Control and resistance in the psychology of lying

Psychology's obsession with control, with manipulating the experimental situation and the behavior of participants, has often been criticized. Mainstream, experimental psychology, it is said, abuses its power in the laboratory to artificially create docile participants who fit its experimental regime. I argue that this criticism accords too much control to the experimenter. Using the psychology of lying and lie detection as an example, I show that the psychologist does not exert full control in the laboratory, but meets resistance. In the psychological laboratory, lying and lie detection are constructed on a technological model in which both the psychologist and the liar are operators of devices, locked in battle. The critical focus, I conclude, should be on the technologies and counter-technologies at work on the laboratory, and on the limitations of this model.