Anxious to detect deceit?: An empirical investigation of social defense theory

Lozano, Elizabeth Barlow

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/113940 Copy

Description

Title

Anxious to detect deceit?: An empirical investigation of social defense theory

Author(s)

Lozano, Elizabeth Barlow

Issue Date

2021-08-03

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Fraley, R. Chris

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Fraley, R. Chris

Committee Member(s)

• Simons , Daniel
• Ogolsky, Brian
• Derringer, Jaime
• Briley, Daniel

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• adult attachment
• lie detection
• social defense theory
• multi-level modeling

Abstract

"An extension of attachment theory called Social Defense Theory (Ein-Dor et al., 2010) holds that insecure attachment reflects an adaptive reaction called sentinel behavior – the tendency to notice ambiguous signs of threat, and warn others about that threat (Ein-Dor et al., 2010). Although Social Defense Theory provides an intriguing way to understand the adaptive consequences of insecure attachment, previous work has not been positioned to examine what ""detection"" means in the kind of detail needed to fully test the theory. The present dissertation aims to empirically examine whether the association between attachment anxiety and lie detection (i.e., claiming that something is a lie) is a result of two separable processes: discrimination and bias. Self-reports of attachment were collected from 254 adults who were asked to watch a series of videos in which they had to determine whether the people in them were lying or telling the truth. Multi-level logistic models (MLLMs) were used to assess the associations between individual differences in attachment and lie detection. The findings revealed that highly anxious participants did not demonstrate superior discrimination compared to their less anxious counterparts. Rather, attachment anxiety was positively associated with a tendency to detect lies regardless of trial type, revealing that highly anxious participants were more biased to detect deceit. Taken together, these findings underscore the importance of revising or abandoning Social Defense Theory, as it does not afford an adaptiveness explanation with respect to deception judgments."

Graduation Semester

2021-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113940

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Elizabeth Lozano

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