Dataset 'Honesty Repeats Itself: Comparing Manual and Automated Coding of Verbal Veracity Cues'

Lie detection research comparing manual and automated coding of verbal veracity cues is limited. In Experiment 1, we attempted to extend this line of research by directly comparing the veracity differences in manual coding and two coding software programs (Text Inspector and LIWC) on the verbal cue ‘total details’ across eight published datasets. Mixed model analyses revealed that LIWC showed larger veracity differences than Text Inspector and manual coding. In Experiment 2, we examined if LIWC’s superior performance was the result of honest accounts including more redundant (repeated) words than false accounts as LIWC—but not Text Inspector or Manual coding—accounts for redundancy. Our prediction was supported and the most redundant words were function words. The results implicated that automated coding can replace manual coding of total details and that software programs accounting for redundancy in text can enhance lie detection.