[Air-l] a ps on hedges

[Nancy Baym]

>  > People hesitate for many reasons -- they are lying, they are unsure of
>>  what they are saying, they are not sure whether they should reveal
>>  something, they are searching for the words that say what they mean,
>>  they have never articulated the answer to a question someone (such as
>>  an interviewer) asks. The problem is is figuring out which reason
>>  applies in a given situation.
>
>Again, that's a claim requiring empirical justification. As the
>deception literature shows, there are lots of things we think we know
>about the signs of deception that turn out to be myths, and I think
>that verbal hesitation is one of those mythical symptoms.


There is empirical research showing that response latency and longer 
pauses are associated with deception (unlike making eye contact). 
However, as this thread has pointed out, there are many other things 
with which pauses are associated and I would caution a researcher 
against assuming any particular one to be the case without additional 
sources of evidence for the claim.

Nancy