Veracity is in the eye of the beholder: A lens model examination of consistency and deception
A rather interesting study about perception and truth. Appears to add credibility to the idea that there’s inconsistency to how people evaluate truth – between the cues/criteria that people say they use, and what they actually use. This tracks pretty well with the rise in partisanship-ness of discourse today.
A lens model showed that whilst perceptions of cues, such as consistency and amount of detail, influence veracity judgements, these perceptions (and overall veracity judgements) are mostly inaccurate. Fundamentally, there seems to be inconsistencies between how deception research examines consistency and how it is understood and used by laypeople.
And.
A lens model meta‐analysis by Hartwig and Bond Jr (2011) summarised (i) the relationship between non‐verbal and verbal cues created by deception and (ii) how the non‐verbal and verbal cues influenced perceptions of deception, to assess which behaviours were enabling accurate judgments of deception. Through the examination of 81 distinct judgement cues, it was found that individuals often based their veracity judgements on cues that were not indicative of deception. Furthermore, the cues that participants reported using did not influence their decision‐making. Consequently, this meta‐analysis suggests that individuals are not only holding false beliefs about valid information for deception detection but are also not aware of their inaccurate beliefs.
Your related scene from The Office.
Dwight: There are several different ways to tell if a perp is lying. The liar will avoid direct eye contact. The liar will cover part of his or her face with his hands, especially the mouth. The liar will perspire. Unfortunately I spoke to Oscar on the phone so none of this is useful.
…later that day…
Dwight: Ok, what is going on here?
Michael: Nothing.
Dwight: Oh, really nothing? Fact: You are drinking grape soda. You never drink grape soda. Fact: You are talking to Jim. You never talk to Jim.
Michael: Fact: I love grape soda. I always have. Fact: Jim and I talk all the time. We tell each other secrets.
Dwight: Ok. So what is the secret Michael?
Jim: Um, I had asked Michael if I could head up the Oscar investigation and he said that only Dwight was capable of handling such sensitive material.
Dwight: Is that true?
Michael: [Averting gaze, mumbling] Um, I don’t know, yeah, yeah, yeah it is.
Dwight: Thank you Michael. I know you’re telling the truth.
Michael: Ok.
Dwight: I can tell. I won’t let you down.
Michael: Good.