Lie Experts' Beliefs about Nonverbal Indicators of Deception

. Beliefs about behavioral clues to deception were investigated in 212 people, consisting of prisoners, police detectives, patrol police officers, prison guards, customs officers, and college students. Previous studies, mainly conducted with college students as subjects, showed that people have some incorrect beliefs about behavioral clues to deception. It was hypothesized that prisoners would have the best notion about clues of deception, due to the fact that they receive the most adequate feedback about successful deception strategies. The results supported this hypothesis. In deception research a distinction is usually made between actual and perceived indicators of deception (DePaulo, Stone, & Lassiter, 1985, Zuckerman, DePaulo, & Rosenthai, 1981). Actual indicators of deception consist of nonverbal behaviors which have been found to be associated with deception. Perceived indicators of deception are nonverbal behaviors that observers associate with deception, regardless of whether such behavior is a manifestation of actual deception. Meta:analyses of actual indicators of deception (DePaulo, 1992; DePaulo et al., 1985; Ekman, 1989; Vrij, 1991; Zuckerman & Driver, 1985; Zuckerman et al., 1981) provide empirical evidence that deceiving others is correlated with several nonverbal behaviors, such as an increase in speech disturbances (both more ahs and non-ahs), a higher-pitched voice, a slower speech rate, a longer latency period, and a decrease in leg/foot movements and hand/arm movements. The emotional, cognitive, and control approaches have been offered to explain these findings. In the emotional approach (Knapp, Hart, & Dennis, 1974; KOhnken, 1989; Riggio & Friedman, 1983) it is emphasized that deceiving causes physiological reactions, such as high blood pressure, increased heart rate, and increased respiration rate. The physiological reaction is the conseAddress correspondence to Aldert Vrij, University of Portsmouth, Department of Psychology, King Charles Street, Portsmouth PO1 2ER, United Kingdom. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 20(I), Spring 1996 @ 1996 Human 5cier~c~ Pres~,/nc. 65