The Nature of Deception
In order to better understand the nature of deception, its behavioral correlates, and its detectability, it is helpful to first understand the underlying processes which provide the framework for deceptive communication. Vrij and Winkel (1993) stated that the deception framework includes both emotional and cognitive components. Emotionally the process of deception can initiate a stress reaction via guilt regarding the deceptive act or from fear of detection and the potential response to such a revelation. The resulting stress reaction manifests itself with the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. This activation drives a number of potential innate verbal, non-verbal, and paralinguistic behavioral responses designed instinctually as a component of the fight and flight system typically activated in times of stress (deTurck & Miller, 1990). Physiological measures (i.e., GSR, polygraph, blood pressure) comparing sympathetic arousal during deceptive tasks have consistently supported these assumptions (Vrij, 1994).
At the point of sympathetic arousal, the cognitive component of the deception-behavior framework is activated (Vrij & Winkel, 1993). The control hypothesis states that an individual who is sympathetically aroused is cognizant of their nervousness and will thereby attempt to limit and control any behavioral cues they perceive as being created by the stressor (Vrij, 1994). Initially the individual will try to control all perceived behavioral cues of deception. While many potentially behavioral cues are salient to the individual, others are either perceived as less relevant or not consciously perceived at all. The Individual will tend to focus their cognitive processes upon the more salient factors, while often negating the others (DePaulo, Lanier, & Davis, 1983). Additionally, the relative conscious controllability of the salient behavioral cues is variable. A behavioral channel with high controllability is one with a elevated sending capacity and a heightened degree of internal feedback (DePaulo, Lanier, & Davis, 1983). Sending capacity refers to the number of distinct messages that can be transmitted by a channel. The degree of internal feedback considers the extent to which an individual is aware of the channels output and their ability to change this information. A behavioral channel with both a high sending capacity and level of internal feedback would be of considerable aid to acts of deception. One such channel (the verbal channel) has the ability to present a wide variety of information that an individual is both clearly aware of and easily able to manipulate. A different pattern holds true of microexpressions. Microexpressions are "brief and incomplete facial expressions that occur on individuals' faces very quickly after exposure to a specific stimulus and before active processes can be used to conceal them" (Baron & Byrne, 1997, pg 49). Such a channel is likely a hindrance to the disguising of deception. Microexpressions have the potentiality of displaying a multitude of affective states, while at the same time are difficult to self-monitor and nearly, if not, impossible to inhibit.
