Percepción de indicadores conductuales de engaño en operadores jurídicos

Abstract

This study examined the perception of 80 Colombian legal professionals (20 judges, 20 prosecutors, 20 trial attorneys, and 20 forensic investigators) regarding behavioral (nonverbal) indicators of deception when assessing third-party statements. A quasi-experimental design was employed, comparing convenience-based groups, who were asked to determine the degree of truthfulness they attributed to statements made by two individuals (one male and one female). These statements were presented through twelve videos (six per gender), and participants were required to justify their responses. The videos were shown in random order and contained both verbal and behavioral components. Ten of them deliberately included one or two behavioral indicators typically associated with deception—namely blinking, self-manipulation behaviors, posture changes, and hesitation—while two contained no behavioral indicators of deception. Although trial attorneys showed a higher accuracy rate in distinguishing between truthful and deceptive statements, no statistically significant differences were found among the four groups. All groups placed greater importance on verbal content than on nonverbal cues when analyzing testimony. However, a high percentage of participants also attributed deception to behaviors such as changes in gaze direction, nervousness, concern, self-manipulation, and posture changes. The findings open a discussion on the perception of other cognitive indicators of deception attribution associated with theory of mind.