Non-Verbal Communication in Detecting Deception (Research Paper Sample)

Non-Verbal Communication in Detecting Deception
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Table of Contents 

Abstract  3

Non-Verbal Communication in Detecting Deception 4

Statement of Problem  5

Limitation 7

Theoretical Framework  8

The Multi-Factor Theory of Nonverbal Cues to Deception 8

Cognitive theories  9

Emotional Arousal Theory  10

Behavioral Control  11

Social Psychological Approaches: Interpersonal and Contextual Theories  12

Literature Review  13

Nonverbal Behavior and Deception  13

Common Errors Made by Lie Detectors 19

Techniques of Detecting Deception 23

The Behavior Analysis Interview (BAI)  23

The Baseline Approach  24

Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)  24

Discussion 25

Conclusion  27

Recommendations  28

References  30
Abstract
Communication forms the basics of human interaction, as humans are social beings. With globalization, the distance from one culture to another has decreased significantly, increasing social interaction. This has made people relate based on trust. However, dishonesty has also gained momentum, and despite being perceived insignificant, it has noteworthy consequences. The current study investigates the ways of detecting deceit through the use of nonverbal cues, verbal cues, and use of psychological correlations. This study is limited by the nature of secondary sources used. The theories utilized in this research include the multi-factor theory of nonverbal cues to deception and social psychological approaches such as interpersonal and contextual theories. Research shows that deception is a social problem that requires carefully fabrication of a story and provides the need for using non-verbal cues to detect lies. However, the method has errors such as the challenging nature of the lie, misinterpretation of non-verbal cues, use of heretics, and personal differences. Consequently, techniques like behavior analysis interview, baseline approach, and neurolinguistic programming help detect deception.
Keywords: multi-factor theory, heretic
Non-Verbal Communication in Detecting Deception
Communication is an aspect that has largely increased universally as an outcome of globalization. For this reason, the distance between different cultures and individuals has significantly decreased, which has made it easy for social interactions. Therefore, it is common for people to associate themselves with individuals from different backgrounds. Individuals mostly engage in relations of truthful nature since they easily trust others. Nonetheless, people are always caught in the act of deception, which is generally regarded to be harmless. However, some acts of dishonesty can lead to severe consequences. There are three ways of catching a liar, first is by using nonverbal cues. The second is by studying or examining the verbal cues of an individual. Lastly, deceit can be determined by measuring physiological correlates using heart rate or a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR).
The detection of deceit has become a very vital success aspect of countries, private individuals, and even authorities. Since deception is present in every part of the social community, this kind of information can be helpful where immediate decision-making is required regardless of the cultures of the individuals. Moreover, the interest regarding nonverbal cues differs with specific cultures. This is to mean that a signal may contain various meanings depending on the cultural context, as different cultures influence the way individuals communicate with each other.
People relate with others differently and display different nonverbal behavior during the communication process due to their diverse backgrounds. In addition, people elicit different nonverbal cues or behavior as an outcome of a need, desire or want. Therefore, every individual contains different nonverbal cues of communication. Moreover, each culture contains unique nonverbal behaviors which can sometimes be only interpreted or decoded and understood in the same culture which makes it challenging to identify deception. To be able to identify their deception cues, it is necessary for one to understand the behaviors of these individuals within their normal situations where they are not engaging in deceit or have no interest or motivation to deceive.
Statement of Problem
Deceptive acts are usually considered harmless; however, they have severe consequences.
According to Vrij et al. (2019), acts of deceit can cause physical harm, emotional damage, or even force someone from their fortune. In addition, deceptive acts can result in the conviction of innocent individuals, exoneration of the guilty ones, and even lead to terrorist attacks. This brings forth the significance of determining truths in situations using nonverbal communication which is guided by behavioral cues which cannot be easily manipulated.
Definition of Terms
Nonverbal communication is a type of communication that does not involve the use of words. It can also be defined as the non-linguistic, informative behavioral and appearance aspects such as body movements or features, personal distance, touch, and paralanguage (Hall et al., 2019). Moreover, nonverbal communication can occur on an unconscious or conscious level, can be intentional or not, and mostly include visual indicators.
Nonverbal cues are features or characteristics related to the appearance of an individual, which an observer can respond to or even draw conclusions from them. These aspects include facial expressions, posture, gestures, eye contact, interpersonal space, body temperature, body language, and movement (Hall et al., 2019). In addition, nonverbal cues can be defined as behaviors that express attitudes, articulate one's emotions, display an individual's personality as well as supplement and enhance speech in managing the cues or behaviors of interactions among groups and people.
Deception is refereed to an action taken with a deliberate attempt to misguide another individual's understanding of a specific situation. Moreover, (Vrij et al., 2019) referred to deception as an activity that is successfully or unsuccessfully carried out on purpose without notification to generate a different belief in others that the source reflects as false. Furthermore, deception can be considered as an instance where the communicator tries to intentionally transmit false information by manipulation, concealment, and fabrication with the goal of making others to trust it to be true (Mapala, 2020; Levine, 2022). Similarly, deception can be defined as an intentional deed that is committed by a sender with the objective of altering and misleading the recipients' beliefs and putting them at a disadvantage.
On the other hand, deception cues are defined as aimed, visible and specific behaviors that are directly linked with the actions that liars take and are used to reliably and constantly differentiate between deceiving and truthful communications. Deception cues point out that an act of dishonesty or deceit may be transpiring or happening without specifying directly on the concealed information's nature (Mapala, 2020; Brennen & Magnussen, 2020). These cues include fidgeting, constant changes in body posture, gaze avoidance, agitation as well as leg and foot movements.
The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) can be referred to as the neural pathway that controls involuntary reactions. In response to a perceived source of strain, the activation of the sympathetic nervous system can cause a rise in the levels of adrenaline as well as cortisol which will aid in preparing for the flight or fight response (Looff et al., 2018). This means that the SNS helps in behavioral activation as a response to a perceived threat and can lead to increased production of sweat and heart rate, which are all cues to deception.
Nonverbal leakage refers to a situation that results from nonverbal behaviors that occur when an individual tries to take control of their physical as well as cognitive arousal. This is to mean that significant changes can be observed in the face, especially when an emotion is aroused. This can make an individual try to control the behaviors they display in an attempt to maintain their story's credibility (Eaves & Leathers, 2017). Therefore, this can cause a leak in the information that the individual is attempting to conceal.
Encoding can be defined as the creation of information or messages that an individual may be interested in communicating to others. On the other hand, decoding means deciphering or interpreting the information sent by the message's source. In nonverbal communication, encoding refers to the behavioral cues that individuals send during communication (Eaves & Leathers, 2017). In contrast, decoding in nonverbal communication refers to recognizing the signals and behaviors displayed, such as facial expressions and body language, and identifying their meaning in relation to the speech content provided.
Other important terms in this study are narcissism and Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism is a personality feature accompanied by extreme manipulation in gaining an upper advantage over others. In addition, Machiavellianism is a concept used to describe individuals that are self-centered, cynical, and liable to being deceptive (Lyons et al., 2017). On the other hand, narcissism is a personality characteristic that depicts a person who is egocentric and lacks em...