Forensic Psychology Chapter 3 PDF

Preview

Summary

Prof. Papinikalou...

Description

Forensic Psychology- Chapter 3 Complexity and Pervasiveness of Deception  Common in social interactions  Adaptive from evolutionary perspective  Ubiquitous and multifaceted Can We Tell When Others Are Lying?  Lie detection accuracy is only slightly better than chance  Detection is poor even among those with training o Mistaken liar’s stereotype  Flawed interpretation of verbal and non-verbal behaviors often fuels confirmation bias The Polygraph  Theory: Lying causes physiological arousal  1960s-1980s: Polygraph was lucrative business  Polygraph Act of 1988  9/11/01: Resurgent of polygraph use and surrounding controversy The Process of Polygraphing  Polygraph must be used with systematic questioning o Relevant-irrelevant test (RIT) o Control question test/comparison question test (CQT) o Positive-control test (PCT)  Weaknesses of polygraph o Differential reactions of person’s being tested (ex: emotionally non-responsive, innocent) o Lack of standardization o Use of countermeasures o Doubt about polygraph validity o Rejection on purely ethical grounds Research on Polygraph  Categories of empirical studies o Laboratory studies use mock juries and crimes o Field studies use actual suspects  Accuracy rates inflation causes o Low consequence for lying o Limited or no subject experience or training in countermeasures o Lies told in controlled studies tend to be more simple than those told about real crimes Scientific American Spotlight  The burden of lying o Lying is more cognitive demanding than telling the truth

Forensic Psychology- Chapter 3 Limited cognitive capacity to manage extra demands of fabricating and managing a lie and suppressing the truth  Strategies for lie detection o Requiring reserve storytelling o Insisting on suspect-questioner eye contact o Asking for spatial information through drawing Legal Status of the Polygraph  Polygraph results admissible in court in many states  1993 Supreme Court decision (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals o Admissibility of scientific evidence determined case-by-base based of evidentiary hearings  1998 Justice Clarence Thomas concerns about polygraphing o Lack of consensus about scientific validity and reliability o Concern that polygraph evidence usurps jury role Alternative Polygraph Method  Guilty Knowledge Test limitations o Sufficient number of crime facts must be available o Facts must not be widely publicized o Details must be recalled by guilty person o Applicability to large number of crimes may not occur o Resistance of professional polygraphers may occur Hot Topics  Lower-Tech Lie Detection: Words and Wizards o Criteria-based content analysis (CBCA)  Truthfulness assessment through systematic analysis of written statements  High acceptance in European courts  Validity questioned o Reality monitoring (RM)  Reliance on written accounts of alleged crimes  Correct classification rate around 63% o Lie-detection wizards  42 identified wizards notice more cues  Detection rate around 80% Facial Action Coding System  Paul Ekman and Wallace Friedman, in the 1970s, set up a classification system for human facial expression  The Facial Action Coding System identifies 43 sets of muscles, which often work in tandem to facially express emotion Polygraph as Coercion  Polygraphs 

Forensic Psychology- Chapter 3 o Used to induce confessions o Presented as opportunity to prove innocence  Attempts to avoid viewed as guilt; not avoiding viewed as innocence  Results sometimes manipulated by polygrapher to coerce suspect Jurors and the Polygraph  Jurors generally find results persuasive  Results can change outcome of a trial  Experts are more skeptical than general public  Limited research is available  Effectiveness of results based on o Persuasiveness of polygrapher testimony o Sophistication of jurors o Instructions from judge Lies in the Brain and Eyes  The brain o fMRI detects ‘where’ the lying occurs o EEG detects ‘when’ the lying occurs  The eyes  High Definition Infrared Thermal Imaging  Eye Movement Memory Assessment  Laser Doppler Vibrometry...