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Journal of nonverbal Behavior
, 24 (4): 239-263, Winter 2000

Detecting Deceit via Analysis of Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior*

Aldert Vrij, Psychology Department, University of Portsmouth, King Henry Building, King Henry 1 Street, Portsmouth PO1 2DY, United Kingdom aldert.vrij@port.ac.uk
Katherine Edward, Psychology Department, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom Kim P. Roberts, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland
Ray Bull, Psychology Department, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom

We examined the hypotheses that (1) a systematic analysis of nonverbal behavior could be useful in the detection of deceit and (2) that lie detection would be most accurate if both verbal and nonverbal indicators of deception are taken into account. Seventy-three nursing students participated in a study about “telling lies” and either told the truth or lied about a film they had just seen. The interviews were videotaped and audiotaped, and the nonverbal behavior (NVB) and speech content of the liars and truth tellers were analyzed, the latter with the Criteria-Based Content Analysis technique (CBCA) and the Reality Monitoring technique (RM). Results revealed several nonverbal and verbal indicators of deception. On the basis of nonverbal behavior alone, 78% of the lies and truths could be correctly classified. An even higher percentage could be correctly classified when all three detection techniques (i.e., NVB, CBCA, RM) were taken into account.

Keywords
detecting deceit, nonverbal behavior, Criteria-Based Content Analysis, Reality Monitoring

Article ID:
228276
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* Reproduced with permission of Copyright Service of Kluwer Academic Publishers.