The Communication Patterns of Highly Effective Lie Detectors

ABSTRACT

A prior experiment involving professional interrogators using unscripted questions produced exceptionally high (98%) deception detection accuracy. Guided by truth-default theory, videotapes of those interviews were examined and coded to better understand how the unusually high degree of accuracy might have been obtained. Eighty-four videotaped interviews of potential cheaters by five professional interrogators were used to develop a coding scheme consisting of 78 potentially relevant behaviors. Consistent with truth-default theory, the experts explored communication motives that might make deceit more likely, sought contextually relevant communication, circled back in questioning with attention to inconsistencies, and persuaded honest confessions. Observed strategies for persuading honesty included pitting the interviewee against their partner, minimizing the act of cheating, normalizing cheating as just human nature, appealing to the interviewee’s character, appealing to the integrity of the research or data, and guilt appeals. The findings are discussed in terms of practical and theoretical implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Confessions
• deception detection
• experts
• interrogation
• truth-default theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, The High Value Detainee Interrogation Group [J-FBI-12-196].