Will the truth come out? the effect of deception, age, status, coaching, and social skills on CBCA scores

Notes that the Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) is a part of the Statement Validity Assessment and is a systematic assessment of the credibility of written statements. The impact of Veracity, Age, Status (witness or suspect), Coaching (informed or uninformed CBCA), and Social Skills (social anxiety, social adroitness, and self-monitoring) on CBCA scores was examined. Ss (36 5-6 yr olds, 56 10-11 yr olds, 57 14-15 yr olds , and 52 undergraduates) participated in a "rubbing the blackboard" event. In a subsequent interview they told the truth or lied about the event. They were accused of having rubbed the blackboard themselves (suspect condition) or were thought to have witnessed the event (witness condition), and were or were not taught some CBCA criteria prior to the interview. CBCA scores discriminated between liars and truth tellers in children, adults, witnesses, and suspects. However, truth tellers obtained higher CBCA scores than liars only when the liars were uninformed about CBCA. CBCA scores were correlated with social skills. It is argued that these findings should caution those who believe that the validity of CBCA has been conclusively demonstrated.