Biological Aspects Of Lie Detection

Lies are being told all around us. Of 555 character traits evaluated, lying was categorized as the worst, yet research also shows that people lie daily and don’t feel significant guilt for their deception (DePaulo, Kashy, Kirkendol, Wyer & Epstein, 1996). With the great prevalence of dishonesty in most social interactions, much research has been focused on aspects of lying and effective methods of lie-detection. Studies have deduced the three main aspects of lying to be verbal, nonverbal, and physiological, around which the relevant lie-detection methods revolve. Physiologically-based lie detection tools include measurements of an individual’s skin response, heart rate, blood pressure, and/or neural activities. Such methods are intrusive and …show more content…
Affect displays consist of distinctive movements of the facial muscles that indicate the seven primary affect states; happiness, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, and interest. Micro affect displays are those expressions that are so brief they are scarcely observable to the untrained eye. It was found that when shown in slow motion, such micro displays are sufficient to convey emotional information to untrained observers, while expert clinical observers can glean the same information in real-time. One example is eye contacts, known as an affect display of interest. Research shows that eye contacts which differ from the norm in regard to duration or frequency are able to provide clues to deception. Conversely, adaptors develop from movements initially learned in an attempt to manage emotions or satisfy the self or bodily needs. When exhibited by an adult, such adaptors typically occur habitually and without awareness, and since they primarily involve the body, as opposed to the face, they are less likely to be inhibited. For example, one may scratch oneself as the ego unconsciously strives to punish oneself for lying. The face is known to leak the most, and as such will be most attended by the liar, making it an unclear source of information concerning ongoing deception. A liar will have more awareness of their facial expressions and while facial affect is harder to …show more content…
The previous study addressed the prevalence of easily monitored and controlled gestures between truthful and dishonest individuals. Expanding on that, a study by Casao, Vrij, Mann, and Leo (2006) investigates the influence of informing participants about verbal and nonverbal cues to deception prior to their lying or truth telling. A group of 128 participants were instructed to either lie or be honest concerning their possession of an object. Prior to that, individuals were informed about either verbal or nonverbal cues, with the expectation being that knowledge about verbal cues would generate more credible stories, whereas knowledge of nonverbal cues would have no influence on credibility. The hypothesis was based in the fact that people are typically more skillful in verbal as opposed to nonverbal responses. As anticipated, individuals were unable to control their nonverbal behavior, whereas they were able to change their verbal behavior. The results of this study somewhat contradict the work of Hocking and Leathers (1980) who found that nonverbal gestures were suppressed in liars, insinuating that people are able to control nonverbal behavior to some degree. Further research on the matter is necessary to come to an accurate conclusion, and specification is necessary to clarify which cues participants were informed of,