The Effects of Media Differences and Expertise on Deception Detection Accuracy

Deception is a common part of everyday communication. Most of the research on deception has focused on face-to-face communication, but today most communication is mediated, taking the form of email, texting, and videoconferencing. We have a limited understanding of the relationship between media and deception detection. Computer-mediated communication is also a staple of many business practices, as is the case for modern human resource management (HRM). Deception in HRM can have long-lasting effects in organizations, if recruiting leads to hiring the wrong people. However, people are not very good at detecting deception, regardless of the media used. Further, individual differences, such as expertise, do not seem to matter in detection efforts. Despite their experience and training, experts are no better than novices at detecting deception. So, what is the role played by media in deception detection success, and does that success vary by experience? Comparing HR experts to students on a deception detection task, we found that experts performed no better than novices. Further, all participants were more successful at detection when viewing audiovisual interview segments than when listening to audio only segments