Can We Be Honest? Cognition, Intention, Speech Production, and the Future of Deception Research
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2350985 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kelly Morrison (0000-0003-3518-7330, University of Alabama at Birmingham, corresponding author), Steven A Mccornack (0009-0008-2290-3477, University of Alabama at Birmingham) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 122-146 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Language and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0261-927X • E-ISSN: 1552-6526 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0261927x251364005 |
| OpenAlex | W4413143180 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 42 |
The last many years have given us clear and startling insights into human cognition and the process of human speech production. Yet much of current deception research eschews such revelations. Specifically, many deception scholars continue to presume a top-down, sequential-stepwise, selection-based speech production model that begins with a singular intent-to-deceive and ends with selection between binary discourse options-truth versus lie-that then are instantiated as communicative behavior. Unfortunately, such a model lacks goodness-of-fit with theory and research in speech production, cognitive psychology, and neurolinguistics. What's more, the presumptive truth/lie binary that dominates both experimental designs and research rationales bears little resemblance to the actual discourse patterns observed when people are allowed to freely generate responses to truth-problematic contexts. In this essay, we do three things. First, we review classic and current work in speech production. Second, we revisit the intentional states propositions of a recent theory of deceptive message production-Information Manipulation Theory 2-along with illustrative discourse examples from our own data. Finally, we entreat deception scholars to move our field forward in the future to a more fruitful place
Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Deception · Economics · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Psychology · Topic Modeling
Advances in Deception Detection
Speaking
Becoming syntactic.
The P-chain
A theory of lexical access in speech production
Nonverbal Leakage and Clues to Deception †
Working Memory, Thought, and Action
Speech and Situation
Communication Yearbook 15
Managing the Flow of Ideas
Information control in conversations
Testing Interpersonal Deception Theory
The logic of message design
Interpersonal deception
The effects of culture and situational features on in-group favoritism manifested as deception
The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence
Moderators of nonverbal indicators of deception
Politeness
Information manipulation theory
Opening up Closings
Lying takes time
Interpersonal Deception VII
Information Manipulation Theory 2
A Few Prolific Liars
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |