Eyewitnesses to crimes sometimes perform cognitively demanding tasks while simultaneously observing a perpetrator. This division of attentional resources can cause them to remember the perpetrator less accurately. Pickel et al. (in press) showed that judging a target individual’s veracity impairs subsequent memory for his or her appearance and message. They argued that this result occurred because judging veracity is an attention-demanding task that is difficult to perform while simultaneously encoding the target’s information. The previous study also demonstrated that suspicion exaggerated the memory impairment effect, apparently by inducing suspicious witnesses to scrutinize the target more closely than non-suspicious witnesses. The goal of the present study was to replicate the findings that judging veracity impairs witnesses’ memory for the target’s appearance and message using a different video (i.e., a different target, crime scenario, and message) and that induced suspicion exaggerates this effect. In addition, I hypothesized that judging veracity also impairs witnesses’ performance on a lineup task and inflates confidence and ratings on other testimony-relevant judgments by giving witnesses the false sense that they have attended closely to the suspect’s physical appearance and message. I hypothesize that suspicion will exaggerate this effect. Results were found to be consistent with Pickel et al.’s (in press) previous findings. Witnesses who judged veracity performed more poorly on the lineup task than those who were not informed they would need to judge veracity, and witnesses who were made suspicious performed worse than those who judged veracity. Differences were discovered across the groups in relation to certainty ratings and other testimony-relevant judgments about the eyewitness experience. / Department of Psychological Science

This dissertation applied the social psychological research on deception to a counseling situation. The social psychological literature on deception has demonstrated that judges are notextremely accurate in their evaluations of deception. The majority of investigators in this arena have reported that judges of deception have difficulty exceeding accuracy levels which could be obtained merely by chance. Furthermore, researchers have had difficulty identifying cues to deception which could benefit judges when making their assessments.It seems that the ability of counselors to detect deception would be an important facet of their repertoire--especially in situations where the counselor interacts with clients who may be more prone to lying (e.g.. substance abusers, perpetrators of family violence, criminals, and malingerers). If counselors are accurate in their determinations of client deception at levels of accuracy only slightly greater than chance (as the social psychological literature implies), then the entire assessment process might be undermined.This study was an examination of counselors' abilities to detect deception among their clients, the verbal and nonverbal cues to which counselors attend in making their assessments, and how client deception effects a counselor's psychological assessments. Four major findings were obtained. First, a factor analytic study revealed that counselors believe they attend to four general groups of verbal and nonverbal cues when suspecting a client of deception: (1) Stationary Cues of a Client's Face and Body, (2) Movements of a Client's Limbs, (3) the Quality/Style of a Client's Communications, and (4) the Content/Expression of a Client's Communications. Second, counselors in this study were accurate in their assessments of honest and deceptive clients at levels significantly greater than chance (85% overall accuracy). Third, this study was unable to identify cues which benefit counselors in making accurate assessments of client deception and/or honesty. Fourth, the accuracy of a counselor's psychological assessments were not affected by client deception. Results are discussed in relation to the social psychological literature on deception and implications for the profession of counseling psychology. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on November 26, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. in communication)--Washington State University, August 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-53).

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 1926. / University of Iowa studies. First series, no. 149. Without thesis note. Bibliography: p. 75-79.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.78-97).

Thesis (M.A.)--Northern Michigan University, 2008. / "14-52844." Bibliography: leaves 59-60.