A latest University of California study has found that gut feelings or unconscious instincts are more accurate lie-detectors than detailed analysis.
Researchers said that human brains are always on the lookout for indicators of lies, like averted eyes, nervousness or fidgeting. However, some people conceal lies with ease and don't show such behavior.
"Our research was prompted by the puzzling but consistent finding that humans are very poor lie detectors, performing at only about 54% accuracy in traditional lie detection tasks," psychological scientist and study author Leanne ten Brinke, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business, said in a press release.
For the study, researchers asked 72 participants to watch a mock-crime interview and identify suspects that were lying. Some of the suspects featured in the video had actually stolen a $100 bill, whereas others had not. However, all of the suspects were asked to plead not guilty to the interviewer.
The researchers found that participants were able to spot liars 43 percent of the time, and truth-tellers only 48 percent of the time.
During the experiment, researchers also used behavioral reaction time tests including Implicit Association Test to determine participants' automatic instincts towards the suspects.
Researchers found that participants were more likely to unconsciously use deception-related words (e.g. "untruthful," dishonest," and "deceitful") to associate them with suspects who were actually lying and truthful words (e.g. "honest" or "valid") with the innocent people.
"These results provide a new lens through which to examine social perception, and suggest that - at least in terms of detection of lies - unconscious measures may provide additional insight into interpersonal accuracy," says ten Brinke.
The finding is published in the journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
