Detection of Deception in High-Stakes Liars

High-stakes lies occur where there are large positive consequences of getting away with the lie or large negative consequences of getting caught. Because the outcome of the lie is of considerable concern to the liar, it follows that he or she will probably experience more guilt and/or detection anxiety than when telling lowstakes lies. In addition, the liar will probably try particularly hard in such situations to avoid getting caught. This increased effort will be cognitively demanding, and therefore liars probably experience more cognitive load when telling high-stakes lies than when telling lowstakes lies. Accordingly, scholars believe that detecting high-stakes lies should be easier than detecting lowstakes lies. Most lies told in daily life are of the lowstakes variety; these lies are easier to replicate ...