Dr. Maria Hartwig, PhD
Science-Based Interviewing Researcher
Maria Hartwig, PhD is Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, where she has served on the faculty since 2006. Her 2005 dissertation introduced the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique, a now widely established science-based method of effective questioning. The SUE technique is incorporated in training of federal law enforcement in the United States, as well as various state and local agencies. She has produced a significant body of research primarily on deception detection, and on interviewing and interrogation. Her work has been funded by multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), and the Department of Defense (DoD). Since 2020, she is Co-Director of Project Aletheia, a vehicle for improving interview and
interrogation training and practices. Project Aletheia is a collaborative effort between academics and practitioners aiming to accelerate the implementation of science-based techniques into the field.
Publications
Books
Oxburgh, G.E., Myklebust, T., Fallon, M., & Hartwig, M. (2023). Interviewing and Interrogation: A Review of Research and Practice since World War II. Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher: Brussels.
International Peer-Reviewed Journals
Hartwig, M., & Fallon, M. (2022). The manipulations of minds: Reckoning with the legacy of the American post 9/11 torture program. Torture Journal: Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture, 32(3), 71-83.
Vrij, A., & Hartwig, M. (2021). Deception and lie detection in the courtroom: The effect of defendants wearing medical face masks. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 10(3), 392-399.
Kelly, C. E., Dawson, E., & Hartwig, M. (2021). Context manipulation in police interviews: A field experiment. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 17(1), 67-86.
Brimbal, L., Bradford, B., Jackson, J., Hartwig, M., & Joseph, E. (2020). On the importance of a procedurally fair organizational climate for openness to change in law enforcement. Law and Human Behavior, 44(5), 394–411.
Denault, V., Plusquellec, P., Jupe, L. M., St-Yves, M., Dunbar, N. E., Hartwig, M., Sporer, S. L., Rioux-Turcotte, J., Jarry, J., Walsh, D., Otgaar, H., Viziteu, A., Talwar, V., Keatley, D. A., Blandón-Gitlin, I., Townson, C., Deslauriers-Varin, N., Lilienfeld, S. O., Patterson, M. L., … van Koppen, P. J. (2020). The analysis of nonverbal communication: The dangers of pseudoscience in security and justice contexts. Anuario de Psicología Jurídica, 30, 1–12.
Vrij, A., Hartwig, M., & Granhag, P. A. (2019). Reading lies: Nonverbal communication and deception. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, 295–317.
Dawson, E., & Hartwig, M. (2017). Rethinking the interview room: Promoting disclosure and rapport through priming. Polygraph & Forensic Credibility Assessment: A Journal of Science & Field Practice, 46, 132–145.
Dawson, E., Hartwig, M., Brimbal, L., & Denisenkov, P. (2017). A room with a view: Setting influences information disclosure in investigative interviews. Law and Human Behavior, 41, 333–343. https://doi-org.ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/10.1037/lhb0000244
Hartwig, M., Voss, J. A., Brimbal, L., & Wallace, D. B. (2017). Investment professionals’ ability to detect deception: Accuracy, bias and metacognitive realism. Journal of Behavioral Finance, 18, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427560.2017.1276069
Brimbal, L., Hartwig, M., & Crossman, A. (2017). The effect of questions on suspects’ perception of evidence in investigative interviews: What can we infer from the basic literature? Polygraph & Forensic Credibility Assessment: A Journal of Science & Field Practice, 46, 10-39.
Luke, T. J., Hartwig, M., Joseph, E., Brimbal, L., Chan, G., Dawson, E., Jordan, S., Donovan, P., & Granhag, P. A. (2016). Training in the Strategic Use of Evidence technique: Improving deception detection accuracy of American law enforcement officers. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-015-9187-0
Luke, T. J., Hartwig, M., Shamash, B., & Granhag, P. A. (2016). Countermeasures against the Strategic Use of Evidence technique: Effects on suspects’ strategies. Journal of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling, 13(2), 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1448
Dawson, E., Hartwig, M., & Brimbal, L. (2015). Interviewing to elicit information: Using priming to promote disclosure. Law and Human Behavior, 39, 443-450. doi:10.1037/lhb0000136
Hartwig, M., Voss, J.A., & Wallace, D.B. (2015). Detecting lies in the financial industry: A survey of investment professionals' beliefs. Journal of Behavioral Finance, 16, 173-182.
Tekin, S., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., Giolla, E.M., Vrij, A., & Hartwig, M. (2015). Interviewing strategically to elicit admissions from guilty suspects. Law and Human Behavior, 39, 244-252.
Hartwig, M., & Bond, C.F., Jr. (2014). Lie detection from multiple cues: A meta-analysis. Applied Cognitive Psychology.
Luke, T.J., Dawson, E., Hartwig, M., & Granhag, P.A. (2014). How awareness of possible evidence induces forthcoming counter‐interrogation strategies. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28, 876-882.
Luke, T.J., & Hartwig, M. (2014). The effects of mortality salience and reminders of terrorism on perceptions of interrogation techniques. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 21, 538-550.
Sorochinski, M., Hartwig, M., Osborne, J., Wilkins, E., Marsh, J., Kazakov, D., & Granhag, P. A. (2014). Interviewing to detect deception: When to disclose the evidence? Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 29, 87-94.
Luke, T.J., Hartwig, M., Brimbal, L., Chan, G., Jordan, S., Joseph, E., Osborne, J., & Granhag, P. A. (2013). Interviewing to elicit cues to deception: Improving strategic use of evidence with general-to-specific framing of evidence. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 28, 54-62.
Jordan, S., & Hartwig, M. (2012). On the phenomenology of innocence: The role of Belief in a Just World. Psychiatry, Psychology and the Law.
Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., Willén, R., & Hartwig, M. (2012). Eliciting cues to deception by tactical disclosure of evidence: The first test of the Evidence Framing Matrix. Legal and Criminological Psychology.
Hartwig, M., Dawson, E.C., Wrede, O., & Ask, K. (2012). Interviewing victims of repeated domestic violence: Investigators' beliefs and strategies. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 19, 672-681.
Jordan, S., Hartwig, M., Wallace, D.B., Dawson, E., & Xhihani, A. (2012). Early versus late disclosure of evidence: Effects on verbal cues to deception, confessions, and lie catchers’ accuracy. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 9, 1-12.
Colwell, L.H., Colwell, K., Hiscock-Anisman, C.K., Hartwig, M., Cole, L., Werdin, K., & Youschak, K. (2012). Teaching professionals to detect deception: The efficacy of a brief training workshop. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 12, 68-80.
Hartwig, M., & Bond, C.F., Jr. (2011). Why do lie-catchers fail? A lens model meta-analysis of human lie judgments. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 643-659.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., Wolf, A., Vrij, A., Roos af Hjelmsäter, E. (2011). Detecting deception in suspects: Verbal cues as a function of interview strategy. Psychology, Crime, & Law, 17, 643-656.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., & Doering, N. (2010). Formulating true and false denials: Exploring the social cognitive psychology of guilt and innocence. Open Criminology Journal, 3, 10-26.
Clemens, F., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., Vrij, A., Landström, S., Roos af Hjelmsäter, E., & Hartwig, M. (2010). Skulking around the dinosaur: Eliciting cues to children's deception via strategic disclosure of evidence. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24, 925-940.
Goodman-Delahunty, J., Granhag, P.A., Hartwig, M., & Loftus, E.F. (2010). Insightful or wishful? Lawyers’ ability to predict case outcomes. Psychology, Public Policy and the Law, 16, 133-157.
Meissner, C.A., & Hartwig, M, & Russano, M.B (2010). The need for a positive psychological approach and collaborative effort for improving practice in the interrogation room. A commentary on Kassin et al., Police-induced confessions: Risk factors and recommendations. Law and Human Behavior, 34, 43-45.
Santtila, P., Mokros, A., Hartwig, M., Varjonen, M., Harlaar, N., Jern, P., Witting, K., von der Pahlen, B., & Sandnabba, N. K. (2010). Childhood sexual interactions with other children are associated with lower preferred age of sexual partners including adult sexual interest in children. Psychiatry Research, 175, 154-159.
Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (2008). A new theoretical perspective on deception detection: On the psychology of instrumental mind reading. Psychology, Crime and Law, 14, 189-200.
Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., & Hartwig, M. (2007). The SUE technique: The way to detect deception. Forensic Update, 88, 25-29.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., & Strömwall, L.A. (2007). Guilty and innocent suspects’ strategies during a police interrogation. Psychology, Crime and Law, 13, 213-227.
Landström, S., Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (2007). Children’s live and videotaped testimonies: How presentation mode affects observers’ perception, assessments and memory. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 12, 333-347.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., & Kronkvist, O. (2006). Strategic use of evidence during police interviews: When training to detect deception work. Law and Human Behavior, 30, 603-619.
Strömwall, L.A., Hartwig, M., & Granhag, P.A. (2006). To act truthfully: Nonverbal behaviour and strategies during a police interrogation. Psychology, Crime and Law, 12, 207-219.
The Global Deception Research Team (2006). A world of lies. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 60-74
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., & Vrij, A. (2005). Deception detection via strategic disclosure of evidence. Law and Human Behavior, 29, 469-484.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., & Vrij, A. (2005). Police interrogation from a social psychology perspective. Policing and Society, 15, 379-399.
Granhag, P.A., Landström, S., & Hartwig, M. (2005). Witnesses appearing live vs. on video: Effects on observers’ perception, veracity assessments and memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19, 913-933.
Granhag, P.A., & Strömwall, L.A, & Hartwig, M. (2005). Eyewitness testimony: Tracing the beliefs of Swedish legal professionals. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 23, 709-727.
Granhag, P.A., Andersson, L.O., Strömwall, L.A., & Hartwig, M. (2004). Imprisoned knowledge: Criminals’ beliefs about deception. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 9, 1-17.
Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., & Hartwig, M. (2004). Granting asylum or not? Migration Board personnel’s beliefs about deception. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31, 22-50.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., & Andersson, L.O. (2004). Suspicious minds: Criminals’ ability to detect deception. Psychology, Crime, and Law, 10, 83-95
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A., & Vrij, A. (2004). Police officers’ lie detection accuracy: Interrogating freely versus observing video. Police Quarterly, 7, 429-456.
CHAPTERS IN SCIENTIFIC VOLUMES
Fallon, M., & Hartwig, M. (in press). The system is blinking red: Lessons learned from policing in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. In M. Wright and G. Cordner (Eds.). Routledge Handbook of Policing within a Crisis. Routledge.
Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (in press). Detecting deception. In G. Davies and Beech (Eds.). Forensic psychology: Crime, justice, law, interventions. Wiley-Blackwell.
Hartwig, M. & Granhag, P.A. (2023). Strategic use of evidence (SUE): A review of the technique and its principles. In G. Oxburgh, T. Myklebust, M. Fallon & M. Hartwig (Eds). Interviewing and interrogation: A review of research and practice since World War II. Brussels: Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher.
Luke, T. J., Neequaye, D. E., Hartwig, M., & Granhag, P. A. (2022) Deception and emotion. In G. L. Schiewer, J. Altarriba and Ng (Eds.). Language and emotion: An international handbook. De Gruyter.
Luke, T. J., Hartwig, M., Brimbal, L., & Granhag, P. A. (2018). Building a case: The role of empirically based interviewing techniques in case construction. In H. Otgaar & M. L. Howe (Eds.), Finding the truth in the courtroom: Dealing with deception, lies, and memories. (2017-43853-009; pp. 187–208). Oxford University Press.
Hartwig, M., Luke, T. J., & Skerker, M. (2016). Ethical perspectives on interrogation. In J., Jacobs, J. Jackson, (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of criminal justice ethics, 326-347. Routledge
Hartwig, M., & Granhag, P.A. (2015). Exploring the nature and origin of beliefs about deception: Implicit and explicit knowledge among lay people and presumed experts. In P.A. Granhag, A. Vrij, & B. Vershuere (Eds.), Deception detection: Current challenges and new directions (pp. 125-153). Chichester: Wiley.
Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (2015). The Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique: A conceptual overview. In P.A. Granhag, A. Vrij, & B. Vershuere (Eds.), Deception detection: Current challenges and new directions (pp. 231-251). Chichester: Wiley.
Bond, C.F., Jr., Levine, T.R., & Hartwig, M. (2015). New findings in nonverbal lie detection. In P.A. Granhag, A. Vrij, & B. Vershuere (Eds.), Deception detection: Current challenges and new directions (pp. 37-58). Chichester: Wiley.
Granhag, P.A., Hartwig, M., Mac Giolla, E., & Clemens, F. (2015). Suspects’ verbal counter-interrogation strategies: Towards an integrative model. In P.A. Granhag, A. Vrij, & B. Vershuere (Eds.), Deception detection: Current challenges and new directions (pp. 293-313). Chichester: Wiley.
Hartwig, M. & Granhag, P.A. (2014). Strategic use of evidence. In T.R. Levine & J.G. Golson (Eds). Encyclopedia of lying and deception. London: Sage Publications.
Hartwig, M., Meissner, C.A., & Semel, M. (2014). Human intelligence interviewing and interrogation: Assessing the challenges of developing an ethical, evidence-based approach. In R. Bull (Ed.), Investigative interviewing (pp. 209-228). New York: Springer.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., & Luke, T.J. (2014). Strategic use of evidence during investigative interviews: The state of the science. In D.C. Raskin, C.R. Honts, & J.C. Kircher (Eds.), Credibility assessment: Scientific research and applications (pp. 1-36). Academic Press.
Honts, C.R., & Hartwig, M. (2014). Credibility assessments at portals. In D.C. Raskin, C.R. Honts, & J.C. Kircher (Eds.) Credibility assessment: Scientific research and applications (pp. 37-62). Academic Press.
Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (2012). Detecting deception. In G. M. Davies, A. R. Beech (Ed.), Forensic psychology: Crime, justice, law, interventions (2nd edition). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
Hartwig, M. (2011). Methods in deception research. In B. Rosenfeld and S. Penrod (Eds.) Research methods in forensic psychology. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
Granhag, P.A., Christianson, S.Å., & Hartwig, M. (2008). Gärningsmannaprofilering [Offender profiling]. In P.A. Granhag & S.Å. Christianson (Eds.). Handbok i rättspsykologi [Handbook of Forensic psychology]. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (2008). Detecting deception. In G. Davies, C. Hollin, & R. Bull (Eds.) Forensic psychology. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
Hartwig, M., Christianson, S.Å., & Granhag, P.A. (2008). Förhör med misstänkta [Interrogating suspects]. In P.A. Granhag & S.Å. Christianson (Eds.). Handbok i rättspsykologi [Handbook of Forensic psychology]. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
Hartwig, M. & Santtila, P. (2008). Valehtelun tunnistaminen ja epäillyn syyllisyyden arviointi poliisikuulustelussa [Detecting deception and identifying the guilt of a suspect in police interrogation]. In P. Santtila & G. Weizmann-Henelius (Eds.) Oikeuspsykologian perusteet [Foundations of forensic psychology]. Helsinki: Edita.
Santtila, P. & Hartwig, M. (2008). Epäiltyjen kuulustelu ja tunnustukset [Suspect interrogation and confessions]. In P. Santtila & G. Weizmann-Henelius (Eds.) Oikeuspsykologian perusteet [Foundations of forensic psychology]. Helsinki: Edita.
Hartwig, M., Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A. & Vrij, A. (2005). Strategic disclosure of evidence to detect deception: Towards a new research agenda. In A. Czerederecka, T. Jaskiewicz-Obydzinska, R. Roesch, & J. Wójcikiewicz (Eds.), Forensic Psychology and Law. Facing the Challenges of a Changing World (pp. 219-232). Institute of Forensic Research Publishers, Crakow.
Granhag, P.A., Strömwall, L.A. & Hartwig, M. (2004). Lögnarens kroppspråk: Myter och fakta [Nonverbal behavior when lying: Myths and facts]. In N. Wiklund & U. Sjöström, (Eds.). Svensk vittnespsykologi. Utsagepsykologi i teori och praktik [Swedish eyewitness psychology: Statement analysis in theory and practice]. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Strömwall, L.A., Granhag, P.A., & Hartwig, M. (2004). Practitioners’ beliefs about deception. In P.A. Granhag & L.A. Strömwall (Eds.). The detection of deception in forensic contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.