Abstract
Detecting deception is an important skill, yet reviews of the psychological literature on the detection of deception typically find accuracy rates between 45 and 60% (cf., DePaulo & Friedman, 1998). A computerized text analysis, the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), offers one technological solution. Newman et al. (2003) used the LIWC to detect deception in five studies. Deceptive communications were characterized by fewer first person singular pronouns, third person pronouns, and more negative emotion words. In this study, 49 students delivered a deceitful and a truthful communication regarding their preference for music. Results from the 2 (importance of music in participants' life: high or low) x 3 (communication medium: type, write, or talk) x 2 (communication type: lie or truth) design indicated that technological tools may be useful in detecting deception; however, communication medium and topic importance mediate the relationship.
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