Are there individual differences in the ability to detect lie and honesty in others?

Abstract

This article examined whether individual differences, such as gender and emotional intelligence, contribute to detecting lying and honesty. Additionally, the cues used in judgments about lying were analysed. Ninety university students of both genders were exposed to eight videotapes showing adult persons (four men and four women) answering the same questions in an interview (half were telling the truth; the other half were lying). Overall, the percentage of accurate lie detection was nearly what would be expected by chance; accurate honesty detection was below chance. Participants also responded more often that targets were “dishonest”, suggesting that a bias occurred in their judgments. Accuracy was unrelated to most emotional intelligence dimensions. Regarding gender differences, male participants were significantly more accurate in detecting lying, whereas women were more accurate in detecting honesty, regardless of the gender of the target. Several possible explanations were raised and discussed based on research and theory in this area.     

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v24i2.304