Abstract
Why do young adults lie? How can adults detect young adult deception? Taylor and Gonza’s (2011) Deception: A Young Person’s Life Skill? addresses these important questions. This book is guided by three overarching issues: First, the authors use a developmental approach to address what predicts the use of deception and deception success in adolescence as defined in this book as the “period of life between 10 and 21 years of age”; second, this book explores strategies and tactics practitioners can use in an attempt to detect deception and foster more effective intergenerational communication; finally, the authors argue for the use of a holistic, skills-based approach to understand communication in general (not just deceptive communication; p. 2).
Deception focuses specifically on young adult deception. In Chapter 1, Taylor and Gonza explicitly state their main argument: “It is not possible to consider deception in isolation of wider actions and therefore we propose a holistic approach to understanding and interpreting such behaviors” (p. 2). The authors ground this holistic approach in developmental theories, including Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological approach as well as Hendry and Kloep’s (2002) original developmental exchange model and their more recently revised developmental challenge model. According to Taylor and Gonza, one strength of current deception research is the treatment of deception as a dynamic communicative transaction; however, this research does not fully explore deception as a choice and what factors influence one’s choice to use deception. These authors treat deception as a communicative strategy that a young person could choose to employ within an interaction to meet his or her communication goals. According to Hendry and Kloep’s developmental challenge model, development occurs after successfully completing a series of challenges. An individual is able to successfully complete challenges when he or she has sufficient resources to do so. Using this as a framework, Taylor and Gonza argue that young people have a “deception resource pool,” which is made up of resources that can be used to employ deception in a given situation to overcome challenges.
In Chapter 2, Taylor and Gonza examine deception as a choice through a more thorough description of the deception “resource pool” (p. 17). In this chapter, the authors discuss five categories of resources (biological factors, self-efficacy, skills, social resources, and structural resources) that apply to the choice between deception and truth as a communication strategy. Taylor and Gonza present a well-developed review of the literature on how each of these resources has been explored within the context of deception, while also addressing where additional research is needed. For example, research on biological factors has established the perceived differences in credibility due to attractiveness (the halo effect). According to the halo effect, an individual who is perceived as attractive will also be perceived as more credible (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). However, there is a lack of research regarding the link between facial maturity and actual credibility.
In Chapters 3 to 5, Taylor and Gonza apply these five categories of resources to case studies from original research conducted by Gonza and colleagues that involve qualitative interviews and focus groups with nonoffending and offending young people. In Chapter 3, the authors describe the use of deception as a strategy for meeting specific interaction goals, and address the weaknesses within previous deception research: Previous research has not recognized the positive aspects of deception. According to Taylor and Gonza, deception has positive benefits for the young person who employs such tactics as it provides an opportunity to enhance the self through the development of independence. Furthermore, previous research has been grounded in pathologizing adolescent deception. Taylor and Gonza use this chapter to correct these problematic assumptions made by previous research as “it is clear that there is a distinction between moderate and pathological levels of lying and that moderate lying is indeed both an indicator of social skill and necessary for adolescent autonomy” (p. 36). In this chapter, the authors present data collected from nonoffending young people. Through thematic analysis, four major themes within this data emerged: motivations for lying, target of the lie, strategies and success, and acceptability. Subthemes within each of these are defined and discussed, using data excerpts as exemplars. Throughout the presentation of these results, the authors discuss the relationship between these findings and previous research. Here the authors explicitly describe how these results fit within previous literature by identifying points of similarity as well as contradiction and articulating recommendations for future research.
In Chapter 4, Taylor and Gonza shift their focus from nonoffending young adults to young adults within the criminal justice setting: “The purpose of this chapter is to present and develop a discussion about how to approach and understand young people in pre- and post-conviction environments” with the goals of assisting practitioners in deception detection and understanding why young people believe deception is an appropriate communicative strategy (p. 61). In this chapter, the authors present accounts of young people in police interviews, assessments for court, and research interviews with young offenders. According to Taylor and Gonza, to understand the nature of young peoples’ deception we must look beyond verbal and nonverbal behaviors and consider a “broader perspective” (p. 61). Here the authors draw on the holistic approach for understanding deception. The authors build a strong argument for the importance of deception detection for those working in the criminal justice system and how research can be used in interventions to reduce reoffending. They argue that deception may become an adult life skill if it goes unchecked during adolescence. Taylor and Gonza address police interviews, precourt sentence assessment, and postconviction interactions separately because where the young person is in the criminal justice system may influence his or her motivations during interactions with adults. First, subject interactions in police interviews are addressed and strategies and tactics young people use within these interactions are defined and discussed. Here the authors provide case study examples of young adult suspects. Second, precourt interactions are explored through the development of additional case study examples that serve to highlight the challenges of assessing a young person’s credibility. The authors explicitly address why these precourt interactions are important: First, these interactions will affect the evidence that is presented in the case, and the sentencing decisions; and second, practitioners need to be aware of the importance of the dyadic nature of these interactions. Finally, the authors discuss the offense-supportive beliefs of young offenders. Taylor and Gonza suggest that “holistic approaches to understanding and interpreting the offense-supporting beliefs of prolific young offenders have hitherto been largely neglected in attempts to understand continued involvement in crime” (p. 86). Here the authors take a holistic approach to deception through the use of data collected from young adult offenders regarding how they view their world and how these views affect the choice to use deception within a given interaction. Four themes emerged from this interview data: reputation, the role of women, victimization, and peripheral influences. Taylor and Gonza explore the implication of these beliefs of deception detection and describe how these results correspond with previous research and theory on deception detection. The authors urge practitioners to consider these four themes when interacting with young offenders.
In Chapter 5, Taylor and Gonza focus on young people with mental health disorders that are associated with deception in order to assist practitioners in distinguishing between young people with these disorders and those with other challenging behaviors. The authors argue that adult responses to these behaviors can influence the young person’s subsequent behavior and therefore it is important for scholars and practitioners to consider these disorders and behaviors. This is not about diagnosis but about helping parents and practitioners in their communication with these young people so that adults may communicate more effectively within these interactions. Conduct disorders, personality disorders, and psychopathy are discussed and explained, and recommendations for interviewing individuals who suffer from these disorders are provided.
In Chapter 6, Taylor and Gonza outline techniques for detecting deception and assessing speaker credibility. The holistic approach is mentioned again in terms of its relation to deception detection: “The holistic element we refer to here involves consideration of the range of factors that leads to the young person’s choice to engage in deception and by their very nature are multifaceted” (p. 127). The authors provide concrete recommendations for employing a holistic approach for deception detection. This approach includes examining a multitude of issues surrounding the young person and not just certain communicative elements in search of deception cues, the need to understand the individual that is being assessed, and the triangulation of multiple forms of presentation. Those who want to detect adolescent deception need to develop a range of skills. First, the practitioner must consider circumstances and skills surrounding the young person and the situation. These initial considerations include opportunities to deceive, whether or not one should acknowledge a young person’s lie, the detection of credibility, interpreting a young person’s denial of an offense, the importance of listening to the young person, identifying behavioral and communicative patterns, and understanding how a young person perceives the evidence in the case. Second, the practitioner must consider the interpersonal interaction, which can be done by considering the young adult’s potential motivations for lying prior to interacting with him or her and preparing oneself for the interaction. The authors then discuss the chameleon interview approach as “a framework for understanding and assessing challenging and diverse individuals [that] can assist in the detection of deception as a result of the holistic perspective that is taken by practitioners” (p. 136). An important strength of this interview approach is that it can be applied to communication with nonoffending individuals as well as offenders. Taylor and Gonza note that practitioners must focus on individual factors and not on generic nonverbal cues when attempting to detection deception; thus, a holistic approach is essential. This chapter ends with a section devoted to preparing the practitioner for an interaction with the young person including questions to consider in facilitating the individual and interactive process that the chameleon interview approach advocates.
In the seventh and final chapter, Taylor and Gonza present their concluding remarks and thoughts on the directions for future research. The authors urge researchers and practitioners to work together in order to develop theory and put it into practice. The authors also advocate for a holistic approach to understanding the complexities of the context, situation, and legal system when attempting to understand communication as communication does not happen in a vacuum. According to Taylor and Gonza, through increased understanding of young adult communication scholars can also better understand adults: “Understanding how adolescents make communication choices can also often illuminate everyday adult interactions . . . we would argue that deception is not just a young person’s life skill, but one which applies to people of all ages” (p. 152).
The book’s greatest strength is that it is written for an academic audience as well as practitioners who interact with young adult offenders. Scholars who are interested in deception should read this book and consider how the holistic approach to understanding deception could be used within their own research. This book could also be used in courses on advanced interpersonal communication, the dark side of interpersonal communication, and communication within the criminal justice setting. Deception would also be appropriate for courses in psychology and sociology. Finally, practitioners who are currently working with young adult offenders would benefit from the explicit practical application Taylor and Gonza provide in this book. The authors clearly articulate how social scientific research on deception can be applied within the criminal justice system and have written this book with the goal of providing assistance to practitioners. Another important strength of this book is the emphasis on a holistic approach to deception detection instead of an overreliance on generic nonverbal cues. Communication is dynamic and transactional; therefore it is important for both scholars and practitioners to consider its complexity.