Markers of good planning behavior as a cue for separating true and false intent

The study adds to the growing body of research on true and false intentions, traditionally a neglected area of deception research. Specifically, the goal was to examine the claim that statements of true intent would be colored by markers of good planning behavior to a greater extent than statements of false intent. Participants (N = 132) were divided into truth tellers and liars. Truth tellers were given a neutral task to plan and carry out. Liars were given a mock crime to plan and carry out and were also told to plan a cover story to be used in case they were apprehended. The cover story (i.e., liars' false intention) was to be thematically similar to the truth tellers' task. Following the planning phase, but before the task commenced, participants were interviewed about their intent. Transcribed interviews were coded for markers of good planning behavior (e.g., effective time allocation, implementation intention related utterances, and likelihood to speak of potential problems). As predicted, truth tellers' statements were colored to a higher degree than those of liars by such markers. The results earmark this approach as a viable direction for future research.