Verbal and Nonverbal Behaviors as Afunction of Deception Type

Abstract

Although there are various ways in which people can be deceptive, there is little empirical evidence that directly examines the nonverbal and verbal behavioral correlates of various deception types. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of deception type on the verbal and nonverbal behaviors identified in previous literature as associated with deception. Specifically, falsifications and misdirections were compared with true statements and statements that implied the truth. Undergraduates enacted four different interviewlike situations where each participant (who played the role of interviewee) told the truth directly, implied the truth, told a falsehood directly, and implied a falsehood to a confederate (who played the part of interviewer). Results indicated that deceivers engage in both nonstrategic and strategic management duringdeception. Deceivers revealed their nervousness and difficulty in sustaining a competent communication performance by swiveling in their chairs and speaking at a slower rate. Deceivers strategically managed their deceptive performance by sometimes engaging in more uncertainty behaviors and nonimmediacy through the use of more group references, more modifiers, fewer presenttense verbs, and fewer self-references than nondeceivers, whereas people who were indirect conveyed vagueness through the use of more past-tense verbs than people who were direct. The findings suggest that behavioral profiles of deception may be highly influenced by the directness of the message and the scenario used to elicit the deception.