1. Believed Cues to Deception: A Qualitative Investigation 1 Rachel Taylor 2 – University of Glamorgan Crystal Rolfe – University Hospital Wales, Cardiff 1: This project was funded by a postdoctoral seedcorn grant from the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology 2: rtaylor@glam.ac.uk

2. Background research Theoretical approaches to lie detection (e.g. Vrij, 2000)  Emotional approach  Cognitive approach  Control approach  Some support for control/cognitive approaches in terms of actual cues to deception (e.g. Vrij, Edward and Bull, 2001; Vrij, Edward, Roberts and Bull, 2001)  NB: Beliefs about deceptive behaviour fit best with the emotional approach! Even when lie detectors are experts and situations are low stake Fitting into a self-presentational perspective (DePaulo, 1992; DePaulo et al., 2003)

3. So why qualitative?..The use of a qualitative methodology may yield different results  Heath (2000) – use of an open-ended questionnaire = more flexible (less stereotyped) beliefs about the cues to deception

4. The current study Piloted the use of a semi-structured interview method  27 interviews conducted  Participants presented lies in either an intimate, acquaintance or stranger context  Generated four lies – high/low stake and easy/difficult  Discussed verbal and non-verbal cues as well as general issues around lying.

5. Results and discussion Deception is a STRATEGIC activity  Awareness of nervousness (AND the importance of control)  Importance of detail  Awareness of other person’s expectations  Use of other person in collusion  Distraction of self/deflection of other

6. Results and discussion Awareness of nervousness (AND the importance of control)  “He’s, he is doing his damnedest to look her in the eye, although he’s feeling nervous…” (P24) “He’d be, goodness, don’t know really, suppose, trying to keep a straight face, not show anything on his face, he wouldn’t want to look worried or anxious because that would give it away…” (P4) “When I’m nervous, I bite the side of my lip anyway, so when I’m talking I usually do that, but again, what I try to do is I try to incorporate maybe before she asks me…” (P18)

7. Results and discussion Importance of detail “Yeah, not to get any further into the lie because y’know you’re digging a deeper hole aren’t you?” (P19) “I’ll usually just try and, try and sort of get off the subject without seeming too dismissive of what she’s asking me, so I’ll just give her a straightforward answer…” (P7) “Leaving a bit of a break in order to assess how much information to give. So as not to give too much and too detailed a response, but more of a, not a scatty response but a you know, you know how it is’…fairly vague but then maybe with one example of strong detail” (P17)

8. Results and discussion Awareness of other person’s expectations “I’d have probably thought about it to be honest. The minute I decided to lie about it…As soon as I’ve decided I’m going to pretend it’s not going to happen, I’d have already thought about it in my mind. I’d imagine them saying ‘where did that scratch come from?’” (P5) “And I’ll talk quickly and I’ll mumble a lot and she’ll get fed up in the end. ‘Cos I know what she’s like and she hasn’t got time to listen and she’ll go like, ‘ah, tell me later’ and she’ll forget about it…” (P18)

9. Results and discussion Use of the other person in collusion “I: So if he asked you ‘what were you doing last night’ what would you say? P: ‘I went out with G. or someone’ mention people he knows.” (P15) “…possibly, um, I would pick up on the similar things she might have encountered during the day, I’d know where this lecturer lives so I’d know she’d have to come along the same route…” (P17) “They are basically still denying, you’re asking the questions and they are denying it to you saying, ‘he’s got it in for me, he’s saying I’ve done this, that and the other,’ making up stories to cover their own trail.” (P21)

10. Results and discussion Distraction of self/deflection of other “I imagine he, he would, erm, he would become more brief, he’d try and skip over facts that he doesn’t have the answers to, that he can’t lie about so much, so he’s skipping over things, he’s trying to divert attention.” (P24) “I was trying to well, sort of remind her that during the time I was there with her, that I was contacting L. all the time and that I missed her very much. This was all truth as well…” (P15) “Just either carry on with whatever you’re doing…make sure you carry on with what you’re doing.” (P6) “…I’d carry on with whatever I was doing. So if I was doing the dishes or something, I wouldn’t stop doing the dishes…” (P5)

11. Conclusions Qualitative method = promising for investigating beliefs about the cues to deception Support for a self-presentational perspective on believed as well as actual cues Further analysis – roles of stakes and target Further research – extension of qualitative approach to perceived cues, inclusion of personality variables, links to self-reported deception/detection ability.