Encouraging interviewees to say more and deception: the ghostwriter method

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Abstract

Background: We examined a new method to encourage interviewees to say more, the ghostwriter method, and examined its effect on eliciting information and cues to deceit.

Method: A total of 150 truth tellers and liars either told the truth about a trip they made in the last 12 months or pretended to have made such a trip. They were allocated to a Control condition, a ‘Be detailed’ condition in which they were encouraged to report even small details and a ghostwriter condition in which they were told to imagine talking to a ghostwriter. The dependent variables were details, complications, common knowledge details, self‐handicapping strategies, proportion of complications, plausibility, and verifiable sources.

Results: The ghostwriter condition elicited more details and revealed in plausibility a stronger cue to deceit than the other two conditions.

Conclusion: The ghostwriter method appears to be a promising tool for eliciting information and cues to deceit.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)273-287
Number of pages15
JournalLegal and Criminological Psychology
Volume24
Issue number2
Early online date22 Apr 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2019

Keywords

  • RCUK
  • ESRC
  • ES/N009614/1
  • eliciting information
  • encouraging interviewees to say more
  • interviewing to detect deception
  • proportion of complications
  • verifiable sources

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