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Four Factor Model
You must have often seen people playing poker wearing dark shades even in dimly lit rooms. Well, research conducted on what happens when people lie. It made life tough for these people. For a long time, how people lie and what changes does it make in them was a subject of interest to many. A lot of research was conducted on this topic.
A by product of one of these researches is the Four Factor Theory. This theory stated that there are about four primary changes in a person when he or she is lying. This theory gained immense importance and generated a huge interest. Also, it was the basis of many further studies and also led to the research of instruments which can detect these changes.
According to the Four Factor Model theory, the four major changes that occur are:
1> When a person lies, the individual gets aroused. The individual becomes anxious. The theory also states the reasons for this anxiousness and arousal. This is because of the fear in the individuals mind that his lie may not be accepted and he may get caught. It was also observed that in some cases the arousal was caused because of conflicting thoughts in the individuals mind. Now this lead researchers to find out instruments to detect this arousal. Thus our lie detectors and speech error detectors were born. Also, during the questioning the individual is carefully observed if he fidgets or is restless. Pupil dilation is also a very common arousal. This is why poker player wear dark shades to conceal the pupil dilation when they are lying.
2> The second point is perhaps a counter to the first which can help detect the lie. When a person becomes conscious that he has become nervous and aroused and is fidgeting because of this, he tries to control his movements. This is a very common give away. People try to control their behavior, movements, facial expressions. It becomes very obvious that the person is behaving in an un-natural way and can help to find out the lie.
3> The third important give away is emotions. When we are lying under tensions are emotions are at the peak and we are very expressive. Even small changes in our thoughts are given away on our face and through our movements. Like if the liar is guilty about his actions but doesn’t want to accept them, the guilt is clearly visible on the face. Similarly, when a liar feels he is getting away with the lie, there is an immediate look of relief. Many a times this technique is used. Some times the interviewer even lets the individual feel that he has gotten away with the lie and catches him as soon as he sees some relief or happiness.
4> The fourth important change is our speech. Usually when we are making up an extempore lie, we think hard to make a perfect lie. This reflects in out speech. The pauses between words also increase as also the un-sureness in our tone. What we speak also changes. We tend to speak more in general and do not be specific. What is termed as ‘beating around the bush’ so that we do not get caught in the details.
This theory became popular as it listed out most of the usual tendencies of people when they lie. It also stated as to what caused these tendencies. However, in spite of this no sure shot method of detecting a lie has been found as of yet.
These methods work on in-experienced liars but fail for seasoned liars who can control their emotions and maintain their cool. As a result all lie detectors also fail.
Efforts are on to find out ways in which we can perfectly make out the lie.
