How to catch a liar (it's harder than you think)
5/29/202635 min
Rebecca figured out a brilliant way to catch her partner in a lie. It led to a career in forensic psychology…
These days, Rebecca studies lie detection, and it turns out, people generally overestimate their ability to tell fact from fiction. All the classic clues — body language, eye contact, acting nervous … they don't really hold up when put to the test.
In our fourth and final part of our special series, Forensic, we're discovering the truth about lie detection. Are there any giveaways that someone is lying to us? Can lying show up on a brain scan?
If you've enjoyed Forensic, please leave us a review or share the show with a friend.
And don't forget to send us your questions based on the series, you can reach us at allinthemind@abc.net.au
Guests:
Dr Rebecca WilcoxsonLecturer in Forensic and Social Psychology, CQ University
Dr Arthur LeeAssistant Professor, Boston University
Credits:
- Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
- Senior producer: James Bullen
- Producer: Rose Kerr
- Sound engineer: Roi Huberman
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music, and more.
Speaker 20:05
[gentle music] Tammy Shipley believed someone was out to hurt her.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:10
I thought someone was after me, and I wanted to just be safe.
Speaker 20:13
She's put under 24-hour surveillance.
Arthur Lee· Guest0:15
I tried to get in contact multiple times.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:17
I just need to make a phone call. Nobody knows where I am.
Speaker 20:20
And then something strange happens.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:23
She just drank and drank and had something like 20 liters of pure water. Ambulance emergency.
Speaker 5· Soundbite0:28
I've got a woman unconscious.
Speaker 20:29
Tammy's story. Search Background Briefing on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
Sana Qadar· Host0:35
So every now and then, at the start or end of an interview, I will ask the person that I'm speaking to how they got interested in their line of work. Sometimes the answers are interesting, sometimes they're not. Rebecca Willcoxon's answer for how she got into studying lie detection has to be one of the funniest I have ever heard, especially because the story starts straightforward enough.
Rebecca Wilcoxon· Guest1:01
When I was younger, uh, my Uncle Peter, he worked for ASIO, and he was this really cool guy that spoke multiple languages and looked like a spy. I think that's why I got really interested in forensics.
Sana Qadar· Host1:17
And then it takes a turn.
Rebecca Wilcoxon· Guest1:18
And I once, many years ago, was in a relationship with someone who really lied a lot. So I [laughs] I think that played into it because I once figured out a way