Granting asylum or not? Migration board personnel's beliefs about deception

Abstract

This study investigated beliefs about deception held by Swedish Migration Board personnel working with asylum cases (n=67), and by a control sample of students (n=69). A questionnaire including both closed and open-ended questions was used. The purpose was to achieve further understanding of Migration Board (MB) officers’ beliefs about deception as they assess reliability of individuals from different ethnic backgrounds. In the asylum process, physical evidence is frequently missing, and the ability to distinguish between truth-telling and lying asylum-seekers is hence crucial. Overall, the beliefs held by MB personnel were not more in tune with research findings on objective cues to deception than were the beliefs of the students. In addition, MB personnel often refrained from taking a stand concerning the relation between specific behaviours and deception; they exhibited substantial within-group disagreement and expressed a need for information about issues of deception. The results point to an objective need and a subjective request for education concerning deception detection.

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