Interpersonal deception: II. The inferiority of conversational participants as deception detectors

Abstract

This experiment compared the deception detection skills of conversational participants and observers. Participants were expected to have a more pronounced truth‐bias than observers. They were also predicted to be less accurate detecting deception than observers because of the cognitive and communication requirements of conversational management. Each of fifty observers viewed two videotaped interactions between an interviewer (i.e., conversational participant) and two interviewees (i.e., sources) who either told the truth or deceived. Conversational participants attributed more truth to sources than did observers and they were less accurate detectors than observers. When not told about the deception manipulation, observers relied on more accurate behavioral cues than participants. When informed about deception, participants relied on inaccurate facial cues, whereas observers relied on inaccurate vocal cues to judge deceit.