From flawed self-assessment to blatant whoppers: the utility of voluntary and involuntary behavior in detecting deception

Malingering occupies a range on a continuum from biased self-perception to conscious, deliberate, serious lies. One aspect of this continuum is the element of self-conscious or deliberate control. Suggestions from Darwin's writings concerning the role of voluntary and involuntary activation of the facial muscles are examined and illustrated with data from a 40 year program of research on deception. The impact of the voluntary-involuntary distinction on the appearance, timing, symmetry and cohesion of facial expressions of emotion is explained. Data relevant to changes in vocal and gestural aspects of demeanor in honest and deceptive behavior are also reviewed. The relevance of these laboratory-based findings on the voluntary control of nonverbal behavior in assessing some types of malingering is discussed.     

Learning antecedents for anaphoric one

Lidz et al. [Lidz, J., Waxman, S., & Freedman, J. (2003). What infants know about syntax but couldn't have learned: Experimental evidence for syntactic structure at 18 months. Cognition, 89, B65-B73.] claim experimental substantiation of an argument from the poverty of the stimulus, in the sense of Pullum and Scholz [Linguist. Rev. 19 (2002) 9]. They cite a specific feature of English--the assignment of appropriate antecedents for anaphoric one--that cannot possibly be learned from experience because the evidence needed is found only in utterances of a type too rare to be encountered. Their argument involves three empirical claims. In this note we dispute all three.     

The fundamental attribution error in detecting deception: the boy-who-cried-wolf effect

Most people are unable to detect accurately when others are lying. Many explanations for this inability have been suggested but the cognitive heuristics involved in lie detection have received little attention. The present study offers evidence from two experiments, based on two different groups of observers, judging two different kinds of lies, presented in two different testing situations, that the fundamental attribution error significantly undermines the ability to detect honesty and deception accurately. Trait judgments of trustworthiness were highly correlated with state judgments of truthfulness, leading, as predicted, to positive correlations with honest detection accuracy and negative correlations with deception detection accuracy. More accurate lie detectors were significantly more likely than less accurate lie detectors to separate state and trait judgments of honesty. The effect of other biases, such as the halo effect and the truthfulness bias, also are examined. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

MMPI-2 validity scale characteristics in a correctional sample

The current study investigated the proportion of content-nonresponsive and content-responsive faking Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) protocols in a state corrections sample. Participants were 51,486 inmates who completed the MMPI-2 at the time they entered the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction system. Overall, approximately 79% of the study participants produced valid profiles. Of the entire study sample, 11.3% produced content-nonresponsive profiles, and 9.4% produced content-responsive faking profiles. African Americans produced a higher proportion of content-nonresponsive profiles than Caucasians, and women were slightly more likely than men to produce content-responsive faking profiles. Differences in level of education between African Americans and Caucasians did not account for the disparity in content-nonresponsive profiles. Implications for current practice and future research are discussed.     

Is it prudent to administer all items for each Child Behavior Checklist cross-informant syndrome? Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Youth Self-Report dimensions with confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory

Through surveying of children in 10 nations with parent, teacher, and Youth Self-Report (YSR) forms of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), cross-informant syndromes (CISs) were derived and cross-validated by sample-dependent methodology. Generalizing CBCL syndromes and norms to nations excluded from its normative sample is problematic. This study used confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) to test factor model fit for CISs on the YSR responses of 625 Jamaican children ages 11 to 18 years. Item response theory (IRT), a sample-independent methodology, was used to estimate the psychometric properties of individual items on each dimension. CFAs indicated poor to moderate model-to-data fit. Across all syndromes, IRT analyses revealed that more than 3/4 of the cross-informant items yielded little information. Eliminating such items could be cost effective in terms of administration time yet improve the measures discrimination across syndrome severity levels.     

Developmental outcome of drug-exposed children through 30 months: a comparison of Bayley and Bayley-II

This study examined the effects of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) version on developmental outcomes among drug-exposed children, some of whom received an intervention. Developmental outcome was evaluated with the BSID at 12 and 18 months and with the BSID-II at 24 and 30 months. In the repeated measures analyses, children scored higher on the BSID Mental Developmental Index (MDI; p < .01) and Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI; p < .01) than on the BSID-II MDI and PDI. Version x Time (p < .01) and Version x Group (p < .01) interactions were also found for the MDI but not the PDI. PDI scores decreased on both the BSID and the BSID-II (p < .01). Over the first 2 years postpartum, mean MDI and PDI scores decreased among these high-risk, drug-exposed children.     

A longitudinal analysis of organizational fairness: an examination of reactions to tenure and promotion decisions

Most organizational justice research takes a cross-sectional approach to examining the relationship between perceived fairness and individuals' attitudes. This study examines the effect of procedural and distributive justice over time. It is suggested that individuals acquire more information and experience with procedures and outcomes over time. These changes in information and experience affect the influence of procedural and distributive justice on organizational attitudes. Faculty perceptions of tenure and promotion decisions were assessed 3 times (preallocation, short-term postallocation, long-term postallocation) over a 2-year period. Results generally supported the hypotheses. Procedural justice was most influential prior to and soon after outcome decisions were made. Distributive justice was most influential 1 year later.