TY - JOUR

T1 - Challenges in detecting proximal effects of existential threat on lie detection accuracy

AU - Schindler, Simon

AU - Reinhardt, Nina

AU - Reinhard, Marc André

N1 - Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This work was supported by a Grant of the German Research Foundation (DFG; Grant ID SCHI 1341/2–1) to Simon Schindler. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/9

Y1 - 2023/9

N2 - The present work documents our investigation of proximal (i.e., immediate) effects of existential threat on the process of lie detection. Specifically, we hypothesized that lie detection accuracy will be higher in a mortality salience (MS) condition compared with the control condition. In two lab-based studies (N = 120; N = 109) and one internet study (N = 1294), we did not find any evidence for this hypothesis, that is, MS effects on lie detection accuracy were constantly not significant. However, these null findings should not be overstated. Instead, the present contribution aims to reveal the theoretical and methodological challenges in properly testing proximal MS effects on lie detection accuracy. First, we make transparent that our theoretical assumptions regarding the underlying mechanisms changed during the research process from MS-induced vigilance (Studies 1 and 2) to MS-induced negative affect (Study 3) and remain speculative. Moreover, we show how and why we adapted the operationalization from study to study to optimize adequate testing of the idea. In sum, this work aims to be informative for conducting future research rather than to provide conclusive evidence against or in favor of the investigated idea.

AB - The present work documents our investigation of proximal (i.e., immediate) effects of existential threat on the process of lie detection. Specifically, we hypothesized that lie detection accuracy will be higher in a mortality salience (MS) condition compared with the control condition. In two lab-based studies (N = 120; N = 109) and one internet study (N = 1294), we did not find any evidence for this hypothesis, that is, MS effects on lie detection accuracy were constantly not significant. However, these null findings should not be overstated. Instead, the present contribution aims to reveal the theoretical and methodological challenges in properly testing proximal MS effects on lie detection accuracy. First, we make transparent that our theoretical assumptions regarding the underlying mechanisms changed during the research process from MS-induced vigilance (Studies 1 and 2) to MS-induced negative affect (Study 3) and remain speculative. Moreover, we show how and why we adapted the operationalization from study to study to optimize adequate testing of the idea. In sum, this work aims to be informative for conducting future research rather than to provide conclusive evidence against or in favor of the investigated idea.

KW - Affect

KW - Existential threat

KW - Lie detection

KW - Mortality salience

KW - Vigilance

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131835322&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/1e2767cf-7227-3ca7-8f40-2dc04847699b/

U2 - 10.1007/s12144-022-03237-1

DO - 10.1007/s12144-022-03237-1

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85131835322

VL - 42

SP - 22114

EP - 22126

JO - Current Psychology

JF - Current Psychology

SN - 1046-1310

IS - 25

ER -