The Impact of Accusatory, Non-Accusatory, Bait, and False Evidence Questioning on Deception Detection

Abstract

This research examines question effects in deception detection. A first set of participants (N = 104) were given the opportunity to cheat to obtain a cash prize, and were then interviewed with accusatory, non-accusatory, bait, or false evidence questioning. A second set of participants (N = 157) watched videotapes of the interviews and made honesty judgments. Finally, interviewee behaviors were coded for demeanor. Overall, accuracy was high (72% overall, 70% excluding confessions, and 62% excluding confessions and adjusting for base rate). The type of question set made little difference in truth bias, accuracy, or demeanor, but false evidence questioning yielded 80% confessions compared to 20% confessions with non-accusatory questioning. No false confessions were obtained. © 2013 Copyright Eastern Communication Association.