Detection of deception in familiar and unfamiliar persons: The effects of information restriction

The present paper investigated the effects of the familiarity between the detector and deceiver and the amount of information available on the detection of deception. It was hypothesized that limiting the amount of information available to the lie detector would increase detection accuracy when the deceiver was familiar and, alternatively, would decrease accuracy when the deceiver was unfamiliar. In Study 1, participants attempted to detect the deceptions of familiar and unfamiliar persons with and without visual cues. The results supported the hypothesis. The deceptions of familiar persons were more likely to be detected when visual cues were withheld and the deceptions of strangers were more likely to be detected when visual cues were not withheld. In Study 2 procedures similar to Study 1 were used. However, in Study 2 the presence or absence of auditory cues was manipulated instead of manipulating the presence or absence of visual cues. The results of Study 2 replicated those of Study 1.