Publication: Misunderstandings and misconceptions in the Application of nonverbal communication in the Spanish legal-forensic context
Authors
Arce, Ramón ; Pina, David ; Puente López, Esteban
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Publisher
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.20.2.39334
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Abstract
Background and objective: In both the general and specialized population, certain beliefs are held that relate nonverbal communication (NVC) to the probability that a person is telling the truth or lying. However, the evidence indicates that there is no nonverbal indicator or marker that can accurately and reliably discriminate between honest and dishonest testimony, warning of the pseudoscientificity of these techniques. Despite this, the use of NVC indicators is widely used in the fields of security and justice. Therefore, the present work aims to analyze the errors, practical utility and inadequate uses underlying the current practice of NVC in the Spanish legal-forensic context. Method: We made a review of the available evidence regarding NVC, as well as of the legal process and scientific criteria in the technical forensic field of the application of these techniques. Conclusions: The evidence on the use of NVC in the legal-forensic context is extremely limited, especially in the Spanish population, and does not meet the Daubert standards of admissibility of scientific evidence, i.e., judicially it is pseudoscientific evidence. This applies not only to its use in the detection of lying or deception, but also in all the practices in which the discipline has taken refuge, such as in processes of credibility of testimony in any type of crime, or in the assessment of emotional coherence or congruence.
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Citation
Puente-López, E., Pina, D., & Arce, R. (2023). Misunderstandings and Misconceptions in the Application of Nonverbal Communication in the Spanish Legal-Forensic Context [Malentendidos e ideas erróneas en la aplicación del comportamiento no verbal en el contexto jurídico-forense español] . Acción Psicológica, 20(2), 43–70. https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.20.2.39334
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