Thomas Ormerod’s research carried out at Heathrow and other European airports showed that currrent screening methods largely failed to detect passengers with false identities.
Airport security study shows fraudsters more likely to be caught through conversation than body language. A conversation-based screening method is 20 times more effective at catching airline passengers with false cover stories than the traditional method of examining body language for suspicious signs, according to new University of Sussex research. A study led by psychologist Professor Thomas Ormerod and published today (6 November) has important implications not just for airport security but could also help with police inquiries and may be used to uncover insurance and tax fraud or to catch job applicants who lie about their qualifications or employment history. During an eight-month study, security agents using the conversation screening method at international airports in Europe, including London's Heathrow, detected dishonesty in 66 percent of the "mock" passengers. This compared to a three-percent detection rate for agents who were looking for body language signs thought to be associated with deception, including lack of eye contact, fidgeting and nervousness. "The suspicious-signs method almost completely fails in detecting deception," says Professor Ormerod.
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