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An examination of deception as a conditioned stimulus. / J. James Tomash
Swansea University Author: J. James Tomash
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Abstract
The polygraph, and other methods o f lie detection, measure the physiological arousal thought to accompany attempts to deceive. Traditional methods of lie detection, however, have failed to acquire the accuracy and consistency necessary to be relied upon in important applications. The reason for thi...
| Published: |
2011
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43105 |
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| Abstract: |
The polygraph, and other methods o f lie detection, measure the physiological arousal thought to accompany attempts to deceive. Traditional methods of lie detection, however, have failed to acquire the accuracy and consistency necessary to be relied upon in important applications. The reason for this is that there is not a sufficient understanding o f why people exhibit physiological arousal when they are deceptive, and how they come to have these responses. The current thesis explores how classical conditioning can be used to explain the physiological arousal a person has to their own deception, and how this might come about in the normal social conditioning o f the individual. Chapters 1 discusses the background o f lie detection to this point, current methods in use, and the current understanding o f why people exhibit physiological arousal when they are deceptive. Chapter 2 covers some o f the technical aspects o f the experiments presented in this thesis, such as the experiment programs and environment used. Chapter 3 o f the current thesis examined the punishment of verbal behaviors in a person’s past conditioning can cause them to exhibit increased physiological arousal when engaging in that behavior. Chapters 4 and 5 explored the classical conditioning o f eyeblink and skin conductance responses to deception and truth-value in a laboratory setting. Chapter 6 further explored the classical conditioning o f a skin conductance response to instances o f deception regarding an internally consistent context, and the generalization of these conditioned responses to instances of deception that only the subject knew about. In conclusion, the current thesis argued that the responses relied upon by traditional methods o f lie detection can be explained using a behavioral explanation based on classical conditioning and past punishment. Classical conditioning, it is argued, can provide a more direct explanation o f the responses exhibited, and potentially a powerful tool for improving the responses we rely upon to detect deception. |
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| Keywords: |
Lie detection, polygraph |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |