Effects of physical countermeasures on the physiological detection of deception.

In Exp I, 48 undergraduates were divided into 4 groups, 3 of which enacted a mock crime. Two of these guilty groups were trained in the use of a countermeasure, either biting the tongue (pain countermeasure) or pressing the toes against the floor (muscle countermeasure) during the control question zones of the control question test (CQT). All countermeasure Ss were given extensive information about the nature of the CQT. Results show that no significant effects for countermeasures were found. In Exp II, 57 Ss were divided into 3 groups, 2 of which enacted a mock crime, to assess the effects of additional training and concurrent use of both countermeasures. Results show that countermeasure Ss produced 47% false negative outcomes as compared to no false negatives for guilty control Ss. False negative outcomes occurred when Ss were able to produce physiological responses that were larger to control questions than to relevant questions. Findings should be qualified by the possibility that the countermeasure task would be more difficult if the relevant questions dealt with a real crime in an actual investigation. It is concluded that a substantial number of Ss can be trained to defeat a CQT in a laboratory paradigm. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amnesia, feelings of knowing, and the guilty knowledge test.

A rating technique measuring feelings of knowing and a guilty knowledge polygraph test were used to distinguish between laboratory Ss who were either simulating amnesia or were genuinely amnesic to information contained in an account of a rape. Ss were 40 university students. Each S denying knowledge of an item rated from 1 to 7 the likelihood of recalling the item if given more time, a hint, or the item amongst similar items. In a 2nd interview with the polygraph, questions of which that S had denied memory were asked. Analyses revealed no differences between the feeling-of-knowing ratings given by genuine or simulating amnesics but found that skin resistance changes occurred more frequently to critical items on the guilty knowledge test with simulators than with those who were genuinely amnesic. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A method for evaluating the use of the polygraph in a real-life situation.

15 males (mean age 29.2 yrs) participated in an experiment to evaluate the polygraph in a real-life situation; 2 Ss had actually cheated on a test. All Ss went through a standard polygraph test using the control questions method. This procedure guarantees the objective identification of "liars" without jeopardizing the real-life appearance of the experimental situation. Each S was evaluated by 3 polygraphers: One had access to the polygraph charts only, one observed the S's behavior but not his charts, and a third had both kinds of information. The evaluations of all 3 polygraphers were compared with the criterion. Evaluations based on both behavior observation and physiological charts were superior to those based on either type of information alone. However, evaluations based on the physiological information alone were not superior to those based on the behavioral information alone. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Socialization, awareness, and electrodermal response to deception and self-disclosure.

Poorly socialized young adult males have been found to give smaller skin conductance responses (SCRs) to both physical and certain social (i.e., deception) stressors than their more highly socialized counterparts. This study with 30 male undergraduates examined whether these differences are dependent on S's awareness that his physiological responses are being recorded. 15 Ss attempted to deceive a polygraph examiner both before (unaware) and during (aware) a polygraph test. The 15 other Ss made truthful denials to the examiner's questions. All Ss were also asked biographical questions as part of an interview in the unaware condition. Under both aware and unaware conditions, high-socialization (Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory) Ss gave larger SCRs when deceiving than did low-socialization Ss. They also gave larger SCRs than low-socialization Ss when disclosing significant personal information but did not differ electrodermally when answering routine information questions. Awareness of physiological monitoring apparently does not mediate the finding that highly socialized Ss are markedly aroused and low socialization Ss little aroused by stress. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of diazepam and methylphenidate on the electrodermal detection of guilty knowledge.

60 19–28 yr old male undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups in an investigation of the effects of antianxiety (diazepam) and stimulant (methylphenidate) drugs on polygraphic interrogation. Ss assigned to the 3 guilty groups watched a videotape depicting the burglary of an apartment through the eyes of the thief. Each S was asked to imagine that it was he who was committing the crime and was given instructions to encourage his becoming absorbed in the videotape. Ss were given either diazepam, methylphenidate, or placebo capsules before a polygraph examination. Control Ss viewed a videotape depicting scenes from the interior of another apartment (no crime was committed) before being given a polygraph examination. Results show that drug status did not affect the validity of the polygraph examination. Ss who remembered more facts scored significantly more in the guilt direction. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The detection of deception.

Notes that the review by J. A. Podlesny and D. C. Raskin (see record 1978-07412-001) conveys the impression that the lie detector test is already highly accurate and that addition of other response variables might enhance its validity even further. It is argued here that this impression is erroneous and dangerously misleading. The polygraph (lie detector) test has an accuracy of 64–71% (against a chance expectancy of 50%) when the polygraph charts are scored blindly and are thus uninfluenced by clinical impressions of the S or of the evidence against him. The lie test is biased against truthful Ss, at least half of whom will be erroneously classified as deceptive. These conclusions, based on 2 recent studies of lie test validity in real-life applications, corroborate an earlier critical analysis of the assumptions on which the lie detector is based. Since, in the field, most Ss tend to "fail" the lie test whether they are truthful or deceptive, the method more often detects lying than it does truthful responding. However, it seems probable that deceptive Ss could be taught to artificially augment their polygraph responses to the so-called control questions and thus avoid being scored as deceptive. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of antianxiety drugs as countermeasures in the detection of guilty knowledge.

To evaluate whether antianxiety drugs enable guilty Ss to appear innocent on polygraph tests, the authors compared the effects of diazepam, meprobamate, and propranolol on the outcome of a guilty knowledge test (GKT). 75 undergraduate students were evenly divided among 1 innocent and 4 guilty groups. Ss in each of the guilty groups received either 1 of the drugs or a placebo prior to the administration of the GKT and after viewing a videotape that depicted a burglary as seen from the perspective of the burglar. The results showed that drug status had no influence on the outcome of the GKT. Innocent Ss who coincidentally obtained high scores on a recognition memory test covering details of the mock crime tended to obtain higher guilt scores on the GKT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awareness of crime-relevant information and the Guilty Knowledge Test.

The effects of awareness of crime-relevant information on the detection of deception with the Guilty Knowledge Test were examined. Student Ss were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a guilty group, members of which committed a mock crime; an innocent group aware of details about the crime; or an innocent group unaware of such information. After following instructions, Ss were tested on the polygraph with a 10-item Guilty Knowledge Test and were offered $20 for an innocent test outcome. Skin resistance response scores of guilty Ss lying about crime-relevant information were higher than the scores of innocent informed Ss, whose scores in turn were higher than those of innocent unaware Ss. This replicated findings of an earlier study in which similar procedures were used and supported the view that Ss aware of crime-relevant information can appear less deceptive than Ss lying about crime-relevant information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-modal physiological effects of electrodermal lability in the detection of deception.

Examined the effects of individual differences in electrodermal lability on cardiovascular, respiratory, and electrodermal responses (EDRs) in the detection of deception in 74 18–28 yr old male undergraduates. On Day 1, each S rested quietly for 3 min while skin conductance was recorded. Electrodermal lability was scored for each S, those giving frequent nonspecific EDRs being labiles and those giving few being stabiles. On Day 2 (usually 1 wk later), 40 Ss attempted to deceive a professional polygraph examiner in a field-type test. The remaining Ss attempted to convince the examiner, who was blind as to each S's condition, that they were being truthful. Deception by stabiles was detected less frequently than was deception by labiles. Among truthful Ss, the more labile were falsely detected as deceptive on more questions than were their stabile counterparts. Although accuracy of detection was greatest with the EDR, the effects of lability on detection were similar for electrodermal, cardiovascular, and respiratory measures. Labiles also had a higher heart rate during the polygraph test than did stabiles. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attention, as indexed by subsequent memory, on electrodermal detection of information.

Three closely related experiments tested the effects of attention, as indexed by subsequent memory, on electrodermal detection of information. A total of 62 male college students attempted to conceal 6 critical items of information from a polygraph examiner recording their electrodermal response (EDR). In the polygraph test the S was asked if any of a list of 24 words, 1 every 10–25 sec, were critical items he was concealing. The list was comprised of 3 semantically similar control words along with each critical word. Afterward, without forewarning, a 2nd experimenter asked the S to remember all the words he had been asked about on the test. Deceptive Ss who gave a larger EDR to critical than to control words more often than could be expected by chance (i.e., were correctly detected as deceptive) remembered more control words than did other deceptive Ss who escaped detection. Results are interpreted to mean that the less thoroughly an S processes the test words, as indexed by later memory, the less likely he is to be detected. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Statistical versus clinical lie detection.

Argues that studies conducted to date have tended to ignore the single most important variable of polygraph validity: the human judge. The present study focused on clinicians' interpretations of polygraph protocols and showed that clinicians performed less accurately than statistical analyses. Ss included 30 undergraduates administered a polygraph test by 4 examiner-trainees and 30 experienced polygraph interpreters. Statistics outperformed human judges because they used information optimally and applied decision rules consistently, while clinicians tended to add error variance to their protocol interpretations. Unfortunately, current empirical evidence suggests that the prospects for improving clinicians' consistencies are not promising; the possibility of applying statistical methods to interpreting polygraph data is recommended. It is suggested that psychologists become more active researchers in this area, a domain that is properly within their scientific purview. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The validity of the lie detector: Two surveys of scientific opinion.

The widespread use of polygraph ("lie detector") tests has important social and individual consequences. Courts asked to admit polygraph findings into evidence, as well as individuals asked to submit to polygraph tests, have a natural interest in the acceptance by the relevant scientific community of the polygraph technique. For this reason, we conducted mail surveys to obtain the opinions of 2 groups of scientists from relevant disciplines: members of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and Fellows of the American Psychological Association's Division 1 (General Psychology). Survey return rates were high (91% and 74%, respectively). Most of the respondents believed that polygraphic lie detection is not theoretically sound, claims of high validity for these procedures cannot be sustained, the lie test can be beaten by easily learned countermeasures, and polygraph test results should not be admitted into evidence in courts of law. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive effects of test anxiety, test difficulty, and feedback.

Examined interactive effects of item difficulty, test anxiety, and failure feedback in a study of 67 undergraduates (mean age 20.1 yrs) using multiple-choice verbal aptitude items. Ss' levels of test anxiety were measured on the Achievement Anxiety Test and the Test Anxiety Scale. Ss were then randomly assigned to receive either a hard or an easy test either with or without immediate feedback. Results indicate that ability estimates can be affected in complex ways by the examinee's anxiety level. The least anxious Ss in the sample did best on a very hard test, and moderately anxious Ss did best on an easy test, whereas the most anxious Ss did poorly on both tests. In addition, it was found that immediate feedback improved performance, especially for Ss given an easy test. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adapting to the stigmatizing label of mental illness: Foregone but not forgotten.

In a study with 30 female undergraduates that was ostensibly about memory ability, a condition was created experimentally in which half of the Ss believed that they were participating in the study with mental patients and half believed they were participating with physical injury patients. Behavioral measures of each S were made, and Ss provided self-reports of their perceptions of the other people who were in the study. Results indicate that the label of mental illness was stigmatizing even in the absence of bizarre behaviors. Although Ss interacted with the mental patients normally when in the adaptively unimportant waiting room situation, Ss scored higher on the adaptively significant memory test when participating in the study with "mental patients." Implications for stigma theory, social adaptation, and community placement programs are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On statistical detection of deception: Comment on Szucko and Kleinmuntz.

Disagrees with the conclusion by J. J. Szucko and B. Kleinmuntz (see record 1982-01946-001) that the information necessary for making discriminations between truthful and deceptive Ss is contained in polygraph protocols but that polygraph interpreters do not use this information optimally. It is suggested that even an objective and sophisticated statistical analysis of the polygraph charts obtained by the control question method would not effectively predict deception. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical attractiveness and mental illness.

Investigated the relation between physical attractiveness and mental disorder in 2 studies of women. In the 1st study, 23 hospitalized mental patients, 30 university employees, and 29 shoppers served as Ss. Results show that the hospitalized mental patients were decidedly less physically attractive than normal controls, based either on live (face-to-face) ratings or on ratings of photographs of the Ss by judges who were unaware of the Ss' mental statuses. Early and current adjustment were reliably associated with appearance for both mental patients and nonpatients. A 2nd study of 50 mental patients replicated some of the 1st study's findings and further examined the consequences of appearance within a psychiatric hospital setting. As compared to the more attractive patients, homelier patients were less socially responsive in a standardized interview procedure, had more severe diagnoses, were hospitalized for longer periods, and received fewer visitors from the community. Physical attractiveness accounted for a large significant amount of length-of-hospitalization variation when degree of psychopathology and other possible moderator variables were controlled statistically. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective memory for social information, alertness, and physiological arousal in the detection of deception.

Examined the role of selective attention, as indexed by subsequent memory, in the social stress of a lie detection test. 74 male college students randomly assigned to deceptive or truthful conditions attempted to convince a polygraph examiner, who was blind as to each S's condition, that they were not lying. Without warning, 75 min after the test an experimenter tested S's recall of the questions that had been asked. Questions that were recalled had evoked significantly larger skin conductance responses (SCRs) than those that were not recalled. Deceptive Ss were detected (i.e., gave a larger SCR to relevant than to control questions) mainly on the basis of relevant questions they recalled compared with control questions they did not recall; the greater a deceptive S's tendency to recall control questions rather than relevant questions, the less likely he was to be detected. Innocent Ss were correctly classified mainly on the basis of SCRs to relevant questions they did not recall compared with SCRs to control questions they did recall. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The self-serving function of hypochondriacal complaints: Physical symptoms as self-handicapping strategies.

Tested the hypothesis that hypochondriacal individuals commonly use reports of physical illness and symptoms as a strategy to control attributions made about their performances in evaluative settings (i.e., self-handicapping strategies). It was predicted that hypochondriacal Ss would report more recent physical illness and complaints and more current physical symptoms in an evaluative setting in which poor health could serve as an alternative explanation for poor performance than would either Ss in an evaluative setting in which poor health was precluded as an excuse or Ss in a nonevaluative setting. 109 undergraduates selected on the basis of their high or low score on the Hypochondriasis scale of the MMPI were administered a short form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and then received either the evaluative or nonevaluative instructions as a rationale for the experiment. It was found that as predicted, results support the self-protective pattern of complaints in hypochondriacal Ss but not in nonhypochondriacal Ss. The self-protective role of hypochondriacal behavior is discussed in relation to theory and research on the nature and treatment of hypochondriasis. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's physical attractiveness and sex as determinants of adult punitiveness.

Investigated a child's physical attractiveness and sex as potential elicitors of differential adult punitiveness. Ss in Exps I and II were 52 white females and 44 white males, respectively. Ss in both groups viewed a videotaped interaction between the E and a child who was made to appear either physically attractive or unattractive. Subsequently, Ss monitored what was presumably the child's performance on a picture-matching task and administered penalties to the child for incorrect responses. The specific penalty involved taking 1-5 pennies away from the child for each error. Results show that women behaved more leniently towards an attractive boy than towards either an attractive girl or an unattractive boy; these results were interpreted in the context of a cross-sex leniency effect mediated by a child's physical attractiveness. Men were not influenced in administering penalties by either a child's attractiveness or sex. It is suggested that the data reflect differences in men's and women's orientations toward children's task behavior. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)