Lies, Crimes and False Confessions

In this program, Eve Ash interviews the University of Massachusetts’ Professor Robert Feldman, an expert on lying. He explains that we all lie under various conditions, we can’t necessarily “spot” liars, and false confessions lead to wrongful convictions.

Eve Ash discusses why people tell lies with the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Professor Robert Feldman, a specialist in psychological and brain sciences. He has studied lying for many years and observes that all people tell lies in different situations, many are not truthful on their resumes and in job interviews and sometimes people confabulate to fill memory gaps caused by stressful or traumatic conditions. In crime situations, he explains that false memories occur, and people’s eagerness to find a culprit sometimes leads to the wrong person being convicted. You can’t always tell a liar from their physical cues (eg. excessive blinking, looking away). This can cause deception bias and investigations clouded by tunnel vision. Dr Feldman and Eve Ash discuss the case of Sue Neill-Fraser, convicted and jailed for murder in Tasmania in 2010.

This program is one of the Insights and Strategies Series, featuring psychologist Eve Ash interviewing a range of experts and business leaders who share their experiences and practical strategies for achieving best practice.

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Business Outcomes

This program is designed to help people learn more about human behavior and why people lie. It also provides an interesting exploration of wrongful convictions, false confessions, misidentification by witnesses and polygraphs.