of non-homicidal violence, possibly due to greater impact and meaning attached to such experiences. Findings suggest that memory for homicide typically is enhanced by the powerful emotion associated with its perpetration.

Automated insights: verbal cues to deception in real-life high-stakes lies

This study differentiated between the language of deceptive and genuine pleaders who were pleading for the return of a missing loved one during a televised press conference. The Wmatrix linguistic analysis tool was used to examine the language of 78 pleaders. Approximately half (n = 35) of these individuals were deceptive and were responsible for the disappearance. Transcripts of the pleas were analyzed for various linguistic cues, and a separate analysis was conducted across gender. Results revealed that deceptive pleaders used the word ‘they,’ singular indefinite pronouns (e.g., ‘anybody,’ ‘somebody’), and exclusivizers/particularizers (e.g., ‘just’) significantly more than genuine pleaders, while genuine pleaders used more temporal words (e.g., ‘days,’ ‘weeks’), and the word ‘we’ more frequently in their pleas. Specific gender differences were also revealed across credible and deceptive pleaders. Our analysis of linguistic differences across pleader veracity provides an enhanced understanding of the verbal elements of high-stakes deception and what differentiates truths from deceptions in high-stakes cases. It also provides further validation of the use of automated linguistic tools like the Wmatrix in forensic contexts.