Deception

Lying, a deliberate attempt to mislead others, is a two-pronged activity: It can be a social lubricant or a selfish act. Educators and educational researchers are interested in the practice and detection of social deception in both children and adults. To identify lies, it is important to examine how liars respond and how they can be detected. After a further examination of the basics of deception and its frequency, this entry reviews the four ways the lie detection tools aim to distinguish truth tellers from liars—by evaluating their nonverbal behavior, speech content, physiological activity, and brain activity. The entry concludes by looking at three techniques interviewers can use to elicit cues of deceit.

Detecting lies by examining nonverbal behavior is popular among practitioners, but there is ...