Deception Cues During High-Risk Situations: 911 Homicide Calls

Abstract

During everyday interactions, cues tend to be weakly related to deception. However, there are theoretical reasons to suspect that such cues will be more prominent during high-risk interactions. The current study explored deception cues during one particular high-risk interaction—911 homicide calls placed by adults. In Sample 1, judges coded 911 homicide calls ( n = 82) by Q-sorting 86 cues. Results indicated that deceptive callers tended to display emotional cues (e.g., self-dramatizing, moody, worried, emotional, nervous), appeared overwhelmed, and related narratives that lacked structure, clarity, and focus. Judges coded a separate sample of 911 calls ( n = 64), and deception scores were computed using a template-matching approach based on the findings from Sample 1. Results indicated that deceptive 911 callers had higher deception scores than honest callers. The effect sizes yielded in this study highlight the relevance of deception cues during high-risk interactions and the usefulness of the person-centered Q-sort method.