Psi Chi APS Distinguished Lecturer
Liars Liars Everywhere, and an Apathetic Psychology Does Not Seem to Care
Dr. Charles R. Honts
Boise State University (ID)
Lying is a most ubiquitous human behavior. We lie in 25% of our interactions and even trained lie catchers perform near chance. While many of our lies are inconsequential, some have resulted in the deaths of thousands. Despite this, deception and deception detection research is uncommon and often derided. Why?
Charles R. Honts, PhD, is professor of psychology at Boise State University where he continues a 32-year long research program that focuses on applying psychological science to real world problems. He was the president of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association for the 2005-06 term and is internationally recognized as one of the world's top experts on credibility assessment. He has also published and/or presented more than 300 scientific papers on deception detection and has also published and given expert testimony in the areas of interrogation and false confession, eyewitness identification, and the forensic interviewing of children.
Dr. Honts is frequently invited to lecture in a number of domestic and international venues. Besides the United States, he has given lectures and has continuing education in Canada, China, Columbia Israel, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. He also frequently appears in courts around the world as an expert witness, and his current research focuses on three areas: (a) improving the standardization and criterion validity of the comparison question test for psychophysiological deception detection, (b) deception detection at portals, and (c) interrogation confession and false confession phenomena in real world contexts.