Social Psychology. Daniel W. Barrett

in the nonconscious processing conditions were significantly better at identifying true versus false statements than were those able to consciously examine the evidence (See Figure 5.3). At least in these studies, the automatic system performed better than the controlled one.

      Table 5.3

      Criminals are the only group who can detect lies significantly above chance levels.

      How Observations Can Fail Us: Four Cognitive Illusions: Control, Gambling, Shooting Streaks, And Imagined Associations

      The difficulty in detecting lies from nonverbal cues reveals one limitation in our perceptual toolkit. In addition to errors related to the inappropriate use of the mental shortcuts mentioned above, humans are vulnerable to a number of other perceptual or judgmental mistakes. For instance, sometimes we base our beliefs on evidence that we think unambiguously provides justification for those beliefs. The reality, however, can be different, and upon closer inspection we may find that our shortcuts have betrayed us, and that the evidence is more imaginary than real. In this section we’ll describe four cognitive illusions that can lead us astray (See Table 5.4).

      Figure 5.3 Detecting Deception Nonconsciously

      Source: Adapted Study 1, from Reinhard, M. -A., Greifeneder, R., & Scharmach, M. (2013). Unconscious processes improve lie detection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 721–739.

      Illusion of Control

      Say you bought a lottery ticket for a $1, and on the day of the lottery are given a chance to sell that ticket. How much would you sell it for? Since it is only worth $1, shouldn’t that be your asking price? Well, according to a study by Ellen Langer (1975), it depends on whether or not you personally chose your lottery ticket. Langer found that individuals who had picked their own ticket requested four times as much money as did others who had not selected their own ticket. Individuals in this and other studies exhibited what Langer termed an illusion of control, which is a false belief that one can control or influence random or chance events (Langer, 1975, 1977; Thompson, Armstrong, & Thomas, 1998; Thompson & Schlehofer, 2008; Yarritu, Matute, & Vadillo, 2014). Here they believed that they were more likely to win the lottery because they had selected their ticket versus if the ticket had been randomly selected for them. The idea that they can somehow beat the odds and win more than they lose keeps casino slot machine players returning again and again, despite the fact that slot machines keep about 90% of the money put into them (which means that they rake in nine times more money than they return to customers) (Witts, Loudermilk, & Kosel, 2014).

      Social Psychology Applied to Law

      Catching Liars

      If naive individuals are unable to accurately detect deception, then what about professionals? In most cases, training of law enforcement officers is based on the classic book on criminal interrogations by Inbau and his colleagues (Inbau, Reid, Buckley, & Jayne, 2013). Inbau et al. developed the Behavioral Analysis Interview that recommends asking questions that are likely to produce a behavioral response in the suspect, such as nervous movements or changes in eye contact. However, careful research has failed to support Inbau et al.’s claims. Not only do liars fail to demonstrate the expected behaviors (e.g., less eye contact, more fidgeting), they may actually be less likely to show them (Vrij, Fisher, Mann, & Leal, 2010). Even professional lie catchers hold incorrect beliefs (e.g., avoidance of eye contact), which is why they are no more successful than nonprofessionals (Vrij et al., 2000). In fact, even professional lie catchers—individuals trained in the detection of deception—only succeed at about the same rate as students, about 54% of the time (Aamodt & Custer, 2006). Interestingly, criminals outperform most other groups, with an average accuracy rate around 65%, whereas parole officers are accurate only 40% of the time (Aamodt & Custer, 2006).