Key Principles of Non-Instrumental Lie Detection

In my opinion, the debate about which methods of non-instrumental lie detection and profiling are the most reliable and effective is never-ending and can never be fully resolved. However, it is a discussion that needs to be had—but only among professionals, not laypeople.

Let’s be honest: it’s unlikely we’ll ever reach a “gold standard” in lie detection like those that exist in medicine. Our field is much more individual, variable, and ambiguous. Still, there are a number of unchanging principles of non-instrumental lie detection that, when used together, consistently yield good results. Below are several rules (not all) that I have formulated for myself. If you have something to add, feel free to share!

1. Increase the significance of the events discussed and the fact of the check itself. The more important these are to the “client,” the better.
2. Be adaptable: Your baseline behavior should be less predictable than the client’s baseline. But always keep it safe for them. Periodically change the hierarchy, role models, combine distancing and mirroring, engagement and detachment, a “friendly” and “aggressive” attitude.
3. Increase the client’s cognitive load. The client should be forced to think, think, and think again—all under time constraints.
4. Identify the topics most significant to the client around the event in question, and periodically, using constructive techniques, press on these “sore spots.” Bring them up several times. Always return to important topics more than once.
5. “Decoy” technique: Focus the client’s attention on information and facts that are insignificant to you. Exaggerate their importance. Make the client think even about information that doesn’t matter to you.
6. Emotional stimulation: Encourage the client to display a range of emotions, both positive and negative. The more emotions, the less control the client has. However, you must always maintain control over the meeting and the hierarchy.
7. Anchoring: Anchor significant client reactions and use these anchors as often as possible. They also reduce the client’s level of control.
8. Use question structures: Clarifying question – projective question – self-identification question – engaging question – exploratory question. This is my specialty; I’ll share more about it later.
9. Control dissociation: Negatively mark any dissociation or distraction of the client’s attention.
10. The more varied your repertoire of techniques for eliciting confessions and shifting responsibility during the conversation, the better.
11. Tell engaging and suggestive stories from your practice that nudge the conversation in your desired direction. For example: “Yuri Yurievich, I recently had a client with a similar case…”