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Chapter 4
Deception
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Learning Objectives
Describe the two types of polygraph tests
Describe the most common errors made by the Comparison Question Test (CQT) and Concealed Information Test (CIT)
Describe physiologically based alternatives to the polygraph
Outline the verbal and non-verbal cues of deception
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Learning Objectives
Define malingering, and list the three explanatory models of malingering
Differentiate between the types of studies used to examine malingering
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Polygraph Method
Based on the belief that deception is related to physiological change
Measures:
Respiration
Heart rate
Sweating
Different types of errors that can
Efella error: may exhniting signs of anxiety and you think they are lying but they are just showing these signs for other reasons
Broca Hazard: people who lie but show no signs - people can be trained in that (secret service agents)
Duping delay: telling little white lies
Polygraph method:
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Uses of Polygraph
Helps in criminal investigations (suspect is asked to take a polygraph test)
Verify a crime has occurred (victim is asked to take a polygraph test)
Monitoring sexual offenders on probation (United States)
Pre-employment screening for security agencies and police
Monitoring sexual offenders: they would check to see if they committed any other sexual illegal acts
Pre-employment: trying to assess honesty and reliability
Need to take a pre-test interview and to establish a base line: important to establish credibility at the beginning
- card trick: get you to pick up a card and I say the card that you have – looking at the interpretation of the different changes based on the questions ask
And will also be looking at
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6. Types of Polygraph Tests
There are two main types of polygraph tests:
Comparison Question Test (CQT)
Concealed Information Test (CIT)
CQT – used to be called the controlled question test –
CIT – used to be called guilty knowledge test
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7. Comparison Question Test
Includes three types of questions:
Irrelevant “is today Wednesday?” – neutral, something about identity or personal background
Relevant “did you steal the purse?”- relevant to the crime
Comparison – can be related to something in your history
Deception is assessed by comparing physiological responses between relevant and comparison questions
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8. Comparison Question Test: Sample Questions
Purpose
Example
Irrelevant
Used to obtain a baseline.
Are you left handed?
Relevant
Deal with the crime.
Did you assault Sam Smith on March 11th?
Comparison
Deal with prior antisocial behaviour.
Before age 25, did you ever verbally threaten to hurt anyone?
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Phases of the CQT
Pre-test interview: Interview with suspect to develop the comparison questions
Polygraph exam: Questions are asked while suspect’s physiological responses are measured
Scoring: Polygraph examiner scores the physiological responses to determine if the suspect is truthful, deceptive, or inconclusive
Post-test interview: If a suspect is judged deceptive they are pressured to confess
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10. Control Question Test: Assumptions
Assumes guilty people react more to relevant questions and innocent people react more to comparison questions
Suspect falsely accused of a crime might react more strongly to questions about the crime than to vague questions concerning past behaviour
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11. Concealed Information Test
Assesses if suspect has information that only the criminal would know
Asks suspects multiple-choice questions, one option is correct
Assumes if the suspect is guilty they will react strongly to correct information
Rarely used in Canada or United States
**Still part of the CQT
Looks at questions related to the crime that has been committed
Critical option – the right answer
Most common response: sweaty palms,
Not used in Canada:
Media attention cuold release some information
- you already have the comparison questions
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12. Types of Polygraph Studies
Laboratory studies
Ground truth is known
Limited application to real-life situations
Field studies
Real-life situations and actual suspects
Ground truth is not known
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Accuracy of the CQT
Majority of guilty suspects correctly identified
84% to 92% guilty correctly identified
Relatively large number of innocent suspects falsely identified as guilty
9% to 24% false positive errors
Accuracy of original examiners higher than blind scorers
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Accuracy of CIT
No field studies have been conducted in North America
Very accurate at identifying innocent participants
Around 95% correctly identified
Less accurate at identifying guilty participants
Around 85% correctly identified
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Countermeasures
Both physical and mental countermeasures dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the CQT (Honts et al., 1994)
The CIT does not appear to be effected by anti-anxiety drugs (Iacono et al., 1992)
Ways to reduce effectiveness of polygraphs: Count backwards, think of other things,
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16. Admissibility of Polygraph
Did not pass general acceptance test when first admitted as evidence in court (Frye v. United States, 1923)
Currently allowed in some States if agreed by both prosecution and defence
Not admissible into evidence in Canadian courts (R. v. Beland, 1987)
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Other Measures
Thermal imaging:
Detects facial warming due to blood flow “blushing”
Event-related brain potentials (ERP)
Electrodes measure brain activity in
response to a significant stimulus
P300 used to detect guilty knowledge
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Other Measures: fMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Measures differences in brain activity when people are being honest versus deceptive
Different parts of the brain are activated when person is deceptive versus when they are telling the truth
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19. Detecting Deception: Verbal Cues
Verbal cues most consistently related to deception include:
Higher voice pitch
Increased speech disturbance (ah, umm)
Slower speech
Pattern of verbal cues may depend on how cognitively complex the lie is
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20. Verbal Characteristics of Deception (Table 4.3)
Speech fillers
Frequency of saying “ah” or “umm”
Speech errors
Repetition, change, slips of tongue
Pitch of voice
Rate of speech
Speech pauses
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21. Non-verbal Characteristics of Deception (Table 4.3)
Gaze aversion
Smiling
Blinking
Fidgeting
Illustrators
Hand or finger movements
Leg or foot movements
Body movements
Shrugs
Head movements
Shifting positions
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22. Detecting Deception: Verbal Cues
Verbal cues that are indicative of honesty:
Make corrections in account
Admit to lack of memory
Verbal cues that are indicative of deception:
Little detail
Less compelling accounts
More nervous and tense
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23. Detecting Deception: Professionals
Vrij (2000) reported accuracy rates:
Truths = 67%
Lies = 44%
Accuracy of professional lie catchers vary:
Have a truthfulness bias
Tend to rely on wrong cues
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Factitious Disorder
Intentionally produced physical or psychological symptoms
Internal motivation to assume the sick role
Absence of external incentives
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Somatoform Disorder
Physical symptoms that cannot be explained by organic impairment
Symptoms are not intentionally produced
Often co-occurs with depression or anxiety
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Malingering
Psychological or physical symptoms are voluntary
There are external motivations for the production of symptoms
Malinger mental illness to avoid criminal punishment, to obtain drugs, or for compensation such as disability
Prevalence quite high in forensic settings
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27. Defensiveness
Defensiveness refers to the conscious denial or minimization of physical or psychological symptoms
Might wish to appear high functioning to be seen as a fit parent
Some patients may not want to admit they certain symptoms
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28. Explanations of Malingering
Three explanatory models of malingering (Rogers, 1990):
Pathogenic model
Criminological model
Adaptational model
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29. Research Assessing Malingering
Three basic designs:
Case study
Simulation
Known groups
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30. Detecting Malingered Psychosis
Clues regarding the symptoms:
Report rare, atypical symptoms, or absurd symptoms
Report atypical delusions or hallucinations
Absence of subtle symptoms
Continuous hallucinations rather than intermittent
(continued)
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31. Detecting Malingered Psychosis (continued)
Other clues:
Accuse clinician of not believing them
Presence of accomplice
Crime fits pattern of criminal history
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Assessments: SIRS
The Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS; Rogers et al., 1992)
Uses a structured interview
172 items organized into 8 scales
Research indicates good validity
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Assessments: M-FAST
The M-FAST test (Miller, 2000)
Interview-based method
25 items organized into 9 scales
Useful and reliable screening test for malingering
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34. Assessments: MMPI/MMPI-2
MMPI/MMPI-2 are self-report personality inventories
They contain scales such as the infrequency (F) scale and the Back F (FB) scale selected to detect unusual or atypical symptoms
Research indicates these scales are the most useful at detecting malingerers (Rogers et al., 2003)
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