Othello Effect

A common mistake in lie detection is to interpret signs of nervousness too readily as diagnostic of deception. This misattribution phenomenon is known as the Othello error and is particularly prevalent in lie detection tools that consider stress as indicative of lying. The stress-based approach is problematic and prone to the Othello error, as truth-tellers may also experience stress. Lie detection that departs from the different cognitive states of liars and truth-tellers may be less prone to the Othello effect.

The term Othello error was coined by emotion theorist Paul Ekman, who took the name from William Shakespeare's play Othello, the Moor of Venice (written c. 1603–04). The play provides an excellent and famous example of misinterpreting nervousness as a signal of deception. Othello falsely accuses his wife Desdemona of having an affair with his lieutenant Cassio. Desdemonia denies this charge and asks to summon Cassio, so he can testify to her truthfulness. When Othello tells her that he has already murdered Cassio, [Page 740]Desdemonia realizes that she cannot prove her innocence and cries out. Othello misinterprets this emotional outburst as evidence for her treachery and kills her too.

The Othello error is a common occurrence in traditional lie detection, which departs from the stress-based approach to lying. This approach assumes that liars will be more concerned and nervous than truth-tellers. This nervousness is expected to shine through in behavioral cues such as gaze aversion, moving around, and increased fidgeting.

The control question polygraph test also departs from the idea that liars' fear of being caught will elicit marked physiological arousal. The problem, however, is that truth-tellers may also be aroused when accused of wrongdoing. Lie detectors can accurately pick up signs of stress but cannot determine the origin of the stress, making them prone to the Othello error.

With a false positive rate in the 16 to 35 percent range, the Control Question polygraph test is vulnerable to the Othello error. With regard to nonverbal lie detection, meta-analyses have shown that signs of nervousness, such as increased fidgeting, moving around, and avoiding eye contact, are not reliable cues to discriminate liars from truth-tellers. However, the belief that these nervous behaviors do correlate with deception is tenacious, not only among lay persons, but also among professional lie catchers. Police manuals, judges, and trainers sometimes advise observers to pay attention to cues that signal nervousness when attempting to detect deceit. The use of such invalid cues helps in understanding why people are bad lie detectors and are prone to the Othello error.

The chance of making the Othello error is especially problematic in high-stake situations, such as the courtroom. Facilitated by high levels of motivation, jurors and judges often get into a mode of tunnel vision, thereby overvaluing information in favor of their first impression of a suspect's trustworthiness and putting too small a price on disconfirming or ambiguous information. As an example, imagine an innocent suspect whose face is instantaneously assessed as being untrustworthy by the judge based on certain physical characteristics. When the suspect later bursts into tears while denying his guilt, it is not unlikely that his tears will be interpreted by the judge as crocodile tears, in line with his bias.

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