by Fictional detectives such as Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot – or even Jazatha Christie from The Traitors – often see lies from some vague clues. But in real life, it is not so simple.
“A lot of people say they can always tell when someone is lying,” says Danielle Chandler, 38, who is doing a PhD on deception at the University of Portsmouth. “But research shows there’s just over a 50% chance you’d be able to tell accurately, so you might as well flip a coin.”
Chandler says another common misconception is that you can tell a liar from their non-verbal body language. “TV shows make you think you can look at someone and tell if they’re lying or not,” she says. “I’ll ask prospective students at open days how to tell if someone is lying and nine times out of 10 they’ll say it’s because of watching out for behavioral cues, like someone not looking at you, or that they go away. But Chandler says this could be misleading: “Because if I was interviewed by the police, guilty or not guilty, I’d probably get off,” she says. “There’s a lot of misconceptions like that.”
The University of Portsmouth has been ranked as the best university in the world for its lying and deception research, as well as recruiting students in psychology and criminology. For good reason – researchers such as Chandler are breaking through the misconceptions and producing excellent research of interest to practitioners in institutions such as the Home Office, the FBI and the police force.
Their research has practical implications. For example, when reviewing research on deception, Professor Aldert Vrij, from the Department of Psychology at the university, and his colleagues, during the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2021, concluded that face masks could improve enable a jury to see through lies during court proceedings. .
Vrij, who is the world’s most prolific author in the field of deception detection, says that non-verbal lie detection techniques, such as analyzing body language, are poor ways to tell if someone is lying. Listening to what people have to say is a much better indicator, he says – but, admittedly, it doesn’t make for entertaining TV.
“We’re finding that lie tellers try to keep the story simple,” says Vrij. “Because they’re afraid to give away tips. Telling lies is harder than telling the truth, so to make it easier, they give less information. The man’s stories are more complicated. So the complexity of the stories often tells whether someone is telling the truth or not.”
Meanwhile, Chandler is researching the effect of asking someone to draw a sketch during an investigative interview. “Truth tellers tend to include more people in their sketches,” says Chandler. “(Liars) are more likely to be drawn from a bird’s eye perspective that takes them out of context. Truth tellers are more likely to draw from an over-the-shoulder perspective, because they have actually experienced things.”
Real-life detectives can use research like this to determine whether a person’s story is reliable. Police work and the work of other professional lie detectors is often confidential, Vrij says, however, practitioners are interested in and using research done by the department. “What they do is confidential. So they’re not telling us exactly how they’re using those techniques. But we know they are interested in it,” he says. The university is collaborating with the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and US partners. “Our research can be applied very easily,” he says. “All the research we do can be used in different situations.”
For example, the department’s research shows that certain interview techniques are helpful in analyzing what someone is saying. “Ask them to elaborate and see what they say,” says Vrij. “You want to encourage them to tell you more. Truth tellers will give you more information. Lie tellers prefer to tell the same story.”
Sometimes in police interviews, officers will have evidence – Vrij’s research has shown that it is best to keep it hidden from the interviewer. “That’s the opposite of what happens in TV shows,” he says. “What you need to do is ask what they are, but don’t reveal the evidence. Some truthers will be in line with the evidence. If you give all the evidence up front, (the interviewer) can make up a story that incorporates the evidence in an innocent way.”
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University graduates are in high demand when they complete their studies. Some, like Chandler, remain in academia. Others apply and work in places like the Home Office, or the police, says Vrij.
During Chandler’s time at the university, she had the opportunity to speak with practitioners from around the globe at conferences and events.
“There’s a conference in the summer where there’s a mix of practitioners from all over the world who come to hear about our research,” says Chandler. “There are people from different places like the CIA and the FBI, and different countries, and they come here. It was nice talking to them and listening to their interview practices and seeing how interested they are in our research. Because I think a lot of people are willing to make changes in terms of techniques. As long as we can continue to put this research out and as long as we have this scientific evidence of what we’ve found, it can be used in practice.”
For more information about studying at the University of Portsmouth, visit port.ac.uk/study/open-days
