Abstract
The validity of the Concealed Information Test (CIT) to detect recognition of critical details has been demonstrated in hundreds of laboratory studies. These studies, however, lack the factor of deliberate intent to deceive. This disparity between research and practice may affect the generalizability of laboratory based CIT findings. In the current study, 65 out of 174 participants cheated on their own initiative in a trivia quiz. These self-initiated cheaters were compared to 68 participants who were explicitly requested to cheat. Skin conductance, heart rate, and respiration were found to detect concealed information related to cheating. No significant differences emerged between self-initiated and instructed cheaters, supported by Bayesian statistics showing substantial evidence for the null hypothesis. The data demonstrate that the validity of the CIT is not restricted to instructed deception. This finding is encouraging from an ecological validity perspective and may pave the way for further field implementation of memory detection.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 146-155 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Biological Psychology |
| Volume | 138 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Funding
This research was funded by a grant, no. 238/15 , from the Israel Science Foundation to Gershon Ben-Shakhar and also supported by the Psychology Research Institute (PsycRes) of the University of Amsterdam . We cordially thank Bert Molenkamp for programming the experiment, and Anouk Bercht, Zhu Han Chang, Elisa Cordesius and Jeannique Zimmerman for their assistance during data collection.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Psychology Research Institute | |
| Universiteit van Amsterdam | |
| Israel Science Foundation | 238/15 |
Keywords
- Cheating
- Concealed Information Test (CIT)
- Deception
- Dishonesty
- External validity
- Memory detection