To Catch a Liar: Challenges for Research in Lie Detection Training

Can we train people to detect deception? It is the contention of this article that communication scholars should learn how to train law enforcement professionals on how to detect high stake lies, like those faced by police, judges, customs officials, immigration officials, and so forth. It is proposed that in order to know whether we can train or should bother to train people to detect deception, each training study must meet 6 challenges: (1) relevance, (2) high stakes, (3) proper training, (4) proper testing, (5) generalizability across situations, and (6) generalizability over time. Our quantitative review of the literature suggests that training does significantly raise lie detection accuracy rates. Meta-analytic findings indicate a mean effect size of r = .20 across 20 (11 published studies) paired comparisons of lie detection training versus the control group (i.e., those without some type of training). It should be noted that the majority of the studies that attempt to train lie detectors fall short on many of the above challenges. Current research in lie detection training may actually underestimate the ability to train lie detectors due to the stimulus materials employed in most experiments.     

Lying in Children’s Fiction: Morality and the Imagination

The telling of lies is significant in fiction written for children, and is often (though not in all cases) performed by child protagonists. Lying can be examined from at least three perspectives: philosophical, moral and aesthetic. The moral and the aesthetic are the most significant for children’s literature. Morality has been subtly dealt with in Anne Fine’s A Pack of Liars and Nina Bawden’s Humbug. The aesthetic dimension involves consideration of lying’s relation to imagination, fantasy and creativity; Richmal Crompton’s William: the Showman and Geraldine McCaughrean’s A Pack of Lies show this at a complex, metafictional, level.     

《大话西游》与《姨妈的后现代生活》的后现代表征比较分析

《大话西游》从故事的构建、时空的切换、到戏仿、拼贴、反讽和“无厘头”语言的应用,都呈现出“后现代”的表征;而《姨妈的后现代生活》则是有意识地借用“后现代”的语境来叙事。本文结合后现代主义文化的特征对两片的后现代表征进行比较分析,在比较的基础上,进一步探讨它们对认识中国当前后现代语境下电影的发展所提供的启示。