Familiarity and lie detection: A replication and extension

Abstract

Two studies of the relations among observer familiarity, perceived behavioral discrepancy, and judgmental accuracy in detecting deception are reported. In Study I, observers receiving either no prior exposure to baseline information on a communicator, one prior exposure, or repeated exposure made judgments of truthfulness or deceit on the part of 16 different communicators. Results indicated that observers having prior exposure to baseline information were significantly better at detecting deception, though repeated exposure did not significantly increase accuracy. In Study II, truthful baseline and potentially deceptive samples of behavior were compared and discrepancies estimated by a group of observers. Results indicated a strong and significant positive correlation between these discrepancy estimates and attributions (accurate or not) of deceit.