Cheating the lie detector: faking in the autobiographical Implicit Association Test.

Full Abstract

The autobiographical Implicit Association Test (aIAT) was recently introduced in this journal as a new and promising lie-detection tool. The initial report found 91% accuracy in determining which of two autobiographical events was true. It was suggested that the aIAT, unlike other lie-detection tests, is resistant to faking. We investigated whether participants can strategically alter their performance on the aIAT. Experiment 1 showed that participants guilty of a mock theft were able to obtain an innocent test outcome. Two additional experiments showed that guilty participants can fake the aIAT without prior experience with the aIAT and when a response deadline is imposed. The aIAT is subject to the same shortcomings as other lie-detection tests.

Author information

Author/s: Verschuere, Bruno (B); Prati, Valentina (V); Houwer, Jan De (JD);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium. bruno.verschuere(-atsign-)ugent.be

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Apr; vol 20 (issue 4) : pp 410-3

Dates: Created 2009/04/23; Completed 2009/09/30;

PMID: 19298261, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/30/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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