ISSUE 7. Can People Accurately Detect Lies?
YES: JAMES GEARY, FROM “HOW TO SPOT A LIAR,” TIME EUROPE (MARCH 13, 2000)
NO: BELLA M. DEPAULO, FROM “SPOTTING LIES: CAN HUMANS LEARN TO DO BETTER?” CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE (JUNE 1994)
Journalist James Geary discusses research that hasexamined the effectiveness of various lie detection schemes. Although the average person is not very adept at detecting lies, according to the research of psychologist Paul Ekman, people can be trained to detect the cues to deceit and become quite good at detecting lies. Social psychologist Bella M. DePaulo agrees that the average person is not a very reliable lie detector. However, DePaulo believes that improving peoples lie detection skills is not as straightforward as it may seem.