Oct 7 : A new study has found that motivation level influences one’s ability to correctly detect dishonesty.

The study, by researchers at the Dalhousie University in Halifax, has suggested that the more motivated a person is, the more likely he or she is to make mistakes.

According to lead author Dr. Michael Woodworth, assessing truthfulness isn’t so much dependent upon one’s ability to pick up on stereotypical clues (fidgeting, eye contact, voice tone), but on how badly one wants to spot such clues.

“What’s really intriguing about this study is that the people who were very motivated to catch liars also tended to be more confident. And when they were overconfident, they didn’t take as much time to reflect on their decisions and tended to make a lot more mistakes,” said Dr. Woodworth.

The study was done using 150 undergraduate students. The student observers were shown videotapes in which 12 people described highly stressful personal experiences. Six of them were completely untrue. Some of the undergraduate participants were offered monetary incentives for accuracy. They were also told that only a small number of people were particularly skilled at catching liars.

The study found that those most invested in detecting deception (those receiving monetary incentive and wanting to be among those most skilled at lie detection) also tended to be more confident in their ability to pick up on body language and other clues thought to be indicative of lying.

Researchers also came to the conclusion that feedback, accurate or not, can improve the lie-catcher’s performance.

“That’s the kicker. Accurate or inaccurate, it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference, and this is one area that needs to be teased apart in future studies. But it appears that feedback of any sort made people reflect on their decisions and that’s what made the real improvement,” said Dr. Woodworth.

Study results suggested that it was important for lie-catchers to monitor their motivation level to ensure their enthusiasm wasn’t clouding their judgment.

Dr. Woodworth also said that it may be useful for professionals engaged in deception detection, like judges, lawyers, police officers, customs officers, border guards, to regularly discuss their judgments with colleagues and solicit feedback as a way of re-evaluating their decision-making strategies.

“The fact is that a lot of people in the legal system are extremely motivated to find guilt, especially when the pressures are huge and there’s public outcry. But being motivated isn’t everything. It might not be beneficial at all,” he said.

The study has been published in Legal and Criminological Psychology, a journal of the British Psychological Society. (ANI)