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Lying and perception of lies by bilingual speakers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2019

Nora Kreyßig  and
Agnieszka Ewa Krautz
Nora Kreyßig
Affiliation:
University of Mannheim
Agnieszka Ewa Krautz*
Affiliation:
University of Mannheim
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Multiple studies on bilingualism and emotions have demonstrated that a native language carries greater emotional valence than the second language. This distinction appears to have consequences for other types of behavior, including lying. As bilingual lying has not been explored extensively, the current study investigated the psychophysiological differences between German (native language) and English (second language) in the lying process as well as in the perception of lies. The skin conductance responses of 26 bilinguals were measured during reading aloud true and false statements and listening to recorded correct and wrong assertions. The analysis revealed a lie effect, that is, statistically significant differences between valid and fictitious sentences. In addition, the values in German were higher compared to those in English, in accordance with the blunted emotional response account (Caldwell-Harris & Aycicegi-Dinn, 2009). Finally, the skin conductance responses were lower in the listening condition in comparison to the reading aloud. The results, however, are treated with caution given the fact that skin conductance monitoring does not allow assigning heightened reactivity of the skin to one exclusive cause. The responses may have been equally induced by the content of the statements, which prompted positive or negative associations in the participants’ minds or by the specific task requirements.

Keywords

bilingual emotionalityfake newslying behaviorskin conductance
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 40 , Issue 5 , September 2019 , pp. 1313 - 1329
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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