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The Reliability of Lie Detection Performance

  • Original Article
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Law and Human Behavior

Abstract

We examined whether individuals’ ability to detect deception remained stable over time. In two sessions, held one week apart, university students viewed video clips of individuals and attempted to differentiate between the lie-tellers and truth-tellers. Overall, participants had difficulty detecting all types of deception. When viewing children answering yes–no questions about a transgression (Experiments 1 and 5), participants’ performance was highly reliable. However, rating adults who provided truthful or fabricated accounts did not produce a significant alternate forms correlation (Experiment 2). This lack of reliability was not due to the types of deceivers (i.e., children versus adults) or interviews (i.e., closed-ended questions versus extended accounts) (Experiment 3). Finally, the type of deceptive scenario (naturalistic vs. experimentally-manipulated) could not account for differences in reliability (Experiment 4). Theoretical and legal implications are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants to the authors (Leach, Lindsay, Bala, & Lee) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Criminology, Justice, and Policy Studies, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada, L1H 7K4

    Amy-May Leach

  2. Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    R. C. L. Lindsay, Rachel Koehler, Jennifer L. Beaudry & Nicholas C. Bala

  3. Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kang Lee

  4. McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Victoria Talwar

Authors
  1. Amy-May Leach
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  2. R. C. L. Lindsay
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  3. Rachel Koehler
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  4. Jennifer L. Beaudry
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  5. Nicholas C. Bala
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  6. Kang Lee
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  7. Victoria Talwar
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Correspondence to Amy-May Leach.

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Leach, AM., Lindsay, R.C.L., Koehler, R. et al. The Reliability of Lie Detection Performance. Law Hum Behav 33, 96–109 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-008-9137-9

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