University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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

Lozano, Elizabeth Barlow

Content Files
Files.zip
LOZANO-DISSERTATION-2021.pdf

Permalink

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

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
Date of Ingest
2022-04-29T21:41:39Z
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
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113940
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2021 Elizabeth Lozano

Owning Collections

Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois