Detecting Deception by Analyzing Written Statements in Korean

Abstract

This paper delves into the effect of SCAN and its cross-linguistic applicability by analyzing written statements in Korean. For this research, we conducted an experiment in which truth tellers were asked to write a true statement about a staged event and liars a fabricated one about the same event. We analyzed these two types of written statements using the criteria of SCAN. The results (accuracy rate, 81.6%) indicate that SCAN is effective in detecting deception despite the low internal consistency level among coders (Cronbach’s alpha level, 0.577). It was also shown that the SCAN criteria are not universally applicable across languages as the mode of using pronouns in Korean yields no significant difference between truthful and deceptive statements.