Are daydreamers better liars?

.

This study investigated whether high fantasy-prone individuals have superior storytelling abilities. It also explored whether this trait is related to specific linguistic features (i.e. self-references, cognitive complexity, and emotional words). Participants high (n = 30) and low (n = 30) on a fantasy proneness scale were instructed to write down a true and a fabricated story about an aversive situation in which they had been the victim. Stories were then examined using two verbal lie detection approaches: criteria-based content analysis (CBCA) and linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC). Irrespective of the truth status of the stories, independent observers rated stories of high fantasy-prone individuals as being richer in all nine CBCA elements than those of low fantasy-prone individuals. Furthermore, overall, high fantasy-prone people used more self-references in their stories compared with low fantasy-prone individuals. High fantasy prones’ fabricated stories scored higher on various truth indices than authentic stories of low fantasy prones. Thus, high fantasy-prone people are good in creating a sense of authenticity, even when they fabricate stories. Forensic experts should bear this in mind when they employ verbal lie detection tools.

Source: “Fantasy proneness as a confounder of verbal lie detection tools” from Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling

Join over 190,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.

Related posts:

How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips

How To Get People To Like You: 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior Expert

New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful

Share

Subscribe to the newsletter