Is anyone there? Drawings as a tool to detect deceit in occupation interviews

Abstract

In the present experiment 17 truth tellers and 16 liars were asked to verbally describe and sketch their workplace. We measured (i) the amount of detail included in the verbal description/sketch; (ii) the plausibility of the verbal description/sketch; (iii) the number of people verbally described/sketched; and (iv) the level of detail in which these people were verbally described/sketched. Differences between truth tellers and liars emerged on all four variables in the drawings whereas only one difference (the number of people described) emerged in the verbal accounts. Two possible explanations for the efficiency of drawings as a veracity assessment tool in this experiment are discussed. First, the request to sketch came as a surprise to participants and, second, sketching creates a unique problem for liars: more so than a verbal request, the request to sketch forces an interviewee to convey spatial information.

Keywords:

• deception
• deception detection
• detection of deception
• decision making
• interview procedures

Notes

1. The absence of an effect may well have been caused by a lack of statistical power.