Detecting Deception: Psychological Insights for Legal Professionals (On-Demand)

Course Description

US Supreme court ruled in Mattox v United States (1895) that judging deception from demeanor was considered an important part of a juror’s duty. This course examines various issues in human deception, such as how and why people lie, the behaviors that are associated with deception, and how these factors might work when placed back into the legal context. This will be done through a summary of the research findings on motives for lying, why lies work, why truths fail, key issues related to the signs, signals, and human abilities to spot deception from demeanor only. It concludes by examining how the legal process can help or hinder one’s ability to detect deception from demeanor.

Syllabus

1. Deception in legal settings
   • Some relevant court rulings; Mattox v United States (1895); Daubert v Dow (1993).
2. How and why people lie
   • Definitions
   • Motives
   • Why lies work
   • Why truths fail
3. Key summary points
   • There is no Pinocchio response
   • People are not much better than guessing at detecting deception from behavior
   • There are clues to deception, but they are more subtle and complex and need context
     • Signs of thinking
       • Mental effort and memory
     • Signs of feeling
       • Facial expressions of emotion
     • Signs of behavioral control.
       • Body gestures of various sorts
4. Putting behavior back into the legal context
   • How it helps efforts to detect deception
   • How it hinders efforts to detect deception
   • How it can be uncertain through experts, CSI effects, and Artificial intelligence