TIME: The Best Way to Get People to Tell the Truth, According to Science

By Eric VanEpps for TIME: “You’ve never lied on your résumé, right?” “Did your campaign coordinate with the Russian government during the 2016 election?” “Will you sign with the Lakers this summer?” If you ask me a question, you expect my response to be truthful. Otherwise, why would you even bother to ask the question? But it turns out that changing the way you phrase a question can affect whether people answer honestly or whether they conceal the truth. In a series of studies published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, my colleagues and I tested how question phrasing influenced how people respond in competitive settings such as negotiations or job interviews, where people are strategic about what information they choose to reveal.