Lying Words: Predicting Deception from Linguistic Styles

Matthew L. Newman; James W. Pennebaker; Diane S. Berry; Jane M. Richards

doi:10.1177/0146167203029005010

Abstract

Telling lies often requires creating a story about an experience or attitude that does not exist. As a result, false stories may be qualitatively different from true stories. The current project investigated the features of linguistic style that distinguish between true and false stories. In an analysis of five independent samples, a computer-based text analysis program correctly classified liars and truth-tellers at a rate of 67% when the topic was constant and a rate of 61% overall. Compared to truth-tellers, liars showed lower cognitive complexity, used fewer self-references and other-references, and used more negative emotion words.

Keywords

DeceptionLyingPsychologyStyle (visual arts)Lie detectionSocial psychologyLinguisticsCognitive psychologyPhilosophyLiterature

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Publication Info

Year: 2003
Type: article
Volume: 29
Issue: 5
Pages: 665-675
Citations: 1425
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                
                                    Matthew L. Newman, 
                                
                                    James W. Pennebaker, 
                                
                                    Diane S. Berry
                                
                                et al.
                            
                            (2003). 
                            Lying Words: Predicting Deception from Linguistic Styles. 
                            Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
                            , 29
                            (5)
                            , 665-675.
                            https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029005010
                        

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1177/0146167203029005010